Learning About Black Visionaries

Reading, Writing, Social

First Grade, Second Grade
Studies, ,

Use this lesson plan as an introductory activity to kick-off a short, project-based learning unit where students
will research black visionaries and share what they learned.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to compose opinion pieces.

Students will be able to conduct research on a black visionary using books and online resources.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Printed and displayed copy of the A-Z African opinion

American Visionaries poster research
Teacher and student copies of the My Opinion visionary
Matters worksheet
Class set of the Note-Taking Sheet (optional)
Short articles (printed and laminated) about
some of the visionaries listed on the poster
Access to online devices and/or computers
A variety of books that feature black visionaries
(see suggested media below)
Access to a school library
A variety of creative materials, such as
construction paper, poster board, drawing
paper, cardstock, notecards, coloring materials,
paint, etc.
Writer's notebooks

Attachments

A-Z African American Visionaries Poster (PDF)

My Opinion Matters (PDF)
Note-Taking Sheet (PDF)

Introduction (3 minutes)

Gather the students together in a group.

Explain to the students that today, they will begin research on an important black person who has helped
to make the world a better place.
Ask the students to turn and talk to a partner, explaining what research means.
Allow students to share their ideas. Clarify that when we research something, we learn more about it
using resources, like books, articles, and videos.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (15 minutes)

Project the A-Z African American Visionaries poster on the whiteboard, or display it on a wall so students
can see.
Point to the word "Visionaries". Explain to the students that a visionary is someone who has clear ideas
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 about what should happen or be done in the future. Visionaries sometimes have powerful imaginations
that help them to dream big and take risks to do really great things.
Read through the names on the poster, and explain to the students that they will get to choose one of the
visionaries to research.
Choose one of the visionaries on the poster (e.g., Maya Angelou) and model how to look up Maya
Angelou's name on safe and developmentally appropriate websites, such as Britannica Kids. Read
through the information, and model drawing pictures or writing short sentences to show what you
learned. The Note-Taking Sheet can be used to record important information about the person, or use a
modified version to support student needs.

Guided Practice (30 minutes)

Take the students to the school library (if possible) and show them how to look up books about the
visionary they chose.
Provide students with time to reseach their visionary, and guide them as needed.
Allow students to work in partnerships and provide each student with their own Note-Taking Sheet
worksheet, or allow them to bring their writer's notebooks to record information.

Independent working time (15 minutes)

Bring the students back to the classroom and explain that they will have the next week or two to
research their visionary during a chosen block of time in the school day (social studies, ELA, passion
project, etc.).
Allow the students time to look through the books they checked out from the library, or conduct further
research using devices and computers.
Rotate around the classroom and support students as needed.

Related books and/or media

BOOK: Young Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present
BOOK: Black Women in Science
BOOK: Little Leaders: Exceptional Men in Black History
BOOK: Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
WEBSITE: National Geographic Kids: African-American Pioneers of Science
WEBSITE: 6 African-American Inventors for Kids

Differentiation

Support:

Allow students to work in a small, teacher-led group as they conduct research.

Provide students with assistive technology that reads text aloud.
Support students in recording the information gathered through drawing pictures, words, and simple
sentences.
Teach students a mini-lesson about their chosen person.

Enrichment:

Challenge students to compare/contrast their findings from two different sources (e.g., what does
Briticanna Kids say about Malcolm X compared to the book, Malcolm Little, which his daughter wrote?)
Encourage students to think about why their findings contrast and relate it to who wrote the book and
their perspective.

Technology Integration

Allow students to access computers or online devices for their research.

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Assessment

Assessment will take place at the end of the unit

At the end of the short project-based unit, have students complete the My Opinion Matters worksheet.
Write the sentence stem on the whiteboard: ____ is a visionary.
Explain to the students that they will write this sentence stem in the box labeled "Opinion" with the name
of their chosen person.
Explain to the students that an opinion is what someone believes to be true based on their experiences
and research.
Use the worksheet as a draft, and have students re-write or type their final opinion piece.
Allow students sufficient time over the course of a few weeks to create blogs, posters, plays, and/or art to
teach others about what they learned through their research.
Set up a "gallery walk" and have students walk around the classroom to check out each other's projects.
Use the opinion writing pieces and student projects to assess student learning.

Review and closing (5 minutes)

Gather students together after the introductory lesson and ask them to respond to one of the following
prompts:
One thing I learned is ____.
One thing I'm still wondering is ____.
I used to think ____, but now I know ____.
Explain to the students that they will continue their research tomorrow (or whenever you will continue the
project-based unit).

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 A-Z African American Visionaries

a B E
C D E is for Ella Baker

B is for Basquiat
D is for Frederick Douglass
A is for Maya Angelou C is for Mari Copeny

H j
i
F G J is for Mae Jemison
F is for Aretha Franklin
I is for Ida B. Wells
G is for Claudia Gordon

o
H is for Dorothy Pitman Hughes

k l m n
O is for Michelle Obama
K is for Katherine Johnson

N is for Ta-Nehisi Coates

L is for Henrietta Lacks

t
M is for Martin Luther King, Jr.

p q
P is for Horace Pippin
R S T is for Thurgood Marshall
Q is for Quincy Jones

u
S is for Sojourner Truth
R is for Rosa Parks

v y
U is for Gabrielle Union
w
V is for Vashti Harrison
X
z
Y is for Yara Shahidi
W is for Oprah Winfrey

X is for Malcolm X

Z is for Zora Neale Hurston

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Name Date

MY OPINION MATTERS
W r it e o r draw y ou r opi ni on on th e b o o k o r t o p i c . N e x t , w r it e o r dr a w o n e
r ea so n in each box th at s u pports y o u r o p in io n . F i n a l l y , c r e a t e a p i c t u r e t ha t
goes alo ng w i th y ou r opi ni on!

B OO K O R T O PIC :

O P I NI O N: REA S ON 1:

REA S ON 2:

P I C T UR E :

REA S ON 3:

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 Biography Note Taking Sheet
Women in History

Find a biography of a woman you admire or would like to know more about. Take
notes on the sheet below.

Famous Person’s Name: ______________________________________________________

Date and Place of Birth: ________________________ ____________________________

Names of Mother and Father: _______________________ _________________________

Names of Siblings: __________________________________________________________

Interesting Facts About Early Life:

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Schooling:

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Interesting Facts About Adult Life:

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
How This Person Made an Impact on the World:

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
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