The Release of #42ā, the Jackie Robinson movie is an excellent teachable moment for students who can use Robinson’s story and baseball to create a number of lesson plans.
For more free resources go to :
Http://www.reacheverychild.com
Objective: To provide students with the opportunity to learn about segregation and the Civil Rights Movement based on the life of Jackie Robinson’s integration into the National Baseball League. The student shall be able to write about how the actions of one person can make a significant difference in the lives of others and the importance this event to society.
The student’s assignment should include the comparison and contracting of one person, they deem a hero, with another and also include their own opinion of what they would have done in a similar situation.
Lesson Plan
Students watch this video of Robinson’s life
Compare what Robinson went througth what Nelson Mandela went through in this story
http://www.awesomestories.com/flicks/invictus
Have the students make a Venn diagraph showing what Jackson and Mandela had in common.
Venn Templates
http://www.venndiagramtemplate.net/
Have the students review these traits of a hero
http://psychology.about.com/od/the-psychology-of/a/characteristics-of-heroism.htm
The students also need to create another Venn diagraphm and place those traits that they have in common with Jackson and Mendela.
The students create an essay entitled, Jackie Robinson, Nelson Mendela and Iā that explains what they have in common.
As a group project, the students can look through the many entries in Awesome Stories and research those who they considered to be a hero and create a poster that commerates that individual or group’s actions to share with others.
Students can also be given a homework assignment to interview those adults that they know and to take notes on what traits they feel heroes have and their heroes. The notes have to be rewritten during class time and collected and placed in a class book.
Students can expand this lesson with the links below.
Awesone story links that can expand this lesson
The early history of baseball
http://www.awesomestories.com/sports/baseball-cards/the-knickerbocker-club
The color line in baseball
http://www.awesomestories.com/sports/baseball-cards/the-color-line
Other Heroes in American History
The Suffrage Leaders
http://www.awesomestories.com/history/womens-rights
Children Labor
Fighting for the end of child labor
http://www.awesomestories.com/history/child-labor/efforts-to-protect-children
The Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman’s Story
http://www.awesomestories.com/history/underground-railroad
Civil Rights Links
http://www.awesomestories.com/search?channel=&search=civil+rights&x=0&y=0
Remember the Titans
A football movie about athletes and school integration
http://www.awesomestories.com/flicks/remember-the-titans
Other Sports Stories
http://www.awesomestories.com/sports
Suggested Reading
If there are funds, having the students read Baseball Saved Us: Ken Mochizuki
This can be used as a compare and contrast book.
http://erinschildrensliteraturepage.blogspot.com/2008/02/baseball-saved-us.html
Assessments will be done according to the grade level and Common Core rubric used by the school.
Jackie Robinson links
http://www.schools.pinellas.k12.fl.us/educators/tec/Mutert2/wbsts.html