Getting Heard

Write to learn

I can tell what an effect the book you have been reading in class has had on you. Mrs. Baros has been reading To Be a Slave by Julius Lester. Today she had a reflective piece written on the board and asked you to blog about your reactions to the book, your cultural arts program and other items that had come up in class. I thought she gave you some good suggestions on how to make connections to what you have been learning. Blogs are good places to get a lot of practice writing about what you are learning. The more practice, the easier it becomes. Write to learn!

Learning facts about a subject is the first step but it's good to go beyond that and think about how what you have learned relates to other things you have learned. It's called compare and contrast. You see how things are alike, how they are different and then you gain understanding. After you get a lot of knowledge you can solve problems by taking what you have learned and applying it to situations in your life. Can you think of times you have done this? The learning keeps expanding but it is important to write about it. Writing helps you connect all the dots to your learning. If you keep working hard like you did in the lab today, you will keep improving.

Mrs. Baros commented that you all were very smart. I couldn't agree more. We have planned an exciting time for you listening to recordings of former slaves. Then you can blog about it and many more people can have the opportunity to know about these wonderful recordings. Isn't that something to hear their very own voices? 

Your voice will be around for a long time,too, thanks to blogs. Make it count!

Have a wonderful break next week and I will see you the Monday you return!

Voices from the Days of Slavery

I enjoyed reading your posts on what you have learned in class. I wanted to share a site with you that lets you listen to the voices of former Slaves. These voices were recorded in the 1930's as part of the Federal Writers' Project.  You can really see the power of telling stories from the voices of those who lived as slaves. I thought you might find it informative and interesting to hear these stories. They help you visualize the impact slavery had on African-Americans in the United States.

We'll check with your teacher. She may wish for you to listen to the voices and then blog about what you learned from these voices. They are powerful recordings.

Read here for background on the recordings.

Here are links to the former slaves' recordings. I will list the slave names below and each of you can choose one to listen to and then share your reactions and thinking.

• Fountain Hughes, Age 101
• George Johnson, Age unknown
• Uncle Bob Ledbetter, Age 72 or 73
• Isom Mosldey, Age 88
• Uncle Billy McCrea, Age 89
• Wallace Quarterman, Age  87
• Charlie Smith, Age 130