Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-80 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes
4. Independent Practice20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Project the short account. Students answer alone for three minutes, then share.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "In ninth grade, a coach told Rosa she was too slow to run varsity. She began running before school every morning. A year later she made the team, and at the season banquet she thanked the coach 'for the best motivation I ever got.'" (1) Name one individual, one idea and one event in this account. (2) How does the coach's idea change what Rosa does? (3) By the banquet, what do the coach's words mean that they did not mean in ninth grade?

   Draw the answers as a small web on the board: the coach (individual) states an idea (Rosa is too slow), the idea changes Rosa's behavior (event: morning runs), and the result changes the meaning of the original words, from a put-down to "motivation." Tell students that RI.11-12.3 asks them to do this with a long, demanding text: follow several individuals, ideas and events at once and explain how they act on one another and change over the course of the text.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: Terms. A complex set of ideas or sequence of events has several elements working at once, so that no one of them can be explained alone. Elements interact when one changes another: a person shapes an event, an event changes a person, an idea moves a person to act, or a person gives an idea new force. They develop when they change over the course of the text: a person hardens or grows, an idea gains or shifts meaning, an event's importance becomes clear only later.

   Five kinds of interaction and a question for each

   Interaction	Question to ask
   An individual shapes an event	What happens because this person acted or spoke?
   An event changes an individual	How is this person different after the event?
   An idea acts on an individual	What belief, system or pressure changes what this person does?
   An individual changes an idea	How does this person use, answer or redefine an idea?
   An idea or event returns later	What earlier moment does this recall, and what has changed?

   Part 2: Model with Douglass. Frederick Douglass (about 1818-1895) was born into slavery in Maryland, escaped in 1838 and published his Narrative in 1845. In chapter VI he is about eight and has been sent to Baltimore to live with Hugh Auld ("Mr. Auld," called "Master Hugh" in chapter VII) and his wife. Just before this excerpt, Douglass describes Mrs. Auld as the kindest white woman he had met. Gloss an ell (an old cloth measure of about 45 inches, so "give an inch, take an ell" means a small allowance leads to a large demand) and to wit (namely). Read the excerpt with students, then work through the examples and Diagram 1. Each [...] in Mr. Auld's words marks an omitted slur; see the teacher note in Closure.

   1But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.

   2Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. To use his own words, further, he said, “If you give [...] an inch, he will take an ell. [...] should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best [...] in the world. Now,” said he, “if you teach that [...] (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.” These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read. What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both.

   • Naming the complex set

     Before analyzing interactions, list the individuals and ideas at work in the chapter VI excerpt. What makes this a complex set rather than a single line of events?

     Result: Three individuals (Mrs. Auld, Mr. Auld, Douglass) and at least three ideas (Mrs. Auld's kindness, slavery's "irresponsible power," and learning as "the pathway from slavery to freedom") act on one another at once. The kindness starts the lessons, the power stops them, and the stopping produces the idea. No element can be explained without the others.

   • An idea acting on an individual

     Paragraph 1 comes before the lessons are even described. What does it say acts on Mrs. Auld, and how does Douglass frame the change?

     Result: An idea embodied in a system, not a person: "The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands." Douglass calls it "the influence of slavery" and announces the result first ("this kind heart had but a short time to remain such"), so the reader watches the lessons knowing they will end. The individual is shown as changed by an idea.

   • An individual shaping an event

     Paragraph 2, sentence 3: what does Mr. Auld do, and what reasons does he give?

     Result: He ends the lessons: he "at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further," saying it was "unlawful, as well as unsafe." His quoted argument gives the reasons in his own words: learning would make an enslaved person "unmanageable, and of no value to his master." One person's decision changes the course of events.

   • An event turning into an idea

     How does Mr. Auld's speech change Douglass's thinking? Quote the words that mark the change.

     Result: The speech meant to end his learning gives him an insight: "These words sank deep into my heart ... and called into existence an entirely new train of thought." He now understands "the white man's power to enslave the black man," and "From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom." The event produces an idea that works against the man who caused it.

   • Opposed individuals, one outcome

     "What he most dreaded, that I most desired." How does Douglass sum up the interaction of the three people by the end of the paragraph?

