English Language Arts · 9th Grade

Active learning ideas

The Great Migration: Ancestry and Identity

Active learning helps students grasp the layered relationship between past and present when studying Great Migration literature. By handling artifacts, comparing sources, and creating memory archives, students move beyond abstract ideas to tangible evidence of how ancestry shapes identity.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.3
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2

• 20–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Objects of Ancestry

Students write about one object, food, phrase, or tradition in their own family that connects them to a place their family used to live. Pairs share and identify: what does this object preserve that couldn't be preserved any other way? Whole-class discussion links personal memory to how Great Migration characters hold onto Southern identity in Northern settings.

How is the concept of 'ancestry' handled in these narratives?

Facilitation Tip

During Think-Pair-Share, provide guiding questions on the board to keep pairs focused on the materiality of objects and their emotional resonance.

What to look for

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'How do characters in the texts we've read demonstrate a connection to their Southern roots? Provide specific examples of traditions, memories, or objects that serve as anchors to their past.' Encourage students to reference textual evidence.

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

Activity 02

• Inquiry Circle
• 40 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: Memory vs. History

Groups receive a passage of family oral history from a Great Migration text alongside a brief historical account of the same events. They identify three differences: what the oral history includes that the historical account omits, what the historical account includes that the oral history omits, and what each form of record is designed to do. Groups present one key difference.

Analyze how characters maintain connections to their Southern roots while building new lives in the North.

Facilitation Tip

For Memory vs. History, assign each group one primary document and one oral account so they must reconcile differences in purpose and perspective.

What to look for

Provide students with a short excerpt from a Great Migration narrative. Ask them to identify one instance where a character's actions or thoughts reveal a connection to their Southern ancestry and explain its significance in 2-3 sentences.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Gallery Walk
• 35 min · Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Roots in Northern Soil

Post six short passages from Great Migration narratives where characters reference their Southern roots while living in Northern cities. Students annotate each with: what does the character preserve? What have they lost? What is their emotional relationship to the Southern past, longing, ambivalence, or relief at distance? Post-walk debrief builds toward a class definition of 'inherited identity.'

Explain the significance of memory and oral history in preserving the legacy of the Great Migration.

Facilitation Tip

In the Gallery Walk, ask students to annotate posters with sticky notes that name the tradition or memory and explain its significance to the character.

What to look for

On an index card, ask students to write down one question they have about how memory or oral history helps preserve the legacy of the Great Migration. Collect these to gauge understanding and inform future lessons.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 04

• Document Mystery
• 30 min · Individual

Individual Writing: The Character's Memory Archive

Students choose one character from a Great Migration text and write a one-paragraph 'memory inventory', a list of everything the character carries from the South (people, places, practices, emotions) with one sentence explaining why each item matters to the character's identity. Students then circle the two most important items and write a claim connecting them to the text's larger theme.

How is the concept of 'ancestry' handled in these narratives?

Facilitation Tip

During The Character's Memory Archive, remind writers to use sensory details like smells, textures, or sounds to bring memories to life.

What to look for

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'How do characters in the texts we've read demonstrate a connection to their Southern roots? Provide specific examples of traditions, memories, or objects that serve as anchors to their past.' Encourage students to reference textual evidence.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should foreground the unreliability of memory as a strength, not a flaw. Avoid presenting oral history as a secondary source to written records; instead, treat both as deliberate constructions. Research shows students grasp the concept of 'rememory' more deeply when they physically interact with artifacts or texts, so prioritize activities that require close, multisensory engagement with the material.

Students will recognize how memory and oral history function as living archives in texts, rather than static facts. They will articulate specific examples of cultural transmission and explain their significance within the narrative.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Think-Pair-Share: Objects of Ancestry, watch for students who assume only physical objects count as ancestral ties.

  Use the Think-Pair-Share protocol to redirect students to the list of non-material traditions in the prompt, such as speech patterns or religious practices, and ask them to share examples from their own lives.

• During Collaborative Investigation: Memory vs. History, watch for students who dismiss oral history as less factual than written records.

  In the investigation, have students map each source type on a Venn diagram and label the kinds of truths each preserves, then present their findings to challenge assumptions.

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Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share
• Inquiry Circle
• Gallery Walk
• Document Mystery