About This Lesson
Learning Objective:
In the Floating Freedom School lesson plan, students will learn about the fascinating story of John Berry Meachum and his wife Mary who circumvented a Missouri law that outlawed the education of Black people, free and enslaved, in 1847 by setting up a Steamboat classroom in the Mississippi River just outside the state’s jurisdiction. Compare this tactic to the Civil Rights Movement’s strategy of civil disobedience.
Common Core Standards:
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1 – Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.3 – Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1 – Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.3 – Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.4 – Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
