A Mini-Unit: The Melrose House and Multigenre Writing

Overview

In this unit, students will travel virtually through the Melrose house, one of the wealthiest homes of 19^th century Natchez, Mississippi. Students will have the opportunity to learn about the lives and conditions of slaves as they "travel" through the interactive online house and slave quarters. They will demonstrate what they have learned, thought and felt by creating a multigenre project.

National Curriculum Standards met by this lesson

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Time Required

About 14 days, depending on how much homework is expected. An additional day can be added for sharing of final projects. This can be expanded to a larger unit if a teacher wishes to add research time or add more written pieces to the final project.

Materials

• Student computers and access to the Internet (if student computers are not available, this lesson can be done with one teacher computer, projector, and screen)


• Examples of different genres (poems, narratives, news stories, diaries, dialogues, etc.). These can be created on overhead transparencies or as handouts for students, or teachers can be sent to websites that have samples on them. Links to websites with appropriate samples will be included in this lesson.


• A teacher computer with projector and screen is helpful but not necessary


• Optional materials:


• Additional resources on slavery.
• Headphones to allow the audio part of the site to be used without creating 'conflicts' with students on either side.

The Lesson

Days One and Two:

Anticipatory Set

1. Ask students to take out their journals (if these are used) or a piece of paper and write on one (or more) of the following topics:


• If a stranger were to walk through your home, what might they learn about your family?
• If a stranger were to visit your room, what might they learn about you?
• If you were giving a visitor a tour of your home, what things would you show and point out as being important or meaningful to your family? Why?


2. Have them write for 10 or 15 minutes. Take a few minutes to share and discuss what we can learn about people who live and work in a home by exploring the house and the things in it.


3. If this lesson is part of a larger slavery unit, a second writing prompt might be: If you were to visit a wealthy southern slave owner's home, what do you think you would see? What about in the slave quarters?


4. After writing and discussing, tell students they will be spending the next week or two exploring and writing about a house that was built and maintained by slaves for a wealthy family in Natchez, Mississippi. While they won't be able to physically walk through the house, they will have the opportunity to do so interactively on the computer. Let them know that they will be working on a writing project after their visit. The details of the project will be explained later; for now, students will focus on learning about, thinking about, and being aware of their feelings as they "walk" through this home.

Procedures

1. At this point, ideally, students should be sitting at a computer. They can work in pairs. If possible, you, also, should be working at a computer with a projector and screen.

Alternatives: If student computers are not available, this entire "visit" can take place using one teacher computer with projector. This is not as effective as allowing students to proceed through the house themselves, but is workable. If students have computers but there is no teacher computer and projector, you can do the initial modeling by asking students to move through the beginning of the site together, while you monitor.

2. Tell students they should have notebook or paper and a writing utensil, and should be ready to jot down notes as they move through the house. Tell them they will be expected to show their understanding, as well as opinions and feelings about the house and slavery in their later writing, so it is important they write these things down as they experience them. Inform students, for instance, that their notes can include:


• Things they learn--facts about Melrose House, slavery, or southern life that they didn't know.
• Things that surprise them or strike them as interesting.
• Personal responses, thoughts, or feelings about what they are viewing and/or hearing.


3. Younger students, in particular, may benefit from modeling. If students are older and/or have clear understanding of these expectations, you can choose to bypass modeling and have students begin to explore the site on their own.


4. Modeling (optional): If you are using a projector, connect to the Internet and go to the Melrose Interactive Slavery Environment. Ask students to pay attention to the screen rather than their own computer. If you are not using a projector, ask students to connect to the internet and go to the Melrose Interactive Slavery Environment. In this case, ask them to move forward (by clicking the bottom arrow) as you direct them for this first part. As you move through the first pages of the site, talk about the kinds of notes you might take. Examples (based on the first few pages of this site):
• It seems ironic to me that this area had such high standards of culture but kept slaves (personal response)
• Amazing--one of the wealthiest cities in America, and all because of slavery! (personal response)
• $1400 for a slave--a human being. A lot of money in those days. How do you put a price on a human being? (fact and personal response)
• Melrose--built in 1840s by the McMurran family. They owned five plantations--300 slaves! (facts)
• Beautiful house--reminds me of Gone with the Wind (personal response).
• 1850--Twenty-three slaves at Melrose. Eight were kids. What did they do? Did they get to play? What would it like to be a kid and a slave? (facts, thoughts, questions)

And so on. After moving through a few screens, ask students to contribute to this 'note taking.'

