A Raisin In The Sun

[Before Reading Activity} A branch of PBS, this website focuses on “The Chicago Freedom Movement of 1966”. While the book is set in the 1950s this PBS exclusive is still very pertinent and engaging. The site contains photos, video, historical background and teaching aides. The information on these pages is imperative for the students comprehension. Through visual mediums the subject matter will become real; the pain and struggle that many people endured during this time will take shape, in a very visual form. With the idea of a solid comprehension of the historical background in mind, students will be divided into groups and assigned a topic under the “Milestones” tab. After they are given a topic they will be given two weeks (with some classroom time, in order to address questions) and prepare engaging presentations for the class. Presentations should be concise, no more than 5 minutes. They will need to address the topic and its impact on society. A thorough rubric should be presented to assess individual student comprehension of the given topic and surrounding time period. Students should also be encouraged to utilize audio and visual materials to enhance their presentation.

[Before Reading Activity] What would you buy with $10,000? In the book $10,000 is life changing, enough for the Younger’s to buy a house. With this activity, the teacher will encourage the students to brainstorm how they would spend $10,000. They will then need to make a list documenting how the money would be used. With each item the students will need to include a small explanation as to why they chose to use the money that way. Teachers should stress to the students that answers like: “because I think the thing is cool” or “because I’ve always wanted it” will not be accepted. They will need to use introspection and give thoughtful answers. The Teacher should then collect the lists and hold on to them until the end of the “A Raisin in the Sun” unit. This list will become helpful near the end of the reading once the students are able to see how the Younger’s spent and wanted to spend their money. Hopefully there will be a contrast between the student’s list and the text. This will cause the students to second guess their responses and see the dangers of money, greed, and pride. There will also be an activity that converts the money from 1950s currency to today’s currency in order to demonstrate the disparity. This will hopefully allow the students to understand just how important $10,000 was in the 1950s, and to see how far money can and should be stretched in today's society

[Before Reading Activity] A Raisin in the Sun received its title from a poem by Langston Hughes entitled “Harlem”. It is important for the students to get a grasp on the work that inspired the titled of the text. The teacher will lead the discussion and help the students to dissect the poem while focusing on language, symbols, themes, images, etc. The students should be encouraged to continually reflect on this poem during their reading, especially the question that Hughes poses: “what happens to a dream deferred?” With this knowledge the students will be well equipped and ready to do an in-depth reading, ready to tackle the themes and motifs reflected in A Raisin in the Sun.

[Before Reading Activity] It is important that the students become familiar with who the author is/was. Using the information provided on this site the teacher and the students can use the information provided along with some of the other supplemental links on the page in order to further understand why Hansberry writes the way she does. Students will be encourage to focus on social class, parental influences, and any other possible factors that should be taken into account when trying to discover why Hansberry chooses to include certain themes in her book. Certain societal influences include: moving to an affluent white neighborhood, legal issues within the new neighborhood, living in Chicago, and similarities with Beneatha (obsession with African Studies and desire to further education). The teacher should not feel obligated to point out specific examples/similarities in order to maintain high expectation of the students. This unit could be very effective if taught in February during Black History Month; this would allow the utilization of other black authors and the opportunity to generate more socially aware students.

[Before Reading Activity] A Raisin in the Sun is full of the idea of the constant pursuit of happiness or personal betterment. The concept of “The American Dream” is one that is thrown around rather loosely. It is important that the students understand what "The American Dream" means; in so doing the students will understand Americas ideals and what separates America from other nations. On this site students will be encouraged to select any three of the “60 great achievers” and read what their [the achievers] idea is of “The American Dream”. After this they will be required to read Langston Hughes’s poems “I, Too, Sing America” and “Let America be America Again” (these poems can be found at Poets.org). Using these five examples (the three achievers and the two poems) the students will then be required to creatively present their personal definition of “The American Dream.” Possible ideas for creative presentations would be poem, song, drawing, sculpture, dance, etc. With the creative project a ½ of a page write up will be required in order to describe their definition and how their definition is embodied in their representation.

[During Reading Activity] This source includes a series of “short answer” questions, separated by acts and scenes, along with answer keys and multiple-choice quizzes (pages 11-26). These quizzes will be effective in assessing students ability to read critically and comprehend what its occurring in the book. It is essential to gauge readership so that the teacher may find other ways to help the students that struggle. It may be necessary to alter some of the questions to help these students or to focus on certain areas of emphasis that the teacher may have. Teachers should also use the text to capitalize on the opportunity to teach new vocabulary. On pages 27-38 of this site there are lists of challenging words used in the book; the students are asked to use the context clues in order to provide their own definition. After they have completed this step the words are provided along with the definitions in a mix-and-match activity.

[During Reading Activity] Due to the relatively short nature of the book, and the fact that it is written as a screenplay teachers may find it advantageous to read the book as a class. Teachers should assign several students to the same character and ask the students to stand in front of their peers and act out the screenplay, with the teacher as the director. Reading abilities may hinder participation and cause students to be reticent. These handicaps should be taken into account as the teacher finds a way to involve these students. This activity may help quell the fears/biases that accompany plays/screenplays. Certain measures will need to be taken (possibly in a pre-reading atmosphere) to explain stage direction and importance of emotion in reenactment. If you can afford the time, this activity is a very big perk because it allows the teacher to focus on the things that they feel are important, specifically themes, connections to pre-reading activities, and possible quiz/test questions.

