One Crazy Summer Lesson Plan – Robin Kratzer

I would never re-invent the wheel. I looked at several lesson plans online and felt that the lesson plan from Viterbo University was absolutely the most comprehensive. Although most of the websites listed in this lesson plan are blocked from our use as “extreme” I am sure they could be unblocked when planning ahead. It might be interesting to compare what was happening in Ohio during the same time. In the Repository archives there is a photo of a Klan March right in front of the Timken High School Building. I have included a copy of an recent obit from the Beacon Journal. Maybe having kids compare the Black Panthers and the KKK both good and bad.

African Americans at that time were fighting for their “rights” today many believe we are giving up our “rights”. Let students write a paper using current events such as the second grader who was just taken away from his Mother and placed in Foster Care due to her not controlling his obesity. What would be the best way to “fight for your rights”.

Obituary Former Klan leader dies at 71

Funeral services today for perennial candidate Published: January 29, 2011 - 02:30 AM

Beacon Journal staff report WEST SALEM: Dale Reusch put the tiny Wayne County community on the map.

Reusch, 71, who claimed that he was once the imperial wizard of the Klan in Ohio, died Sunday at Select Specialty Hospital in Akron.

Funeral services will be today at Parker & Son Funeral Home in Lodi. He will be buried in Congress Cemetery.

Reusch, who retired from the Ford Motor Co. after 35 years, was outspoken about his past with the Ku Klux Klan. His political campaigns drew regional and national attention about the Klan movement in the Lodi area.

He ran for Medina County sheriff in 1968, 1972 and 1980, for governor in 1974 and for vice president in 1976. He was on the primary ballot only in one state, West Virginia, and he won there with 103,861 votes.

Reusch told the Beacon Journal that despite winning the nomination in one state, he still was not permitted into the Democratic National Convention.

His views on race aside, Reusch's political aspiration were dashed when he was convicted of violating federal gun laws in 1986.

Reusch pleaded guilty to a felony charge of transporting 83 guns, including pistols and semiautomatic rifles from Lodi to New York City in 1979 and 1980.

Reusch once told the Beacon Journal that he was railroaded by the government into pleading guilty to the gun charge. There were 10 charges against him, all involving weapons, and prosecutors agreed to drop all but the one to which he pleaded guilty. The guns, he said, were for his private collection. The felony conviction prevented him from running again for public office.

Throughout his life, Reusch publicly maintained his loyalty to the Klan.

He once told the Beacon Journal that he would pull out his old gold Klan robe with red, white and blue stripes every so often ''just to see if it fits.''

http://www.viterbo.edu/uploadedFiles/academics/letters/english/UnitPlanOneCrazySum mer.pdf Unit Plan One Crazy Summer Author Summary Class Discussion Questions Class Activities Daily Writing Prompts Essay Prompts Vocabulary Exercises Individual Research Projects Literary Strategies Symbols Allusions Names Structure Themes Social Issues 1968 (PowerPoint) Grant T. Smith’s Home Page Contact Information: Grant T. Smith, Ph.D. Viterbo University La Crosse, Wisconsin Designed by Carolyn Hanoski, Administrative Assistant Grant T. Smith, Ph. D. One Crazy Summer – Discussion Questions Author: Rita Williams-Garcia Summary: It is 1968, and three black sisters from Brooklyn have been put on a California-bound plane by their father to spend a month with their mother, a poet who ran off years before and is living in Oakland. It's the summer after Black Panther founder Huey Newton was jailed and member Bobby Hutton was gunned down trying to surrender to the Oakland police, and there are men in berets shouting "Black Power" on the news. Delphine, 11, remembers her mother, but after years of separation she's more apt to believe what her grandmother has said about her, that Cecile is a selfish, crazy woman who sleeps on the street. At least Cecile lives in a real house, but she reacts to her daughters' arrival without warmth or even curiosity. Instead, she sends the girls to eat breakfast at a center run by the Black Panther Party and tells them to stay out as long as they can so that she can work on her poetry. Over the course of the next four weeks, Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, spend a lot of time learning about revolution and staying out of their mother's way. Back to Unit Plan Discussion Questions:

Choose a passage in the book that you impressed you; e.g., ―And that’s why you’re like Cecile. You want to be a fairy on TV more than you care how your kids will feel and if they miss you‖ (145).

How does this book challenge your assumptions or your understanding of African Americans?

How does this book challenge our understanding of ―history‖?

Could the following statement by Delphine have been made by a white person? ―I had managed to disgrace the entire Negro race, judging by the head shaking and tsk-tsking going on around us‖ (11).

Delphine learns that ―expressions‖ don’t always reflect reality (23). What other examples of ―image‖ versus ―reality‖ can you find in the novel?

Is Cecile a better person than she is a mother?

Does the absence of strong men in the novel bother you?

Is this book as much about gender as it is about race?

Defend Cecile’s criticism of Delphine’s use of ―old-fashioned words‖ (136).

Were you satisfied with the ending?

This book is marketed for students in grades 4-7. Would most students in these grades read, understand, and enjoy the book?

Is this book a ―read aloud‖ book?

Back to Unit Plan Class Activities:

One Crazy Summer can be categorized as a ―counter narrative.‖ A counter narrative contradicts, supplements, or counters the official or dominant narrative of everyday life – those narratives that legitimatize the dominant economic, political, religious, or cultural power. According to the post modernists and the New Historicists, one purpose of all narratives is to manipulate public consciousness by privileging a national set of common cultural ideals. A counter narrative will critique the dominant cultural assumptions, or a counter narrative will add a different narrative from groups marginalized by the dominant culture.

