What Do You See? The Bombing That Rocked Birmingham

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Social Studies

Grade(s)

6

Overview

This activity will introduce the study of Alabama's Civil Rights movement. The students will analyze a photograph of the church interior after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. The juxtaposition of the blown-out window and debris-littered pew will encourage students to observe, infer, and make predictions.  

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Phase

Before/Engage
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 6

ELA21.6.23

Use an audio or audio-visual source of information to obtain the answer to a question.

UP:ELA21.6.23

Vocabulary

  • Audio source
  • Audio-visual source

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Audio sources include only auditory information, while audio-visual sources include sounds and images.
  • Active listening skills.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Use audio or audio-visual information sources to answer a question.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Audio and audio-visual sources can provide information to answer a variety of questions.
SS10.6.9

Learning Objectives

  • The students will analyze a primary document to gain information about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
  • The students will discuss and support the differences in observations, inferences, and predictions.
  • The students will identify and defend their observations, inferences, and predictions.

Activity Details

  1. If available, the teacher should display the photograph under a document camera or show the photograph using a projector. If not available, distribute a copy of the photograph to each student.
  2. Ask students to study the photograph for two minutes without any discussion, reminding them that they should be able to list what they OBSERVE. Remind them that an OBSERVATION is strictly what is seen (broken windows, stained-glass, benches or pews, daylight, etc.).
  3. The teacher should create a Three-Column Chart on chart paper. Label one column Observations, the middle column Inferences, and the third column Predictions.
  4. After two minutes, allow students to identify what they observe in the photograph. The teacher should list the items to the first column of a chart. 
  5. Ask students to use the observations to make INFERENCES about the photograph. Remind the students that an inference is a conclusion based on facts (what is seen). Allow the students to discuss inferences with a partner for about 2-3 minutes.
  6. Ask students to describe any inferences they discussed. Remind them to support their inferences with their observations. (A church was vandalized because there were broken stained-glass windows and pews with trash on them.)
  7. Add the inferences to the middle column of the chart.
  8. Ask the students to make predictions based on their observations and inferences. Ask them to predict WHEN this may have happened, WHAT may have caused the damage, WHERE it might have occurred, and WHY the scene was photographed.
  9. Add predictions to the chart. Remind students to support their predictions.
  10. As a review, ask volunteers to explain the difference between an observation and an inference. 
  11. Finally, the teacher may give the students the title and brief explanation of the photograph. Discuss how close the predictions were to the actual event.
  12. This lesson may be used as a springboard to learn about Alabama's unrest during the Civil Rights era or as an introduction to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Refer to the chart after a more thorough study of the Birmingham bombing.

Assessment Strategies

  • The students will be able to identify a major even in the Civil Rights Movement by analyzing a primary document.
  • The teacher should monitor discussions.
  • The students should support inferences and predictions about what is SEEN in the photograph.
  • The students should be able to differentiate among observations, inferences, and predictions.

Variation Tips

  • The teacher may give an explanatory text to the class after this introduction.
  • Additional 16th Street bombing photographs may be given to small groups. Each group may create charts and then compare their ideas. Additional PHOTOGRAPHS provided by AL.com

Background / Preparation

  • This lesson should serve as an introduction to Alabama's Civil Rights era.
Alabama Department of Archives and History: 16th Street Baptist Church interior…
http://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/photo/id/305/rec/2

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

lesaroberts
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