[During Reading Activity] This is a continuation of an activity done during the pre-reading portion of the book. After the students read about how the Youngers choose to spend the money (after Lena chooses to buy a house and after Walter takes a portion to open his business) encourage them to discuss the likelihood of buying a house in today's economy with $10,000. After deliberation and concluding that this would be impossible, use the provided inflation calculator and show the class (preferably via projector) the difference between $10,000 in 1959 and $10,000 in todays currency. Now encourage the students to compare their list of what they would purchase with $10,000 to how Lena (Mama), Beneatha and Walter have chosen to spend the money. Analyze the difference between the four different people (student, Lena, Beneatha, and Walter); what assumptions can be made about each person? Priorities? Dreams? Ideas of what it means to be successful, etc.?

[During Reading Activity] Encourage the students to maintain a written log of the characters, and what we learn about them through the text. Help the students know that no detail is too small and thus nothing should be overlooked. Just like people in real life have certain traits, characters in a novel/screenplay are no different. Walk the students through a few examples of your expectations so they know what types of attributes you expect them to infer from the text. The Penguin Group website has a lot of valuable ideas to contribute to this activity. Pages two and three of this website include a character list along with attributes that we can expect our students to discover. On page seven of the site we find a very pertinent tool that will allow the students to gain confidence in reading. This page focuses on “The Use of Language” in A Raisin in the Sun. If model how making simple assumptions based on language the reader can draw several conclusions about the characters, we will arm the students with a powerful reading strategy. If needed the class may continue to take a more critical look at the characters by comparing them based on contextual examples (pgs. 9-10 of The Penguin Group website). The ultimate objective of this activity is to increase critical reading techniques.

[During Reading Activity] Using The Penguin Group website use the “Understanding Themes” activity found on pages 11-12. The website outlines a very effective way to teach the themes relying on an accurate, meaningful presentation by student groups. Since I did not include a key themes activity in the pre-reading activities, it would be wise to include the other themes included on the website on pages 5-7. With these presentations students should be asked to submit a written interpretation detailing what their thematic presentation means and if/how this theme is active in the students life in this day and age. Teachers should also be aware that the bullet points listed under the themes on the website are guidelines, not requirements; free expression should be encouraged.

A Raisin in the Sun. Dir. Kenny Leon, Lorraine Hansberry. Sony Pictures Television,

     DVD, 2008.

[After Reading Activity] There are several visual representations of the book, so teachers should feel free to choose which ever one they like. The film cited is the most recent version with some well known faces which may make the film more appealing to the students. The film is very accurate to the text despite some of the scenes being in a different order than the screenplay. Film run time is 131 minutes (2 hours and 11 minutes) so plan accordingly. The idea of showing the film is to demonstrate different artistic representations and to see how the films portrayal compares to the students imagination. In order to avoid the idea of the film becoming busy work the teacher should require the students to take detailed notes of which scenes touched them and why. What about the language made these scenes so powerful? Was there anything that stuck out that they did not remember from the text? Did the movie help you internalize the emotions? Ask the students to pick one scene that they would change and make them explain why. After watching the movie hold a discussion encouraging the students to share what they liked or did not like, collect their responses (either before or after the discussion) and give them points for participation and for meaningful responses.

[After Reading Activity] Return to Langston Hughes’s poem “What happens to a dream deferred?”. Ask the students to review/dissect the poem and then write their own answer (in either poetry or prose) to the question that Hughes poses. After they have thought about their answers to Hughes’s question, challenge the students by asking them in a discussion or a handout: does Hansberry answer the question that Hughes poses about the fate of a deferred dream? If so, what is the answer? Why does Hansberry choose this poem as inspiration for her screenplay? What is the dream? Remind the students that they are encouraged to interpret as they see fit, that no idea (no matter how odd it may appear) should be discarded.

[After Reading Activity] This site suggests that the readers think about the text and approach the following questions: “Does Hansberry succeed in creating real people rather than racial stereotypes? What does she teach us about the American dream for both African and white Americans?” It would probably be most efficient if the students are given a short amount of time to ponder these questions individually so as to prevent their opinions to be changed or swayed by their peers. After the students appear to be ready to discuss the first question, being VERY sensitive to possible racial stereotypes and racism, divide the whiteboard into two sides--one side labeled “African Americans” and the other “White Americans”. Have the students submit suggestions of the differing “American Dreams” for the different races. After the list seems complete or the students have no more to contribute, return the to question about stereotypes and see if any opinions have changed regarding Hansberry’s creation of “real people” or “stereotypes.”

[After Reading Activity] Have the students pose as one of the characters of the screenplay and write a letter to another character from the screenplay. This activity will hopefully promote reading and writing skills (even given the informal nature of the writing). Instruct the students to create a T-chart; on one side of the chart put the name of a favorite character from the text and on the other side put the name of a different character, a character that they would like to know more about. The students will then need to list certain attributes of these characters focusing primarily on personality traits and avoiding superficial qualities. Possible attributes could be Mama’s piety, Lena’s passive-aggressiveness, or Walter’s greed. Students will need to rely on the text in order to find these solid examples. After the students have a good list, they will then be required to pose as their favorite character and write a letter to the other character that they chose to analyze in their T-chart. The letter does not/should not be formal due to the intimate relationships of most of the characters. The teacher can then have the students trade letters, asking the students to respond to the letter posing as the recipient.

[After Reading Activity] Explain the premise of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, using the information and the image found on the Wikipedia page (link is provide in the citation). Provide each student with a copy Maslow’s triangle, along with a large piece of blank paper. Instruct the students to choose a character and create a model that is identical in appearance but completed with specific instance(s) when that particular individual showed a demand for each one of these needs to be fulfilled. This activity will help the students to examine character personalities and allow them to see how an effective writer provides certain details to further character development. Extend the challenge to the students to start observing their personal hierarchy as they discover what is important/essential for them. A writing assignment would accompany this nicely, in creating a piece of writing in which they consciously promote character development by subtly inserting details that unveil their characters specific needs.