The Harlem Renaissance if the focus of a carefully crafted, interdisciplinary unit designed to introduce middle schoolers to the contributions key figures made to American art and culture during the period. Class members select activities from a menu of options and sign a learning contract that details expectations.

Concepts

the harlem renaissance, harlem, duke ellington, langston hughes, racism, african american culture, african american history, african americans, famous african americans

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Save representative projects to serve as models in subsequent years
• Host a jazz cafe, turn down the lights, turn up the music, and have class members read their poems

Classroom Considerations

• Assumes instructors have access to English Language Arts assessments and textbook reading level assessments to create tiered groups
• Some of the links within the resource do not work; however, all the materials are available on the internet
• Requires considerable prep time to locate and prepare materials
• Color copies are required of the various worksheets

Pros

• The tiered instruction approach ensures all learners are challenged
• Rubrics are included for each project

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.7.1 RL.8.1