5. When it is clear that they understand the variety of things that can be written down (beyond the facts), let them explore on their own. You may wish to finish leading them through the entire 'introduction' section so that when they go into the site on their own, they can go directly to the Interactive Map. Depending on time, this may be a good place to end the class period and begin the next part of this activity on Day 2.


6. If students are not yet at the site, ask them to connect to the Internet and go to the Melrose Interactive Slavery Environment. Tell them that they should visit every room and area of the grounds possible. They should read and/or listen to all of the narratives. Tell them that many objects throughout the house have information connected to them, as well. They can click on the objects to access that information. If headphones are not available, or if students are working in pairs, ask them to keep the audio low so that they aren't competing with each other. You can walk around and monitor, asking questions and discussing ideas with individual students.

Day Three (or when students have all had the opportunity to go through the entire home):

1. Ask students to share some of the things they wrote down, especially discussing their own thoughts and feelings about what they learned. Tell them they will be using their notes and that they may want to access the website again as they work on their project. Make sure they have the website address.


2. Pass out the Multigenre Project handout (see the end of this unit plan for a copy). You can eliminate the quote at the top by Tom Romano. I like to use it as an introduction to this project. Give them a few minutes to read the quote or read it out loud. Ask them whether they would agree with Tom Romano. Do they sometimes think of events, people, or things in their lives in terms of: Pictures? Poems? Songs? Bits of dialogue?


3. Tell students their project will be made up of a variety of writing genres (types). It may also include artistic elements, if they choose. To give an analogy, this project is like a picture of their knowledge and perceptions of Melrose House and slavery. Each student's picture will be unique, because each of them had different thoughts and feelings about what they learned; each of them found different things interesting and learned different things. Ask them to visualize their picture being cut into puzzle pieces. Each of the written pieces in this project is like a puzzle piece. Separately, they each present a voice or piece of information or perception. When they are all put together, the reader will be able to see the whole picture. (And, in another sense, when the projects from the entire classroom are put together, a bigger picture emerges).


4. Tell them that in this particular project, students will be asked to "divide" their picture into five pieces. In other words, they will be writing five pieces, hopefully in five different genres. A list of possible genres to consider is given on the handout, although it is not an exclusive list. A list of optional artistic genres is also included.


5. Let students know that, during the next few days, you will be teaching mini lessons about some of the genres. They will have opportunity in class to write and to get peer feedback. The expectation is that they will do some of the revising and final editing and organizing as homework. Although additional research is not required, students may choose to read and learn more about slavery, either through resources available in the classroom or on their own.


6. Finally, point out the list of additional expectations: Title page, introduction, and documentation. If students have not been taught about documenting sources, they should be given a handout with MLA style (or your school's adopted style). Here is an excellent site with MLA style information and samples: http://www.aresearchguide.com/12biblio.html. Remind students that any sources they use for this project should be written down and included in a Works Cited page or Bibliography.


7. At this time, pass out and review with the class the Rubric, a copy of which is located after the Project handout at the end of the unit plan. If students have had enough information given to them at this point, the Rubric can be handed out and reviewed after students have begun drafting, but before they work on revising and organizing their final project.


8. Ask students if they have any questions. If a previous class has completed this project, you may allow students to look at a few student samples. Another option is to show students samples from the book Blending Genre, Altering Style by Tom Romano. The advantage of using these samples is that they are not about slavery, and will be less likely to influence students in how they approach their writing.