     Result: The two Aulds pushed in opposite directions and produced the same result: "I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both." Kindness gave him the first letters; opposition gave him the reason to keep going. That balance is what "interact" means in RI.11-12.3: the outcome comes from the combination, not from either person alone.

3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes

   The next excerpt opens chapter VII. Douglass returns to Mrs. Auld and explains her change in more detail. Gloss stratagems (clever plans), depravity (moral corruption), chattel (property, the legal status of enslaved people) and precepts (rules). Pairs run Activity 2 with this excerpt and the one from Direct Instruction.

   1I lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years. During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write. In accomplishing this, I was compelled to resort to various stratagems. I had no regular teacher. My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else. It is due, however, to my mistress to say of her, that she did not adopt this course of treatment immediately. She at first lacked the depravity indispensable to shutting me up in mental darkness. It was at least necessary for her to have some training in the exercise of irresponsible power, to make her equal to the task of treating me as though I were a brute.

   2My mistress was, as I have said, a kind and tender-hearted woman; and in the simplicity of her soul she commenced, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another. In entering upon the duties of a slaveholder, she did not seem to perceive that I sustained to her the relation of a mere chattel, and that for her to treat me as a human being was not only wrong, but dangerously so. Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness. The first step in her downward course was in her ceasing to instruct me. She now commenced to practise her husband’s precepts. She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply doing as well as he had commanded; she seemed anxious to do better. Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper. She seemed to think that here lay the danger. I have had her rush at me with a face made all up of fury, and snatch from me a newspaper, in a manner that fully revealed her apprehension. She was an apt woman; and a little experience soon demonstrated, to her satisfaction, that education and slavery were incompatible with each other.

   3From this time I was most narrowly watched. If I was in a separate room any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book, and was at once called to give an account of myself. All this, however, was too late. The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell.

   Debrief with two questions. What does chapter VII add to the account of Mrs. Auld in chapter VI? Chapter VI tells the change in a few lines; chapter VII slows it down: she "did not adopt this course of treatment immediately" and needed "some training in the exercise of irresponsible power." The individual develops by stages, and the idea acting on her, first named in chapter VI, is named again. How does she end up agreeing with her husband? By her own experience: "a little experience soon demonstrated, to her satisfaction, that education and slavery were incompatible with each other." His idea becomes hers, and she becomes "even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself." Close with paragraph 3, where Douglass takes Mr. Auld's inch-and-ell saying and turns it into a statement of his own victory (Activity 3).

4. Independent Practice20 minutes

   Students read the next excerpt from chapter VII alone and answer quiz questions 1-19 with the passage open; question 20 also uses the Direct Instruction excerpt. Between the Guided Practice excerpt and this one, Douglass describes how he traded bread with white boys in the street for reading lessons. The Columbian Orator was a schoolbook of speeches and dialogues for practicing public speaking. Richard Brinsley Sheridan was an Irish writer and member of the British Parliament; "Catholic emancipation" was the campaign to end laws that barred Catholics in Britain and Ireland from Parliament and public office. Gloss emancipation (release from slavery or legal restriction), abhor (hate), trump (trumpet) and stupidity (here, not knowing or not feeling one's condition). The [...] in paragraph 1 marks two omitted sentences explaining when the dialogue takes place.

   1I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a book entitled “The Columbian Orator.” Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book. Among much of other interesting matter, I found in it a dialogue between a master and his slave. [...] In this dialogue, the whole argument in behalf of slavery was brought forward by the master, all of which was disposed of by the slave. The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master—things which had the desired though unexpected effect; for the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master.

   2In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan’s mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I read them over and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance. The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish. As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate. The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Choose one individual and one idea from today's excerpts. In two sentences, explain how the idea changed the individual, or how the individual changed the idea, and quote the words that show it." Read the tickets for students who describe a change without saying what caused it; start the next lesson with two of them.