Divide a sheet of paper into halves. On one side of the paper, list all of the words that come to your mind when you think of the Black Panthers. After you have finished reading One Crazy Summer, list on the other side of the paper those words that you now include in your description of the Black Panthers. Black Panther Party Website Another Black Panther Party Website The Ten Point Program Rules of the Black Panther Party Black Panther Research Project

Make a poster for the following characters: Delphine, Vonetta, Fern, Cecile (Nzilla), Sister Mukumbu, Hirohito. As you read the novel, list on the poster words that describe the characters.

Pair and Share: During the last ten minutes of class, share with a partner one thing that you learned from the class discussion or reading of One Crazy Summer. Write the response in your journal.

Spend a week reviewing one or two television shows that feature a minority group. How is the group represented? What stereotypes are challenged about the group? Are any stereotypes reinforced? Can you draw any valid conclusions about the minority group from the television shows?

On your way out of class, drop a question you want answered about One Crazy Summer into the question box.

A few ―Sixties‖ slogans are mentioned in the book. Find four or five more slogans from that decade. Explain the slogan.

This book takes place in 1968. Choose four major events in 1968 and write a page about the significance of each event.

Entrance Ticket: As the students enter the room, they must drop a question about One Crazy Summer in the Question Box that they want answered that day.

What Font Are You? Write a paragraph about yourself using a font that you feel indicates who you are. Explain in the paragraph how the font matches your personality.

I Wish I Had a Camera: Choose one scene in the book that you think is especially descriptive. Be prepared to tell the class why the scene is important in the development of the characters, the plot, or the theme.

Exit Ticket: Before the students leave the class, each must drop a comment in the Exit Box about what was read or discussed that day in class. The comment may be a question, an observation, a challenge, or a quote from the book that the student wants to discuss more. Students are allowed to "exit" the class until they have dropped the ticket in the box.

Back to Unit Plan Writing Prompts:

Delphine researches her name. Explore the meaning or history of your name (first name or surname). What did you learn?

Read the poem ―We Real Cool‖ by Gwendolyn Brooks. Summarize the poem.

Respond to the following quote by Vonetta: ―We didn’t come for the revolution. We came for breakfast‖ (88). Delphine says that that she has a nice song that drowns out the ugly things in life. What helps you drown out the unpleasant things in life? Delphine says that she doesn’t make messes—―not even for the fun of it‖ (106). Explain why you think Delphine avoids ―messes.‖ Does her personality change in the book? Look at what Cecile says to Delphine about being selfish (110).

Explain Cecile’s quote: ―We’re trying to break yokes. You’re trying to make one for yourself. If you knew what I know, seen what I’ve seen, you wouldn’t be so quick to pull the plow‖ (110).

Delphine claims she doesn’t have a talent (130). What is your talent?

In what ways is ―family‖ defined in this book?

Respond to Cecile’s (Nzila’s) poem, ―Movable Type‖ (148).

Write a poem about something you believe in.

Back to Unit Plan Activities:

How much do you know about any of the following: Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Hutton, Bobby Seale, H. Rap Brown, Cesar Chavez, Eugene McCarthy

Research any of the following movements: Black Nationalism, Women’s Liberation, Native American Rights, Latino American Rights, Environmental Movement, Viet Nam Protests

Who were the major figures in music during the 1960s?

Research any of the following: Kent State University, Woodstock, Earth Day, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Students for a Democratic Society, Voting Rights Act 1965, LSD, Selective Service, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, National Organization for Women, Civil Rights Act 1968, Lieutenant William Calley Jr., Ho Chi Minh

Find out when African-Americans began to appear in significant ways on television shows (including advertisements).

Back to Unit Plan One Crazy Summer as Literature: Symbols

Miss Patty Cake

Printing press

Grant Avenue

Merriam Webster

Mean Lady Ming

Hair (153)

Disneyland

Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color

White and black police car

―I Birthed a Black Nation‖

Delphine’s watch

―I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.‖

COINTELPRO http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm

Back to Unit Plan Historical allusions – List four or five historical allusions made in the novel. Discuss the significance of the allusion to the development of character, plot, or theme. Back to Unit Plan Literary allusions

Langston Hughes

Gwendolyn Brooks

Island of the Blue Dolphins Peter Pan

Henry and Ribsy

“We Real Cool”

Back to Unit Plan Names/Words

Colored

Brother/Brutha

Celcile/Nzilla, Delphine

Fern/Afua

Hirohito

Back to Unit Plan Structure:

How is the novel an example of a ―bildungsroman‖ novel?

How is the novel a ―bifurcated‖ work? List examples of dualities in the book:

Idlewild and JFK

East Coast and West Coast

Cassius Clay and Muhammad Ali

Oakland and Disneyland

Big Ma and Cecile

Back to Unit Plan Themes: The power of words: Cite passages that illustrate how important words are to empower a person or a culture. Cite examples of how meanings of words shift from person to person, from culture to culture. For example, what is the significance of Sister Mukumbu’s discussion of the definition of ―revolution.‖ Identity: What did Delphine learn about herself during the crazy summer? List the events that caused her to evolve as a person. What did she learn about herself and others from each event? Fact versus fantasy: This novel forces the readers to re-examine their assumptions about race, history, and roles. What assumptions did Williams-Garcia challenge in the novel? What can we learn from Delphine’s experience in Oakland? Back to Unit Plan Vocabulary: Find examples in the novel of the following:

Homonyms

Adjectives

Social Issues:

Race -- Stereotypes

Family

Individual versus Community

How to bring about change

Essay Question: Write an analysis of Cecile. Consider the following:

Her story

Her talents

Her conflicts

Her decisions

Her development

Back to Unit Plan