"The (Re)presentation of History in Film and Video: Narrative and Media,"
	"Running is the Same as Reading" Freedom and Literacy in African American Narrative - Sharon Saxton, Santa Ana High School
	This unit attempts to link literacy to economic and personal freedom, both for the African slave and for the modern adolescent. Using two definitions of reading&emdash;the ability to understand coded messages and the ability to make meaning of the written language&emdash;the teacher will explore the culture of "daily resistance" used by African slaves in this hemisphere while students are mining their own experiences in the youth culture of daily resistance against the dominant culture. Students in a freshman English or reading class will read Gary Paulsen's Nightjohn and Sarny, looking for the power reading conveys. In addition, they will explore the reading of coded messages passed among slaves through spirituals and quilts. The messages were always suggestions to help slaves make a successful run towards freedom in the North and to deceive members of the dominant white culture. In their vocabulary development, journal writing, research and speaking exercises they will express how reading confers identity and self-confidence on the slaves, preparing them to run for freedom. Students will examine the lyrics of a current song they admire and find power in the metaphor as they create a quilt patch around a visual image of the letters of the alphabet. Through their own writing and research, students will examine the codes they use in their music, movies, malls, tattoos, fashion, hairstyles, and clothing.