   Homework passage. In chapter X, Douglass is about sixteen. His owner has hired him out for the year 1833 to Edward Covey, a farmer known for "breaking" enslaved people, who has beaten him many times over six months. The excerpt opens with the sentence Douglass uses to introduce the episode; the [...] skips his account of collapsing in the field, going to his owner for protection and being sent back, and the start of the fight, in which Covey tries to tie him and a worker named Hughes helps Covey and is kicked away. Bill is another enslaved man, hired out to Covey by his own master.

   1I have already intimated that my condition was much worse, during the first six months of my stay at Mr. Covey’s, than in the last six. The circumstances leading to the change in Mr. Covey’s course toward me form an epoch in my humble history. You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.

   2[...] By this time, Bill came. Covey called upon him for assistance. Bill wanted to know what he could do. Covey said, “Take hold of him, take hold of him!” Bill said his master hired him out to work, and not to help to whip me; so he left Covey and myself to fight our own battle out. We were at it for nearly two hours. Covey at length let me go, puffing and blowing at a great rate, saying that if I had not resisted, he would not have whipped me half so much. The truth was, that he had not whipped me at all. I considered him as getting entirely the worst end of the bargain; for he had drawn no blood from me, but I had from him. The whole six months afterwards, that I spent with Mr. Covey, he never laid the weight of his finger upon me in anger. He would occasionally say, he didn’t want to get hold of me again. “No,” thought I, “you need not; for you will come off worse than you did before.”

   3This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free. The gratification afforded by the triumph was a full compensation for whatever else might follow, even death itself. He only can understand the deep satisfaction which I experienced, who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery. I felt as I never felt before. It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom. My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me.

   4From this time I was never again what might be called fairly whipped, though I remained a slave four years afterwards. I had several fights, but was never whipped.

   5It was for a long time a matter of surprise to me why Mr. Covey did not immediately have me taken by the constable to the whipping-post, and there regularly whipped for the crime of raising my hand against a white man in defence of myself. And the only explanation I can now think of does not entirely satisfy me; but such as it is, I will give it. Mr. Covey enjoyed the most unbounded reputation for being a first-rate overseer and negro-breaker. It was of considerable importance to him. That reputation was at stake; and had he sent me—a boy about sixteen years old—to the public whipping-post, his reputation would have been lost; so, to save his reputation, he suffered me to go unpunished.

   Teacher note on language. The Direct Instruction excerpt omits a slur that appears in the original. Douglass quotes Mr. Auld word for word, and in the 1845 text Mr. Auld uses a racial slur four times; Douglass reproduces it to expose how slaveholders spoke and thought. On this page each [...] in paragraph 2 marks one omitted occurrence of the word, and everything else is quoted exactly as printed in 1845. If students read the full chapter, set expectations first: the word is not read aloud or repeated in discussion, and students may say "Mr. Auld's slur" when they cite the passage. Other words reflect the law and language of slavery: "chattel" (property), "brute," and "negro-breaker" (homework passage), a term for a man hired to beat enslaved people into submission. Douglass uses these words to condemn the system, and students should see them as his evidence, not his view.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement best describes the complex set of ideas Douglass develops in this excerpt?

   AReading taught Douglass that most slaveholders would free their slaves if asked BReading made Douglass content with his condition once he understood it fully CReading gave Douglass arguments against slavery and a torment he could not escape DReading showed Douglass that the other enslaved people around him were happier than he was

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does the thought of being "a slave for life" (paragraph 1) interact with the events that follow?

   AIt weighs on him just as he finds the book, so the reading meets a real need BIt is an idea he first meets in the book's dialogue between the master and the slave CIt is a phrase of Master Hugh's that Douglass repeats in order to mock him DIt explains why he gives up on the book after reading it only one time

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In the dialogue, the slave's replies lead to "the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master." What idea does Douglass take from this?

   AThat an enslaved person must overpower his master before he can be free BThat slaveholders can never be moved by argument, however strong it is CThat he should read the dialogue aloud to Master Hugh and his wife DThat truth has power over the conscience even of a slaveholder

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance." What interaction does this sentence describe?

   AThe speeches planted ideas in Douglass that he had never had before BThe speeches gave words to ideas he already had but could not voice CDouglass's own thoughts led him to rewrite the speeches in plainer words DDouglass argued against the speeches until he had shown them to be wrong

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved." What does this sentence do in the development of the excerpt?

