FOR UPPER ELEMENTARY / MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Theme: Folkways, Folktales, Rhythm and Rhyme

Afrikan Retentions in our Spoken Words, Lore and Literature

Course Overview:

This semester students will uncover and explore Afrikan
traditional folkways and culture that ‘appear’ in Afrikan life in America, via
the spoken words, lore and literature that was and continues to be a part of
black life in America. Students will perform scholarly analysis and critique
of the values, virtues and culture transmitted through Afrikan folktales and
lore, and their evolution and propagation in the diaspora. Students will
discover the Afrikan retentions in their own family traditions and evaluate
their benefits. Students will create New Afrikan lore and literature, with
consideration to current conditions (good and bad) of our people.
 Vocabulary building
 Story Gathering & Family Interviews
 Library book hunts
 Dipping into Afrikan-centered anthropology
 Critical thinking & Analysis(positive vs revolutionary literature)
 Expansion of Writing Skill & Technique
 Essay writing
 Quizzes; Tests
 Resources: your local library, Anansi stories, Bre’r Rabbit stories, Tinga Tinga
tales, Smithsonian Institute recordings, Sweet Honey in
the Rock recordings, selected excerpts from Centered authors