ICP Lesson Plan

Social Studies
Topic: Through My Eyes By: Ruby Bridges
Objectives

Goals

1.) Given a reading on Ruby Bridges, the students will look for text
based evidence (pictures and graphic representations) of four
adjectives that describe Ruby Bridges.
2.) Based on the charts that the students have created, they will
participate in a class discussion of their findings, making references
to examples from the text.
3.) After reading of a person who was discriminated against during the
Civil Rights Movement, the students will find a current events
article to show that people today are still continuing to fight for
what they believe is right, and people are still being discriminated
against.
The students will use a variety of sources, both digital and print, to
find information.
The students will look at historical events from different points of
view.
The students will listen to the opinions and observations of other
classmates and respond in a respectful manner.
The students will make connections between the past and our society
today What does this mean for us?

Standards
Standards:
Social Studies Standards:
8.A.2.: Identify, describe, and evaluate evidence about events from diverse sources (including
written documents, works of art, photographs, charts and graphs, artifacts, oral traditions, and
other primary and secondary sources).
8.A.6.: . Recognize an argument and identify evidence that supports the argument; examine
arguments related to a specific social studies topic from multiple perspectives; deconstruct
arguments, recognizing the perspective of the argument and identifying evidence used to
support that perspective.
8.C.2.: . Identify and compare multiple perspectives on a given historical experience.
8.C.6.: . Analyze case studies in United States history in a comparative framework, attending to
the role of chronology and sequence, as well as categories of comparison or socio-political
components.
8.F.2.: Participate in activities that focus on a classroom, school, community, state, or national
issue or problem

Reading Standards for Literacy in Social Studies 6-12:

Key Ideas and Details:
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Rationale

According to the CCSS for New York, the Civil Rights Movement is a topic that
8th grade students should have exposure to and understanding of. This lesson
will require students to examine the personal experience of one important figure
in the Civil Rights Movement, and to examine a non-fiction text to find textbased evidence of several words that may describe Ruby Bridges and what she
went though. The students will also be connecting this topic to the present day,
and making meaning of it in their own lives.

Anticipatory
Set

To open the lesson, the students will be listening to the teacher read several
passages aloud from Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges. Through this
anticipatory set, they will gain a basic understanding of who Ruby Bridges was,
and what she worked to accomplish during the Civil Rights Movement.
1.) The students will be broken up into four groups, and there will be a
piece of chart paper with one of the following words written at the top:
unfair, hateful, peaceful, and courageous, and a copy of Through My
Eyes in each corner of the classroom. With their group, the students will
travel to each corner and write examples of times in the text where Ruby
Bridges or the people around her embodied that describing word. They
should use direct quotes, pictures, and cite page numbers.
2.) Once the students have completed all four groups, the teacher will bring
them back together and post the four charts in the front of the room. The
class will participate in a group discussion of their findings, with the
teacher providing occasional prompts if necessary. The students can
share what they found, how it made them feel, reactions to findings of
other students, or connections to other things that they have
learned/explored in the unit.
3.) After the group activity, the students will be going to the computer lab to
look for current events articles that connect with what Ruby Bridges
experienced. The students are looking to connect to our present day, and
show that discrimination can still be evident. They can look for events
that show discrimination or injustice, but they can also look for current
examples of peaceful protest and peaceful resolution, to show that
people today (just like Ruby Bridges in the past), are attempting to get
their point across in non-violent ways.
4.) Once they have their article, the students will be writing a short
informative piece about it. The writing will include a description of what
happens in the article, how it connects with what Ruby Bridges
experienced, and how it connects to present society.
Informal: The teacher will be observing the students as they create their charts,
and also participating in the discussion of the evidence they found for each
word.

Procedure

Assessments

Closure

Formal: The teacher will be evaluating the students write up of their current
event article.
To close the lesson, the students will watch a short clip of an interview with
Ruby Bridges in present day, to remind them that her efforts and her actions
continue to be necessary and courageous in our society today.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKyQV0-z6HE