Phillis+Sings+Out+Freedom+Reinforcing+Activity

Objective: Students will be able to apply the concept of freedom to their lives by exploring how it was obtained during the American Revolution and will demonstrate its importance then and now by writing their own poems about freedom.

Materials: Venn Diagram Worksheet

Procedure: 1) After reading //Phillis Sings Out Freedom: The Story of George Washington and Phillis Wheatley// by Ann Malaspina as a class, break into groups and discuss the following questions:
 * What did freedom mean to George Washington?
 * What did freedom mean to Phillis Wheatley?
 * What did freedom mean to the United States?
 * How was European colonialism restricting freedom?
 * How did Washington, Wheatley, and/or America obtain freedom?

One student per group will volunteer to be the scribe and write down the response to each question.

2) Compare and Contrast: Wheatley and Washington both contributed to the formation of this country, but they were very different people. Using a Venn diagram, compare and contrast the two and the roles they played in the Revolution.



3) Now, analyze the excerpt from the poem Wheatley wrote Washington (p.19) as a group. Consider the following questions:
 * What does the poem mean?
 * What is she referring to when she says “goddess?”
 * What impact did this poem have on Washington? How did he react?

4) Discuss the following questions in the same small groups, and have one volunteer record the responses:
 * What does freedom mean to you?
 * What does freedom mean in the United States today?
 * How did Wheatley and Washington contribute to modern day freedom in the Western Hemisphere?

5) Use these ideas to individually write a poem describing 1) what freedom looks like in our own lives, 2) in modern day America, or 3) during the revolution. Model the poems after Wheatley's, or select a different format of choice.

6) After the poems are finished, volunteers will share the writing during a class-wide poetry reading.

7) The class will participate in a discussion about America’s fight for freedom from Europeans and why the revolution is important to America today.

Other Academic Social Studies Standards: Topic: Historical Thinking and Skills Strand: History Grade: Five Content Statement #1: Multiple-tier timelines can be used to show relationships among events and places. Students could examine the dates listed in the information at the conclusion of the story and create a timeline of events in the relationship between Washington and Wheatley.
 * 13: Information displayed in circle graphs can be used to show relative proportions of segments of data to an entire body of data.