Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Imagine being told you have to go to a new school. Next, you find out that you have to wake up even earlier than before in order to get there on time. Panic starts to set in when realizing that you are a young black boy who is taking the bus to a school in the white part of town. Busing Brewster: The Journey of School Desegregation allows students to see how difficult it was for children to be included in school and in society. This picture book unit will allow students to learn about a really hard topic in a student-friendly way.
Busing Brewster
Busing Brewster by Richard Michelson is about Brewster, a first-grader, who is black but going to a school in the white part of town. Brewster’s mom is excited for him to go to a school with specials, such as art and music, and a library filled with books. However, Brewster isn’t sure how to fit in at his new school. It is not like he moved into a new neighborhood; he is part of the effort to desegregate children by integrating different races together. Unfortunately, his concerns are real as he ends up having detention in the library on the first day of school! While in the library, he meets Miss O’ Grady, who ends up showing Brewster how to believe in himself during a challenging adjustment.
Integrating Standards into a Real-Life Journey
The Busing Brewster Picture Book Unit will teach students about forced or school desegregated busing while incorporating several Common Core Standards. Four key focus elements include comprehension, characters, grammar, and vocabulary.
Comprehension:
In order to work on compare and contrast skills, students will compare and contrast two schools and two characters in the book. By doing this, students will understand how nerve-wracking school desegregation was for Brewster. However, it will help show how two schools and two characters who appear to be opposite weren’t actually all that different. By doing this, students will see the importance of not judging a person or building solely on external characteristics.
In order to help build comprehension, students will also focus on story elements. In the chart, students will fill in information about characters, the setting, the problem of the story, and the solution. By filling out this information, students will not only gain a better understanding of the book but also understand why it was so hard for Brewster to be part of forced busing.
In order to provide a visual of school desegregation, students will also analyze a photo. They may do this as a class, in a small group, or alone. There will be questions for students to use during their reflection, such as: “How does this photo make you feel?” By examining a picture of white moms protesting black children from riding the same bus, children will have a better understanding of how scary Brewster must have felt on his journey to school. Students will also see how these children did nothing wrong yet were judged based upon their skin color.
Characters:
While students have already started writing about characters, there is a portion of the lesson that focuses on something so important for this unit: Courage. Students will discuss how characters in the book had to be courageous and how they personally have had a time where they needed to be courageous. Students will also be able to create a bus and their own story about the importance of staying strong in the face of hardships.
Grammar:
Since writing is so important, it is embedded throughout the unit. There are a variety of activities that allow students to focus on pronouns versus reflexive pronouns. It is so important for students to learn about reflexive pronouns in order to see the correlation between looking at oneself in the mirror and remaining strong. Just as Brewster had to hold a lot of courage to get on the bus and go to the school in the white town, students in each class will realize that they can also get through tough situations. They just need to look in the mirror and believe in themselves.
Vocabulary:
In order to expand the vocabulary of students, they have to be exposed to more words. The unit on Busing Brewster will teach students about important terms, such as integration and equality, and provide many practice activities. For example, students will complete a word splash worksheet where they write sentences with vocabulary words in each sentence. This is the perfect time to practice writing with context clues! In addition to this, students will complete a KIM chart, which means they will focus on a term and its part of speech, definition, and a picture to help remember the meaning.
By utilizing Busing Brewster, students will see how racism and segregation did not end overnight. Furthermore, students will see how important it is so remain strong and never give up. Brewster had to undergo a really tough journey in the fight for school desegregation. However, he remained determined in order to overcome the harsh judgments he received simply for his skin color. Desegregation is a really hard topic to learn about, but this picture book unit will help teach students to always be courageous!