I recently discovered the PBS documentary on the
Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights movement. Now I am not going to lie, I do not mention the
Freedom Riders too much when I teach the Civil Rights and I did not do the Freedom Riders any justice. I watched this documentary and could not believe how great it was, how courageous they were. How could I not teach them as well as I had before? I know the word documentary scares people off because it may be boring, but trust me, this is SO AMAZING! It is dramatic, keeps you on the edge of your seat, and keeps you engaged throughout the entire time. I then showed it to my students who had the same reaction that I did. The movie led to the students looking up more information on the
Freedom Riders and other Civil Rights movements that occurred. It was one of those perfect lessons, that then had me assign a socratic discussion! I mean where is admin when you want them to come in???
So for this lesson, I assigned a
Civil Rights webquest first so students had a great idea of the entire Civil Rights movement, from beginning to end. Because students were wanting to research more afterwards, I created a
Webquest on the Freedom Riders and
Jim Crow Laws before the class participated in a Socratic Seminar.
I love showing Civil Rights Movement videos- I think all students enjoy watching them. But this one was by far the best I have ever shown. And there are
questions and quiz included to ensure students are engaged!
