Langston Hughes 'Essay Self-Reliance'

CORNERSTONE OVERVIEW

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE (Before the Unit)

Students should have experience with creating MLA citations, using basic research skills, and conducting presentations using technology such as PREZI, Google Slide Presentations, or PowerPoint. Students should have familiarity with literary terms such as tone, diction, imagery, figurative language, theme, and mood. Additionally, students should have been exposed to protocols for evaluating art in different mediums, have familiarity with the 5 paragraph structure, and have a working understanding of what constitutes an artist and the different mediums through which artists present their work.

PLACEMENT WITHIN THE UNIT

Before:

Prior to this Cornerstone, students should have completed an examination of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance, and analyzed how the values of the early American pioneers discussed previously to their reading are presented and transformed by Emerson, and in particular, how the individual has a role and responsibility to him/herself and to society. This Cornerstone – The Role of the Black Artist – uses Langston Hughes’ essay as a starting point for students to evaluate the role of the black artist in society, building directly on the values of self-sufficiency, individualism, and responsibility to self and others discussed in their prior readings in

Unit 1.

Learning goals for the Cornerstone:

Student Learning Goal(s):

Students will understand the role and responsibilities of the black artist as described by Langston Hughes by closely reading Hughes’s essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.”
Students will evaluate three pieces of art in different mediums by black artists, and cite strong textual evidence to support their own original arguments about whether black artists of the Harlem Renaissance and current black artists live up to or fall short of the roles and responsibilities laid out by Hughes.
Students will understand how presentations can be used to convey clear, concise, and organized information to a particular audience.

After:

In their reading of Zora Neale Hurston’s Dust Tracks on the Road and James Baldwin’s essay, “If Black Isn’t a Language, then Tell Me What Is?,” students will apply their discoveries in the Cornerstone about the black artist’s challenges in society to the particular challenges faced by Hurston and Baldwin as they forged their own identities as black artists, evaluating their responsibilities to themselves and to their black peers and the role they played as catalysts in the struggle for racial equality.

STUDENT OUTCOME, PRODUCT, OR PERFORMANCE

Student-facing Task/Challenge:

You will read Hughes’s essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, and determine the roles and responsibilities of the black artist according to Hughes.

You will choose and closely evaluate three pieces of art (paintings, poems, music, etc.) from black artists, using the information in Hughes’s essay as the basis of your evaluation and analysis. First, you must provide an in-depth analysis of the selected art pieces. Then, you should determine whether or not the artists are living up to the roles and responsibilities put forth by Hughes, using textual evidence from his essay to support your evaluation of the

art.

MEASURING STUDENT LEARNING

Teachers will utilize the PARCC rubric for writing, a speaking and listening rubric, and presentation rubric. Teachers will measure student learning according to students' understanding and analysis of Hughes’ argument as presented in their essays and in the Paideia Seminar. Teachers will measure student’s evaluation of 2-3 black artists of their choice, based on student completion of supporting documents for the research project and student presentations of their findings.