English Language Arts · 11th Grade

Active learning ideas

Prose of the Harlem Renaissance: Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston’s layered use of dialect, folklore, and oral tradition demands active engagement from students. Through discussion, research, and close reading, students move beyond passive reading to analyze how language shapes meaning and culture in her work.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4

• 25–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 25 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Dialect as Design

Students read a passage from Their Eyes Were Watching God in the original dialect and in a 'translated' standard English version provided by the teacher. Pairs compare the two and discuss what the translation loses in emotional texture, rhythm, and cultural specificity , and why Hurston made the choices she did.

Analyze how Hurston's use of dialect contributes to the authenticity and cultural richness of her narratives.

Facilitation Tip

During the Think-Pair-Share, assign each student a specific linguistic feature to track in the dialect excerpt, ensuring accountability in their analysis.

What to look for

Provide students with a short, previously unseen excerpt of dialogue from Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ask them to identify 2-3 specific linguistic features (e.g., spelling, idiom, syntax) and explain in writing how these features contribute to the authenticity of the character's voice.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Jigsaw
• 40 min · Small Groups

Collaborative Research: Folklore and the Oral Tradition

Groups identify three folklore elements or oral tradition patterns in a Hurston excerpt , call-and-response, signifying, storytelling within a story. Groups present findings and the class maps common patterns across different excerpts to see how deeply these structures organize Hurston's narratives.

Compare Hurston's portrayal of African American life with other writers of the period.

Facilitation Tip

When students collaborate on folklore research, assign each group a distinct folk tale or tradition to present, so everyone engages with primary sources.

What to look for

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'How does Hurston's use of dialect challenge or affirm common perceptions of African American language? Consider specific examples from the text and compare them to standard English.' Encourage students to cite textual evidence.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Jigsaw
• 35 min · Individual

Close Reading: The Porch Scene

Using a porch scene as a focus, students annotate for who speaks, who is silent, what the community values, and how power is expressed through language rather than action. Discussion follows about what Hurston reveals through group dynamics rather than individual psychological description.

Explain the significance of folklore and oral tradition in Hurston's literary contributions.

Facilitation Tip

For the Close Reading activity, have students annotate the porch scene for power dynamics in dialogue before sharing their observations with the class.

What to look for

Students will select a short passage from Hurston and a comparable passage from another Harlem Renaissance author. They will then exchange their selections and provide written feedback to their partner on how effectively each author uses language to represent their characters and community, focusing on one specific element like dialogue or descriptive imagery.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 04

• Jigsaw
• 45 min · Individual

Comparative Writing: Hurston and Wright

Students read a brief excerpt from Richard Wright alongside a Hurston passage on a similar theme , community, identity, or aspiration. In a structured written response, they compare the authors' tones, uses of vernacular, and implicit views of the African American community. The comparison can become a fishbowl discussion.

Analyze how Hurston's use of dialect contributes to the authenticity and cultural richness of her narratives.

Facilitation Tip

In the Comparative Writing task, provide a graphic organizer to help students organize their analysis of language choices before drafting their responses.

What to look for

Provide students with a short, previously unseen excerpt of dialogue from Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ask them to identify 2-3 specific linguistic features (e.g., spelling, idiom, syntax) and explain in writing how these features contribute to the authenticity of the character's voice.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach Hurston’s work by framing dialect and folklore as intentional artistic tools, not obstacles. Avoid simplifying her prose or treating it as merely "authentic"—instead, emphasize how her anthropological training shaped her narrative choices. Research suggests that pairing close reading with historical context helps students see the political and cultural stakes of her writing.

Students will demonstrate understanding by identifying Hurston’s deliberate choices in language and structure, explaining how these choices reflect cultural values, and comparing her techniques to those of other Harlem Renaissance writers. Successful learning shows in their ability to articulate these insights with textual evidence.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Think-Pair-Share: Dialect as Design, students may assume dialect makes Hurston's prose less literary.

  Use the Think-Pair-Share activity to have students identify specific linguistic features in Hurston’s dialogue, then analyze how these choices serve as evidence of her anthropological and artistic intent, grounding the discussion in the text.

• During Collaborative Research: Folklore and the Oral Tradition, students may see folklore as purely decorative.

  During the folklore research activity, ask students to map how specific folk tales or proverbs function structurally in Hurston’s plots, such as their role in character development or thematic resolution.

• During Comparative Writing: Hurston and Wright, students may assume Hurston’s work was widely celebrated by her peers.

  Use the comparative writing task to have students analyze critical responses from Hurston’s contemporaries, such as Richard Wright, and discuss how aesthetic choices reflect different literary goals.

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Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share
• Jigsaw