TEACHER COMMENTARY AND REFLECTION:

Teacher Interview : ANOTHER Lesson Before Dying
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Themes and discussion of approach
The Human Rights themes presented in this unit are Social Justice, Social Reconciliation, and Social Transformation.

These three themes are used to guide the discussion on Human Rights violations, because many of the students that I have taught claimed to have been survivors of Human Rights violations. These students were eager to examine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights document. They were also eager to discuss the Human Rights document and the Criminal Justice issues that were presented in the novel.

The personal interview with Mr. Al-Amin, allowed the students to compare a fictional Death Row court case with the case of an exonerated ex-death row inmate, and make inferences, and draw conclusion about social, ethical, racial and political aspects of the real life court case and a fictional court case.

The experiences that (the fictional character) Jefferson encountered, closely mirrors Mr. Al-Amin's death row experiences, especially the incarcerations as death row inmates. Therefore, the chapters in A Lesson Before Dying were deconstructed to evaluate and examine the relationship between the injustice and the low self-esteem of the two death-row inmates. Low self-esteem can be defined as follows:

"The effects of slavery on the majority of African Americans cannot be overstated as slavery not only created conditions of economic exploitation, but it also left a legacy of disconnected family histories and, for some, a sense of hopelessness" (Dobbin & Skillings, 1991). W.M.Lee. An Introduction to Multicultural Counseling (1999).

In A Lesson Before Dying, a sense of hopelessness is directly related to the essential question ("What quality to will must a Negro possess to live and die with dignity in a country that denied his humanity?)" Therefore, the students were directed to reflect on the themes of the lesson including the fundamentals of racism, discrimination, stereotyping, and internal oppression. As the student's ethical, moral and cultural awareness develops, they begin demonstrating their understanding of how low self-esteem is often influenced by ancestral history. Hence, their struggle to comprehend Ethics or the nuances of Social justice (Human Rights);

Moral values or Social reconciliation (U.S. Bill of Rights); and Loyalty or Social transformation (Civil Rights Act 1964) was broadened, because they learned to generalize, and draw inferences and conclusions about the novel. Ultimately, the student's reading comprehension, vocabulary skills, oral presentations, interviews, journal and essay writings were enhanced by the six-week unity activities.