   AIt ends the discussion of reading and begins a story about his escape BIt turns a gain from reading into a deeper problem that follows CIt shows that the speeches were too hard for him to read without help DIt introduces a new person who takes the book away from Douglass

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Douglass's attitude toward his enslavers develop as he keeps reading?

   AIt softens, because the dialogue shows that masters can be persuaded BIt stays as it was, because he had hated them equally from the start CIt turns to confusion, because Sheridan's speech defends their side DIt hardens into loathing as the reading goes on and on

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come." What does this sentence connect?

   AA present torment to a prediction made before he learned to read BA present torment to a new household rule Master Hugh made after catching him CThe Columbian Orator to another book that Master Hugh had once owned and read DHis discontentment to a letter he wrote to Master Hugh after he had escaped

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing." How does this sentence develop the idea of learning to read in the excerpt?

   AIt repeats the earlier claim that reading is the only way to be free BIt shows that he decided at this point to stop reading for good CIt complicates the gain, since the same reading now brings pain DIt shows that he could not understand what the Columbian Orator meant

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out." What does this image add to Douglass's analysis?

   AIt describes a real pit near the Baltimore house where he was kept BIt shows that reading late at night had damaged his eyesight badly CIt suggests that reading had already shown him a way to escape DIt separates knowing his condition from having any way out of it

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity." What does this sentence show about how reading has changed Douglass's relation to other enslaved people?

    AHe now believes that they are less intelligent than he is by nature BHis knowledge sets him apart, and in his pain he wishes it did not CHe plans to teach them to read so that they can share in what he knows DThey have warned him that reading is dangerous and that he should stop

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever." By the end of the excerpt, how has the idea of freedom developed?

    AIt has become a presence that both inspires and torments him BIt has become a goal that he gives up as impossible for him to reach CIt has become a legal status that he gains in the final sentence DIt has become an idea he meets only when he reads Sheridan's speech

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does Douglass describe the dialogue's ending, in which the master frees the slave, before he describes his own torment?

    ATo show that he expected his own master to free him very soon BTo prove that the dialogue in the book was based on a true story CTo set a hopeful model beside his own case, where no remedy comes DTo explain why he stopped reading the book after that first dialogue

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which pair of phrases best shows reading working on Douglass in two opposite directions?

    A"a book entitled 'The Columbian Orator'" / "one of Sheridan's mighty speeches" B"enabled me to utter my thoughts" / "to torment and sting my soul" C"I read them over and over again" / "Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book" D"a bold denunciation of slavery" / "a powerful vindication of human rights"

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sequence best describes how the excerpt develops?

    AA heavy thought, a book that answers it, words for his ideas, then torment and freedom everywhere BA book, a plan to escape, an attempt to escape, then his capture and a punishment from Master Hugh CA growing hatred of his enslavers, then a book that calms it, then a new contentment with his condition DA conversation with Master Hugh, then a new book, then a new teacher who helps him learn to write

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    The Columbian Orator gives Douglass two texts: the dialogue and Sheridan's speech. Explain how each one interacts with his own ideas. What does each give him, and how do the two together change what he can do?

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Trace how the idea of freedom develops across paragraph 2, from "a powerful vindication of human rights" to the last sentence. Identify three stages and quote a few words for each.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Douglass says reading "relieved me of one difficulty" but "brought on another even more painful." Explain what each difficulty is, using the text, and how the second grows out of the first.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    After the wishes to be "a beast" and "the meanest reptile," the paragraph ends with freedom that "looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm." How do these last sentences change the meaning of the torment described just before them?

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In one paragraph of 6-8 sentences, analyze how individuals, ideas and events interact and develop in this excerpt. Discuss at least one individual, one idea and one event, and explain how at least one of them changes.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Reread Mr. Auld's words in the Direct Instruction excerpt, especially "It would make him discontented and unhappy." Explain how this prediction interacts with the events of this excerpt. Was Mr. Auld right? How does Douglass's account turn the prediction into support for a different conclusion?

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.11-12.3: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.