Lesson 3: Follow the Drinking Gourd
Content Objective
Students will use vocabulary related to the Underground Railroad.
NETS
Students
• create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
• locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
• communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
Orientation Activity: The Language of the Underground Railroad
1. Students review the language of the Underground Railroad found at http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/language.cfm
2. Students create a class glossary consists of the code words used by the slaves in the Underground Railroad.
Informational Activity: About the Drinking Gourd
1. Students read background about drinking gourd http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/special/mlk/gourd1.html
2. Students read about music and the Underground Railroad http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/music1.cfm
Application Activity: The Meaning of the Drinking Gourd
1. Follow the Drinking Gourd contained codes to assist those enslaved to escape through the Underground Railroad. Have students listen to the Song @ http://www.followthedrinkinggourd.org/Cultural_History.htm and review the Lyrics at http://www.songsforteaching.com/folk/followthedrinkinggourd.htm
2. Students use the class Wiki to provide their ideas of the meaning of the song.
3. They then read an “actual” interpretation of the Drinking Gourd @ http://quest.nasa.gov/ltc/special/mlk/gourd2.html
Evaluation Activity: Create Your Own Song
1. Using the actual words used in the Underground Railroad, students write their own coded song. For an example, see http://www.episcopalacademy.org/htm/Units/lsDevon/DFormSS/codedmessageslp.htm
2. Students try to decipher the coded lyrics of another classmate's song.
Lesson Assessments
Informational Assessment
Students take the online quiz at http://www.theatreiv.org/quiz/harriet/quiz.html
Project Assessments
• The Student Wiki is assessed using the Wiki Rubric found in Lesson 2.
• For the Create A Song exercise, students rate themselves how well they met the criteria of writing a song using coded words from the Underground Railroad.
Student Evaluation of the Lesson
To evaluate instruction, students complete the survey about the Drinking Gourd lesson found at http://www.polldaddy.com/s/623D8F95AE43161A/