9. Depending on time, you may wish to proceed with the first mini-lesson. Otherwise, you can begin that on the next day.

Days Four through Eight (approximately):

Follow the same basic format above for the next few days. The specific mini-lessons, which are described after the daily format, can be taught in any order. You can follow any of the options below, depending on students' skills, abilities, and need for structure:

• Only teach five mini-lessons and expect students to include each of those five genres in their projects. You might choose this option if time is limited, or if there are specific genres you want students to practice. This does take choice away from students, which can negatively affect the personal involvement of students. On the other hand, the structure in this option may work well for certain groups of students.


• Teach more than five mini-lessons and allow students to choose the ones they ultimately use. Students also would have the option to choose genres that are not included in the mini-lessons.


• Older students who are familiar with the various genres listed on the handout may only need one or two mini-lessons to get the idea of how to choose the genre to fit the kind of information being presented. The teacher may then choose to give them more time to work independently on their writing.

Daily Mini-lesson Format (you can choose to do one or more mini-lessons per day):

1. Ask students to have blank paper out as well as their Melrose House notes.


2. Tell them which genre they will be learning about and practicing.


3. Define the genre.


4. Discuss what type of information might be best presented with this type of genre (example: a news story would present facts, a poem would present feelings or images).


5. Read one or more samples. If possible, put the samples on an overhead transparency so students can read silently while they are being read out loud. Alternatively, you can give students handouts of the samples, or they can access them at a website. Teachers, who are using a computer with projector, may use this to access the website samples.


6. Ask students what they learned or discovered about this sample's topic. Was it factual information? Feelings? Opinions?


7. Ask them to think about what aspects of Melrose House might be well presented using this genre.


8. Give students 15 or 20 minutes to do some writing in this genre, using Melrose House and slavery as their main topic.


9. The first day or two, it may work best to teach two mini-lessons per day (in this format). This will allow students to begin a number of pieces of writing, creating a collection from which they can choose.

The Mini-lessons

A number of mini-lessons are included here, although they do not cover nearly all of the possible genres students may choose to use. You can develop your own mini-lessons, or have samples of other genres available for students if desired.

Letters

Tell students: People write letters for all kinds of reasons, such as conversational ones to friends and family; complaints to businesses; informational ones to colleagues; requests and proposals to congressional representatives; thank-you letters; invitations; sympathy notes... and the list goes on. While most of the slaves did not know how to read or write, the slave owners did, and occasionally slaves could find someone who would write for them. Ask students what kinds of things they write in letters...notes to friends...emails. These are the same kinds of things that were written in letters 150 years ago.

Letter Samples:

• A number of letters written by slave women can be found at this site:
  http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/collections/african-american-women.html.


• An interesting letter written by a slave owner concerning the sale of her slaves can be read at this site:
  http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=SmyLett.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1.


• And an emotional letter written by a slave woman to her husband who was owned by a different family can be read at this site:
  http://slaveryinamerica.org/narratives/nar_marie_perkins.htm.

Follow-up: After reading, ask students what kind of information was presented in these letters? Did they get a sense of the person who wrote the letter (a "voice")? Ask them to think about how they might write a letter to present some of their Melrose House learning. Who is the writer? Who is the receiver? Give them time to write.

Poems

Tell students: Poems can create pictures in a reader's or listener's mind. They can evoke emotions. They can let us hear voices. Generally, they are not used to present facts (although ballads, one type of poem, do tell stories). Tell students they should keep that in mind if they consider using poetry for their project. They should consider using poems to present different voices, or to get emotions across. Or, they might use the ballad format to tell a story.

Poem samples: The following sites include poetry formats and examples:

• http://okemos.k12.mi.us/users/pdunn/projects/samples.htm
• http://www.geocities.com/soulsease1/poetryforms.html

Follow-up: After reading a few sample poems, ask students to consider the kinds of things they could get across in a poem. These might include feelings they had about Melrose House, or feelings they thought the slaves-- or the slave owners--might have had. A poem could also provide an image for a reader; or describe a part of the home or grounds. Give students time to write.

