Date: May 4, 2003

Grade Level: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Writing
• Social Studies/US History

Duration: 6 class sessions

Description: Trading and collecting baseball cards has been a tradition since the early 1900’s. While boys and girls know much about the accomplishments of major league players like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, many do not know that some of the greatest players, Satchel Paige and "Cool Papa" Bell, among others, were never allowed to show their skills in the major leagues. In learning about the players of the Negro Baseball Leagues, students will learn about American history and the segregation that existed in the early part of the 20th century. The cards are an authentic way to involve students in reading and writing across the curriculum.

Goals: NCTE/IRA Standards for the English Language Arts :

• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

1. Students will use graphic organizers to synthesize, create, and communicate what they have learned about the Negro Baseball Leagues, its players and teams.
2. Students will learn to record information.
3. Students will write with a real purpose.
4. Students will understand the segregation that existed in America from the 1900’s to 1946.
5. Students will have an appreciation and knowledge of the great contributions of African Americans to the game of baseball.

• samples of baseball cards
• poster board
• pens, markers, colors to complete the baseball cards
• computers with Internet access
• An Introduction to the Negro Baseball Leagues
• List of Players from the Negro Leagues who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Baseball Card Task
• Graphic Organizer
• Rubric

Handouts in .pdf format; requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Click the icon to obtain the free Reader.

Teacher Preparation: Ask students to bring in baseball trading cards. Run copies of the Introduction (can be put on an overhead for whole group instruction), Task, Graphic Organizer (for those students needing more structure), and the grading Rubric. Become familiar with the web sites to determine the reading levels appropriate for your students.

Instruction and Activities:

Day 1:
Begin a discussion about the baseball cards that the students have brought in or use the ones that you have collected. Talk about the data that is on the cards (i.e. name, team, position, batting average, etc.). You might want to record the different topics on the overhead, butcher paper, or on the chalkboard for future reference. Students will probably want to spend time discussing the statistics, and it is better to let them. Explain that you will be using the cards again tomorrow; put them in a safe place.

Day 2:
Continue the discussion of the baseball cards, pointing out the many diverse nationalities of the players. Ask the students if they realized that at one time African Americans were not allowed to play on major league teams as they are today. Students will probably be unaware that many of their favorite players would be segregated if they had been playing from the early 1900’s until 1946. Introduce the word "segregation" to the students and explain its meaning according to the grade level that you are teaching. Many students do not realize the conditions that existed at this time. Use the "Introduction to the Negro Baseball Leagues" either as a reading assignment, or place on an overhead for a class assignment, to introduce the Negro Baseball Leagues to the students. If using the Introduction as a reading assignment, students can select the ten most important words from the article and then discuss the words that they have chosen in small groups, later coming to the whole group for assimilation of the words. The conversation will probably wander at this point, and it is good to let the students ask questions and discuss their perceptions.

Day 3:
Hand out the "Task" page and Rubric. Let students discuss what they will be doing for the next few days; review the rubric explaining how students will be graded for their efforts on the project. ( For those that need more structure, the graphic organizer for collecting data can be used.) Allow students to begin their research, taking notes on their favorite players, or in most cases, a player from the Negro Leagues that is not as well known to them. (A list of famous players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame is included and can be handed out to the students.)

Day 4:
Students continue research using Internet resources.

Day 5:
As students complete their research, let them begin to create their baseball trading cards. Have on hand the materials that they will need to make the cards. Remind students that the cards will be traded for an audience and should not have errors in spelling or punctuation.

Day 6 :
Allow students to complete their cards and begin to discuss them in small groups as they finish or begin on a second card.

Day 7:
Have a "Trading Day" where students can actually trade their cards to each other and share what they have learned.

[Note to Teachers: Do not be concerned if the assignment takes more or fewer days than suggested. Depending on the class, daily lessons might vary. Simply use the above as a guideline for teaching.]

Lesson Extensions:
Make copies of the cards for students to have multiple copies. Allow students to write to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum:

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
1616 E. 18th Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64108-1610
http://www.nlbm.com

Assessment: Teacher observations and see the Rubric listed in Materials .

Useful Internet Resources:
* Negro League Baseball: The Glory Years
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/negroleague3.html

* Negro League Baseball: Jackie Robinson
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/negroleague4.html

* Get That 'Negro' Off the Field!
http://www.webcom.com/~blessed/html/negro1.html

* History of Black Baseball and the Negro Baseball Leagues
http://www.blackbaseball.com/introd.htm

* Negro Baseball
Compiled by Robert Harrison
http://www.fcps.edu/westspringfieldhs/projects/im98/im981/spo.htm

* Negro Leagues Player Bios
http://www.blackbaseball.com/players.htm

* Negro Baseball Leagues
http://www.blackbaseball.com