Computer- Based Lesson Plans: The Harlem Renaissance and Venn Diagrams by Shasha Menon

Title: The Harlem Renaissance and Venn Diagrams

Learner Level:     GLE 5-8

Pre-Instruction: Play blues or Jazz from the early 1900’s while students are arriving and settling in.

Duration: 60 minutes    

Materials:

A brief introductory reading on the Harlem Renaissance, computers with sound and Internet, scratch paper and pens.

Objectives:

Primary: To develop reading skills, mouse movement skills and awareness of American history—especially the Harlem Renaissance. To recognize a set of words related to the topic and understand the concept of grouping related words.

Secondary: To develop familiarity with a pc, web pages and a Venn diagram. To use the keyboard to type in simple words.

Procedure:

Start with a brief introductory reading on the Harlem Renaissance. Discuss the historical and artistic significance. Make sure the reading includes a list of names of artists, musicians and poets from the period and their pictures (20 min)

Have a few websites on the topic bookmarked for students to look at. If you can find one with audio files of spoken word or music , that will be an added treat.(10 min)

Eg. http://www.fatherryan.org/harlemrenaissance/ or http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/harlem.html

Go to Marco Polo (http://www.marcopolo-education.org/index.aspx) and find student-interactive page for Harlem Renaissance or paste this web address to your address bar—(http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=35&title=). You may want to bookmark it and have it ready.

Explain the concept of a Venn diagram and ask students to type in the names of the poets, artists and musicians from the list and drop them in the respective circles or shaded regions of the Venn diagram. (20 min)

Evaluation:                                                                                                       

Students can print a copy of their Venn diagram filled with names. Prepare an accurate copy of a completed sheet in advance and use that to help students evaluate their own work. They can check for spelling and return to their terminals and retype the words. They can also check to make sure the names are accurately placed in the appropriate circles or shaded regions.(10 min)