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Lesson 3: Interpret Sojourner Truth's Speech

Module by: Institute for Learning. E-mail the author

Summary: The lesson and teacher resources describe how to assist students to deliver the same 19th Century speech they have read and reread with writing and talk in Lessons 1 and 2. Also explained is how to engage students in an inquiry-based discussion from an authentic text inquiry. We suggest users become familiar with Lessons 1 and 2, which describe the reading experiences that build students’ readiness for an inquiry-based discussion. Development supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Lesson 3: Interpret Sojourner Truth’s Speech

Agenda for the Day

  • Deliver speeches in groups
  • Reflect on delivery differences
    • Quick Write
    • Share in whole group
  • Reread again and WriteAbout
    • Discuss in pairs/trios
  • StepBack: Think about learning
  • Homework: Quick Write

Standards Addressed in This Lesson

Table 1
LS1.9 Analyze the occasion and the interests of the audience and choose effective verbal and nonverbal techniques (e.g., voice, gestures, eye contact) for presentations.
LS1.11 Assess how language and delivery affect the mood and tone of the oral communication and make an impact on the audience.
LS1.1 Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.

Instructional Materials for Lesson

Table 2
Unit text "Ain't I a Woman?" by Sojourner Truth
Student work tool Reader's/Writer's Notebooks
Amplified student work tool Amplified Reader's/Writer's Notebooks
Chart paper and markers  

Deliver Speech in Groups

Ask students to get into groups of three. Students will take turns delivering “Ain’t I a Woman?” to each other. Listeners should pay attention to how the speaker chose to deliver this speech and what the effect is on them, the audience.

Questions to guide listening:

  • Which words did the speaker emphasize?
  • When did s/he raise or lower his/her voice?
  • What emotions did the speaker try to convey? What effect did the delivery have on the audience?

After each delivery, the speaker should talk about why s/he decided to deliver the way s/he did. When all students have had a turn, invite three or four students to deliver the speech to the whole group and talk about their reasons for the way they delivered the speech.

Reflect on Differences in Delivery: Quick Write

Give students about 5-7 minutes to answer the following in their Reader's/Writer's Notebooks:

  • How did you deliver the speech and why? How was your delivery similar or different from that of others in your group?
  • What new insights or perspectives did you gain from preparing and delivering your own interpretation of the speech and listening to the those of your classmates?

Share in Whole Group

Invite students to share their responses to the above questions with the whole group.

Reread Again AND Write About

Ask students to reread the text again and answer the following question in their Reader's/Writer's Notebooks:

  • Truth keeps repeating the title phrase, "Ain't I a woman?" What does she mean by “Ain't I a woman?” Why do you think she keeps repeating the question?

Discuss in Pairs or Trios

After students have written on the question, ask them to turn to a partner and take about five minutes to discuss their responses. This partner talk is preparation for a whole group discussion on the same question.

Language Support:
Throughout this unit, cognates have been identified as an important resource for English learners to use in facilitating reading comprehension. It is important to note that cognates can also be “false friends” – a word that seems similar in Spanish and English but in fact means something very different. For example, the word "obliged" in the last line of Truth’s speech is a “false friend”. It sounds and looks similar to the word obligado in Spanish. Yet obligado means obligated, while obliged is a sign of thanks. The words appear to be cognates but have a very different meaning. Therefore, the use of cognates must be purposeful and checked for meaning and teachers should provide English learners with an array of other reading strategies that will also facilitate comprehension.

Teacher Resource:
Information regarding the purpose and set-up of an inquiry-based discussion is provided in the Teacher Resource, Inquiry-based Discussion.

Inquiry-based Discussion

Engage students in a whole group inquiry-based discussion. Encourage students to talk to each other and to agree, disagree, question, or in some way respond to one another. Make sure students use evidence from the text to support their opinions. Plan to discuss this question for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Pedagogical Support:

Inquiry-based discussions align with the Principles of Accountable Talk and Learning as Apprenticeship (Resnick and Hall, et al., 2003). If students offer unsupported responses, ask them questions such as: What in the text makes you say so? or Can you provide evidence or an example to support that opinion?

StepBack: Think about Learning

Invite students to step back and reflect on the tasks, texts, and talk they have engaged with today and consider the ways they have been working and thinking. Ask:

  • What are some things you noticed about the work you did today?
  • What are some things you learned and how did you learn them?
  • What supported your learning?

Rationale:

Having students notice the ways they were working with and thinking about these texts and reflect on what supported their learning helps them to develop an awareness of their own cognitive processes, making them more likely to repeat those processes in other situations and with other texts.

Homework: Quick Write

Ask students to answer the following question in their Reader's/Writer's Notebooks for homework.

  • How is Sojourner Truth’s speech persuasive? Cite specific words or lines.

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