Tell students: The purpose of a news story is to inform readers about an event or an issue. News stories present facts, not opinions, although news stories of the 1800s may have included more opinions than stories of today do. A responsible journalist will do his or her best to present both sides of an issue. This can be done by using quotes by people representing different view points, or by presenting all of the facts available.

The first paragraph in a news story usually presents all of the important facts: Who, What, When, Where, How and, possibly, Why. The lead (first) sentence often will include all or most of these things. The rest of the story will give more details and, usually, quotes from people involved in the issue. Generally, a news story starts with the most important information, and each paragraph after the beginning has more details and less important information. That way, if an editor doesn't have enough room for the whole story, they will start cutting from the bottom.

News story samples: Best is to find a current example from your local newspaper in order to show the structure. Samples of news stories from this time period can be found at: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/amistad/AMISTD.HTM. These are news stories specific to the Amistad revolt. They do show that news stories of the time were much more biased and descriptive than are news stories of today and may be a little more difficult for students to understand than a current news story.

Follow-up: After reading the sample, ask students to think about some of the factual information they learned that might work best if presented in a news story. Give them time to write.

Editorials and Letters to the Editor

Tell students: Writing an editorial is a way to express an opinion that will be read by many people. Every newspaper has an editorial section, which is made up of editorials written by journalists, as well as "Letters to the Editor", which are written by readers of the newspaper. Editorials almost always deal with social issues, as you will notice if you look at the Editorial pages (sometimes called "Opinion section") of the local newspaper over a period of time. Letters to the Editor also usually deal with social issues, but they are also often responses to articles that have appeared in the newspaper.

A good editorial or letter to the editor is basically a persuasive essay. It is an attempt to persuade readers to do something or to believe a certain way. To do that effectively, it is important to include both emotional appeals and supporting facts, statistics, examples or other information. The emotional appeal (pity, fear, sadness, anger) will "hook" the reader by making him feel something, and the facts will hopefully get the reader to agree with you by making his brain work along with the feelings. Finally, a good editorial will include a solution to the problem.

Editorial samples: The following sites include editorials about slavery written in the mid 1800s.

1. Main site of The Secession Era Editorials Project:
   http://history.furman.edu/~benson/docs/index.htm.


2. Specific editorials (both sides are represented here) regarding the attack in the Senate Chamber on Charles Sumner, who had earlier given an anti-slavery speech:


• http://history.furman.edu/~benson/docs/inilsu56523a.htm
• http://history.furman.edu/~benson/docs/ilsrsu56526a.htm


3. This is the editorial section of the New York Times online:
   http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion .


4. Current editorials from the local newspaper can also be used as samples.

Follow-up: After reading one or two samples, ask students to think about issues that came to mind as they walked through Melrose House. The overall issue of slavery is an obvious one, but ask them to consider this as well: if a slave could write a letter to a fictitious Melrose House newsletter, what kind of a letter to the editor might he or she write? What might be some of the "smaller" issues that were important to the slaves of Melrose House? Give students time to write.

Journals or Diaries

Tell students: People write about events in their journals and diaries. They also write down their thoughts, their hopes and dreams, and their fears. Most people feel that their journals and diaries are private; that they can write anything without fear of having it read by someone else. That means that the voice of the writer is usually very strong. And although an event might be described, just as an event might be described in a news story, unlike a news story, the journal or diary will also include the writer's thoughts and opinions about that event.

Journal/Diary samples: A complete diary can be read at the following site (it is actually the text of two diaries written by two southern girls during the Civil War). Short sections can be pulled out and used as samples: http://docsouth.unc.edu/jervey/jervey.html

Follow-up: After reading a sample or two, and telling students to think about journals or diaries they may have written in, ask them to put themselves in the place of a slave, or possibly a slave owner, at Melrose House. Think about a day or series of days. What might that person write into a journal? Give students time to write.

Personal Narratives

Tell students: Like journals, a personal narrative allows a voice to come through. It is, however, a little more formal than a journal. A personal narrative gives some information about the person: who are they? Where do they live? How do they live? Whereas, the writer of a journal assumes no one will read what they write; in other words, the journal is written purely for the writer, the writer of a personal narrative is writing for someone to read. Therefore, the writer will include more background information.

