by LitWits founders and teachers, Becky and Jenny
“Hands-on, memorable, meaningful ways to teach this book, and pull out its many powerful lessons, LitWits style.
Last week we taught Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in our experiential workshops. It’s a memorable but difficult book to read, because it’s about racial conflicts and injustices of 1930s Mississippi, from a child’s point of view. And, as we told parents ahead of time, it includes language and violence our chosen books don’t usually include.
But they trusted that there were lessons worth learning in this story. They must have believed, as we do, that identifying with a strong character facing adversity would help their own kids develop understanding, empathy, and coping skills. So 72 kids, many as young as seven, showed up with this tough book inside them, ready to learn more.
We always start our workshops by asking the kids how the book made them feel, and what it made them want to do—because that’s what matters most. Several kids in different sessions said the same thing: “It made me sad and mad and I wanted to jump into the book and FIX THINGS!”
That’s the power of a great book, and why we want kids to learn to love to read them.
We talked about how these feelings tied into the title—to its key words of thunder, hear, and cry—and the author’s intention that we deeply hear the voices in her story, feel the anger and sadness, and better understand the past—and the present as well. Kudos to her for achieving all that, and making us want to change things for the better.
To address the madness (in both senses of the word) and sadness first, we had the kids cover the offensive textbook record like Cassie’s teacher mama did in the story, only we did our own spin on that. Instead of just pasting paper over it, we covered it with burlap to represent the Logan’s all-important land. Then we planted their butter beans as values that would overcome hate and intolerance:
We shall overcome because the Bible is right, “You shall reap what you sow.”
We shall overcome.
Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome.
– Martin Luther King, “We Shall Overcome” speech, March 31, 1968
Then we got our hands on some cotton and into the red Mississippi dirt, the land that was so important to the Logan family, and emphasized its strength and softness, its resilience—like the Logans’—and the idea of “standing your ground.” We also emulated the masterful “show don’t tell” writing technique of Mildred D. Taylor, feasted on the Logans’ cornbread and butterbeans, and listened to vintage jazz and gospel music from the revival … among other things, like learning the narrative arc.
Most importantly we discussed HUGE themes of segregation and prejudice, and celebrated values such as courage, respect, love, and family. We also touched on the effects of Reconstruction, and covered some heroes and key legal decisions in the Civil Rights movement, including the critical Fourteenth Amendment, followed by Jim Crow laws and segregation.
It was a more serious workshop than usual, out of respect for Black history and people and Mildred D. Taylor, but we’d worked on finding respectful, thoughtful ways to be “hands-on,” and it paid off. Through Cassie Logan, we all learned that we too have what it takes to do what’s right.
If you’d like our free ideas for teaching this book in hands-on, meaningful ways, come see our Creative Teaching Resources page for Rolll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
And if you have ideas of your own to share, or a comment or question, we’d love to hear from you in the Comments below, or by email.
