Lesson 6: The Daily Experience of the Laurel Grove School, 1925

1. For ES and MS students: In this lesson we will use the KWHL (Know, Want to know, How to answer, Learned)

2. Draw the KWHL chart on the board or on chart paper.

3. Tell students they will begin by reflecting on what they already know about the Laurel Grove School and that this lesson will focus on the daily experience of students at LGS in 1925.

4. Discuss and record what students know in the “K” column. This can serve as a review of what students learned in previous lessons. Then ask students to think specifically about what daily life at the school might have been like. Students’ responses here might be a blend of what they know and what they think they know.

5. Next generate a list of questions by asking students what they want to learn more about. Record their questions in the “W” column. You can use the list of questions below to prompt students to expand and deepen their thinking.

     a. What subjects were studied and how were these subjects studied? What did students learn at the school (or what they remember learning)? [curriculum]

     b. What were their teachers like? What makes a “good teacher”? How were they trained? What were their attitudes and expectations of their students? What materials were available to students and teachers? What kind of books did they have – and did they like these books? [resources available]

     c. What responsibilities did students have at school – and at home that related to school?

     d. Describe students’ relationships with each other – across age, since LGS was a one-room school, between boys and girls. [size and makeup of classes]

     e. Describe the trip for students to and from school – how long was it? What was it like?

     f. What did students do for fun?

     g. What was the food like – did they have food?

     h. How did the segregated world around them affect their daily experience as students at the Laurel Grove School?

     i. What kind of opportunities for future education and careers did students have?

6. At this point explain that, for How to Answer, students will use the notice/question/context process to examine some primary sources, including photos, an oral history excerpt, and photos of artifacts, as well as a secondary source (the Historical Background) to discover what daily life was like at the Laurel Grove School in 1925.

7. Have students work in small groups each with primary sources on the daily experience of the Laurel Grove School, and direct them to use the notice and question process that they learned in previous lessons. Give them photos of the restored Laurel Grove School and of an African American Schoolhouse from the early 1900s. 

8. Reconvene the class and have students report out what they noticed and their questions. Examples from the photos might include: the small one room, potbelly stove, wooden desks, one teacher, students of varied ages; questions might include how did one teacher manage with such different ages? What did students study? Do for fun? Etc.

9. Expand on the daily experience at Laurel Grove by explaining that, in addition to the lessons that students had and around the school building, they also spent time and energy preparing for the Colored Fair. Use as your primary sources: the 1922 Colored Fair Program, Rules and Regulations – including a list of the Literary Work which students presented. Do this as a whole class.

10. Examples of what students might notice and question about the “colored” fair include the variety of activities including craft and farm skills, as well as school-centered skills, clear separation into white and ”colored,” etc.

11. Add students’ major observations to the “L” (Learned) column.

12. Next, to provide the context use the relevant sections of the Historical Background – as Talking Points, or PowerPoint, or whatever method works for you and your students. When this step is completed, add the last set of observations to the “L” column.

13. Wrap up: ES and MS students at this point can use what they have learned in this and previous Laurel Grove School lessons to create either a visual exhibit or an oral presentation to share with students from another class. One way to do this is to use the guidelines for a National History Day (NHD) project. The NHD theme for 2009 is The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies, which would be appropriate for the story of William Jasper and the Laurel Grove School founders. For more information on this see http://www.nhd.org  

HS proceed to an examination and comparison of the views of Booker T. Washington (BTW) and W. E. B. DuBois (WEB).

14. Give students the excerpts from their writings available at
• Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise Speech of 1895, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/88
• “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others” published within The Souls of Black Folk (1903) http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/40 Additional information can be found in the Historical Background essays in this lesson and lesson 4 (Growing Up in a Segregated Society) for background information on BTW and WEB. It is important to notice that the debate between industrial and academic education blends somewhat in the Laurel Grove School experience. As students read the excerpts, they should jot down notes with specifics about BTW's and WEB's point of view. Once they have finished reading the excerpts, they can use their notes to complete a Venn diagram. Also, under Materials see "Recent Thinking On Booker T. Washington" to update their ideas about BTW.  It might be helpful for students to use different colored sticky notes for the views of each person.

15. Use the Instructions for Continuum from Street Law, Inc.’s web site http://www.landmarkcases.org/ (and shown below) to have students take a position on this statement: The best approach to educating African American students during this time (1880s-1930s) was found in the beliefs and writings of – CHOOSE ONE: Booker T. Washington OR W.E.B. DuBois. On one end of the room put a sign saying BTW, and on the other a sign saying WEB, and proceed as directed. Instructions (an example included) is attached.

16. Wrap up for HS students: Two assessment options are below.
• Students will consider the motto, “Get an education and everything else will fall in line.” Write a journal entry, oral presentation, or visual display to illustrate if Laurel Grove School and the community helped African Americans meet this goal.

• Suppose Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois are guidance counselors at your school. Both of them visit your class to give advice for next year and your future careers. Using historical information of the individuals, create a T-chart of the advice you would receive from each person. Be specific, including information such as what classes you should take and why, what education (if any) beyond high school you should pursue and why, and what career options you should consider and why. First, complete the activity for the present day. Then, pretend you are an African American who lived in 1925. What are the similarities in what you consider in 2008 and what are differences? This may also be completed in the form of a journal entry.