Personal Narrative samples: A number of slave narratives can be found at the following sites:

• http://slaveryinamerica.org/narratives/overview.htm
• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snvoices00.html

Follow-up: As with the journal writing, ask students to put themselves in the place of someone living in Melrose House during the period of time the website showed. Have them pretend that they are being interviewed many years after this time. What would they tell an interviewer about themselves and what they did at Melrose House? Give students time to write.

Day Nine

1. At this point, students should have a collection of rough writing pieces. You may want to give students part of or an entire class period to explore other genres. Ask them to think about some of the aspects of Melrose House that they haven't written about yet. What information, voices, perceptions may not yet be represented in their writing? How might they be presented? If possible, have examples of other genres available for students to look at. The following sites might be helpful:
   
   
   • Document images--handbills, song covers, advertising, periodical covers: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam005.html.
   • Political cartoons: http://slaveryinamerica.org/scripts/sia/gallery.cgi?collection=politicscivilwar.
   • Runaway slave ads: http://members.tripod.com/~colonies/runaways/slaves.htm.
   • Lyrics of spirituals: http://www.negrospirituals.com/news-song.
   
   
2. You also may choose to ask students to look at additional genres at home, in which case they can begin the next activity. Remind them to write down any additional sources they use, making sure that they also include these sources in their Works Cited page or bibliography.

Days 10 and 11

1. Give students one or two class periods, and homework time, to work on revising their writing.
2. Begin by telling students to go through all of their writing and choose which pieces would best work in their project. Which ones present information, voices, or perceptions that they feel are important to get their "picture" of Melrose House across to readers? Which pieces of writing do they feel most attached to? Which ones create emotional responses? Remind students that they can have as many pieces of writing and art in their project as they would like: five is the minimum number. Remind them also that they do not need to put everything they've written so far into their project. One or more of the genres worked on in class may not have worked for them; they can choose to not use those. To help in choosing, you may want to have students work in small groups (three or four students per group), sharing their ideas and asking for feedback from their peers. During this group time, students can also ask for revision feedback on the pieces they plan to use. You can take turns sitting in on groups.


3. If students are working in groups, they may need an entire class period. If students are making their choices individually, they may be able to begin revising work during this class period. Ask students to begin or continue revising their choices at home. You may also give the next class period to quiet, independent writing. Also, encourage students to ask you for feedback on their writing during this time,.

Day 12

1. Depending on the class and how involved they are in their writing, and depending on time, you may wish to give students another class day for writing and revising. If so, the following activity can be put off for another day.


2. At this point, even if students are still working on their revisions, they should have a pretty good idea of what pieces of writing, and possibly art, they are including in their project. It is time for them to think about an introduction to their project. Remind them that, after the Title Page, this is the first thing a reader will see. Have them consider these questions:


• What do they want the reader to know, right from the beginning?
• What do they need to tell the reader to prepare them for the rest of the project?
• What does the reader need to know to be able to understand the rest of the project?
• Do they need to include background information about Melrose House?
• Do they need to include a more personal look at why the author chose to write the pieces he or she did?


3. Remind students of the components of any good introduction: The first sentence should hook or draw the reader in...making him/her want to keep reading and turning pages. Then, students should give any information necessary (based on how they answered the above questions for themselves). They should definitely include the name "Melrose House." The final sentence in their introduction should lead the reader to open the page and read the first multigenre piece. It should be a connection of some kind between the introduction and the pieces in the project. An example follows:

A house is an object, built of wood and stone and plaster. But a home is made up of the people who live in that house, people who have feelings, thoughts, ideas, and most of all, voices. (The idea is that after this introduction, the pieces that follow will all express the voices of Melrose House inhabitants).

4. At this time, remind students that organization is important in a project like this. Although there are only five pieces, it is important to think about order:


• Which one should come first? Which next?
• Which one should be the last, the one the reader ends with and probably will think most about?
• Do they all fit together like puzzle pieces, or does the writer want to write a little connection between each piece to help the project flow?
• If art is being used, how will it be integrated into the project?


