Using Personal Slave Narratives to Teach Literary Techniques The lesson plan for personal slave narratives is an excellent way to introduce students to a primary source of literature. William Wells Brown\'s narrative is a gripping first person account of his experiences as a slave and his pursuit of freedom. Students will not only be able to identify with his emotions, they will also be able to use the piece as a way to learn to identify literary techniques that Brown uses to portray that emotion. Personal Slave Narrative Detailed lesson plan Power Point Poster on William Wells Brown This poster can be used as writing assignment.

Exploring the Pilgrim's Pathway For one day as part of a four day mini-course we will explore the UGGR sites in southern Lancaster County. We will include stops that will appeal to freshman and sophomore students beginning at the Ellmaker House at Gap, continuing to Christiana, Gap and Bart Chapel in the morning. For lunch we will go to the Theodore Parker Lancaster County Park and hike up to the end of the trail with packed lunches. After lunch we will visit the Joseph Smith Farm and the Drumore Meeting House. Pilgrim's Pathway Map from Spott's book, Lancaster County Historical Society The Underground Railroad Explorer's Map & Guide, Lancaster County Planning Commission

Learning to Compare and Contrast Narratives Using Stories of Slaves I want to be able to introduce my Themes in Lit students to ways to compare and contrast literary techniques aurthors use by comparing and contrasting William Wells Brown\'s autobiography with Ellwood Griest\'s account of African Americans who lived in the Solanco area in the antebellum period. We will read selections from the first half of Elwood Griest\'s account of John and Mary. After reading it, we will compare the two pieces and look for differences in literary techniques. How does the fact that Griest is writing from a white perspective affect his narrative ? What details does he include that Brown does not? What does Brown include that Griest does not?

John and Mary,; a Tale of Fugitive Slaves in South-Eastern Pennsylvania Narrative by Elwood Griest of fugitive slaves who found refuge with Quakers along the Octorara Creek along the border of Chester and Lancaster counties.

Introduction to Strategies for Literary Criticism Using Slave Narratives I plan to use this lesson with my AP Literature and Composition class early in the semester as a method to introduce them to ways to analyze literary works. First I will assign them to read a selection from William Wells Brown's autobiography and the first half of Ellwood Griest's story of John and Mary. I plan to give them handouts of the readings without any identification of title, author, etc. Immediately after they read the narratives, I will ask them to write a personal response to their reading. After they finish journaling (about 15 minutes), I will ask them to investigate the pieces to find out as much information about the author, setting, tone, and theme(s) as they can. For example, how educated is the author? Is the author African American or white? In what time period is it written ? What is the author's attitude toward African Americans? Toward females? I will ask them to give specific examples from the texts to support their statements. As we discuss the pieces, I will record their findings on an overhead. After we have accumulated a sizable list, we will put them in categories such as gender references, biographical information regarding the author, setting information, evidences of differences in class groups, and cultural details. At this point I will introduce them to the "Critical Strategies for Reading" (pp. 2091-2112) in our text The Bedford Introduction to Literature. I will show them an overhead I have made previously which summarizes the different approaches to literary criticism. They will be able to see that the tasks we did in relation to the two narratives were actually a combination of the strategies for reading literature.