Shared Texts
The pursuit-driven lessons (PDLs) in Nurturing the Heart and Mind are intentionally organized around four key content areas— arts and culture , English language arts , social studies , and STEM . These areas reflect the subjects most commonly emphasized in schools and districts, and each lesson is designed to build the specific proficiencies students need to thrive within them. While each chapter centers on one content area, the learning is designed to be interdisciplinary, encouraging students to make meaningful connections across subjects and engage deeply with diverse topics. education and fair treatment for Black Americans. This letter was important because Washington and Du Bois had similar and different ideas about the best type of education for Black Americans, but Washington still showed his respect and appreciation for Du Bois’s work. Letters like this help people use their unique voice and share their ideas with others, and even find common ground amidst differences. MAKE AN ELA CONNECTION This lesson engages students in writing development. It introduces the idea of writing routinely over time, where students have the opportunity to determine message, content, and audience. Writing is a powerful way to express language and letter writing in particular allows students to experiment with content, message, and voice. Have students read the focus text and the background information on letter writing. Ask students what they find most intriguing or interesting about the focus text and background information. Encourage them to consider the message they would share if they were writing a letter to themselves. Then, review parts of a letter together. Have them write out those parts and then write a letter to themselves—or, if they like, to a parent, caregiver, or someone they love. Share an example of a message you might write to yourself or someone else to help guide them. As students explore the content of Booker T. Washington’s letter to W.E.B Du Bois and the purpose of letter writing, help them also understand how letter writing is a way of centering one’s voice and perspectives. Invite them to make a list of people they might want to write a letter to in the future. English Language Arts
ENGLIS LANGU ARTS
LESSON ELA
SUGGE CCSS LEARNI STANDA ELA-LITE W.10: W routinely extende frames (t for resea reflectio revision) shorter t frames (a sitting o two) for disciplin tasks, pu and aud EXTEND THE LES • Have studen historic contem letters analyze messag commu • Encour studen to crea letter-w
APPLY THE CHRE FRAMEWORK Continue the lesson by asking and discussing the following pursuit-driven questions. IDENTITY: What message would you tell yourself in a letter? SKILLS: Can you write a letter to yourself at the start of the school year and the end? INTELLECT: What is letter writing? What did you learn about Booker T. Washington from the letter he wrote to W.E.B. Du Bois? CRITICALITY: In what way does letter writing center one’s voice and perspectives? JOY: If you made a list of people you would like to write a letter to, who would you include and why?
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LAYERED TEXTS TO SUPPORT THE LEARNING • Dear Ruby, Hear Our Hearts by Ruby Bridges • Primary source letters from the 1800-1900s • PBS video: “Poet Willie Perdomo on the Value of Writing Letters in a Digital World” • Current letters of students
Photos ©: W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst Libraries. (Booker T. Washington letter); National Archives and Records Administration (Chinese Exclusion Act); United States Patent Office (patent)
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