5. Tell students that each piece of writing, and each piece of art, if they use art, should be on a separate piece of paper. That way, each piece stands on its own and is important. As students continue to revise and then edit, they should be asking themselves these questions and working on their writing with them in mind.

Days 13 and 14

1. If possible, allow students to continue working on this project in class, with the understanding that homework time may be necessary to complete it by the due date.


2. Remind them that spelling, grammar, and punctuation do count.


3. It may be a good time to review the Rubric again or, at least, to ask them to review it as they work on their final drafts.


4. Remind students that you expect a title page and documentation (if necessary).


5. You may wish to allow students to work with a partner or small group to help each other proofread and edit.

Day 14 or beginning of Day 15

1. Have students turn their projects.
2. If you wish, you can have students share them with the class, which they could do in a variety of ways. For instance:


• Each individual student can read his or her entire project in front of the class. This is quite time-consuming, but, in a small class, it can be a fun and rewarding day.
• Students can put their projects out and circulate around the room, looking at each other's projects.
• Students can be asked to choose their favorite piece of writing in their project, and read it in front of the class, possibly with a bit of an introduction.

Assessment

1. You can give a process grade: This can include having students turn in their "Melrose House" notebooks (which should include initial journal entries, notes, and initial genre writing), as well as classroom observation during the past two weeks.


2. You can ask students to write a self-evaluation, which you could incorporate into their final grade as well, of both their process and final product. Questions they could address are:


• What do they think they did well?
• What would they like to do differently in their next project?
• What did they learn by doing this project?


3. You can use The Melrose House Multigenre Project Rubric (at the end of this unit plan) as an assessment tool for the final project.

Related Works

Teachers will learn more about Multigenre projects by reading the following books:

• Writing with Passion: Life Stories, Multiple Genres by Tom Romano. Published by Boynton/Cook Heinemann.1995


• Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers by Tom Romano. Published by Boynton/Cook Heinemann. 2000

Interdisciplinary Links

This lesson could be used in either a U.S. History class, an American Literature class, or a general language arts class. It works especially nicely in an integrated history/language arts course.

This unit was submitted by Barbara Bureker, a language arts teacher in Vancouver, Washington.

A Mini-Unit: The Melrose House and Multigenre Writing

Handout One: The Melrose House Multigenre

Perception is all.
Ways of seeing.
Ways of knowing.
Ways of learning.
Sometimes I see the world through poetry:
a bit of cadenced language, a striking image,
a metaphor with extensions following close behind
Sometimes I see the world through prose:
a description that clarifies a vivid moment,
a pointed narrative,
a monologue marshaling all the points...
Sometimes I see the world through dramatic encounters...
Each genre offers me ways of seeing and understanding that others do not.
I perceive the world through multiple genres.
They shape my seeing..

(Tom Romano, Writing with Passion. Boynton/Cook Heinemann, p. 109)

In this project, you will use a variety of genres to show your own ways of seeing, knowing, and perceiving Melrose House.

Your final project must be made up of at least five pieces of writing. Feel free to get creative and include artistic pieces as well. Use a variety of genres--each one will be a puzzle piece; together they will create the puzzle picture.

Written genres to consider:

Artistic genres to consider:

Additional requirements: There are a few other things that you must have in your final project:

• A title page: This should include the title of your project, your name, and the date. It also can include images or other decoration.


• An introduction: This can be a paragraph or longer. It should introduce the idea of Melrose House and your writing.


• Citations: If you quote directly from the Melrose House site (or another resource) or use a picture that you copied from a book or printed off the computer, you must document (cite) that source correctly.


• Works Cited/Bibliography: Your Works Cited page should include all sources you used. It must be done correctly


• Organization: Although this project is made up of many pieces, it should be organized in a smooth and logical way so that the reader can put the pieces of the puzzle together to create a picture as he/she reads from beginning to end.

A Mini-Unit: The Melrose House and Multigenre Writing

Handout Two: Melrose House Multigenre Project Rubric