Lesson Plan: Cracked Windshield

Subject/Course: English

Topic: Multimodal Analysis of Police Encounter Narratives

Grade Level: 9-12

Common Core Standards

Reading Standards for Literature (Grades 9 & 10: 1, 2, 4, 5. 7; Grades 11 & 12: 1, 3 - 6)

Reading Standards for Informational Texts (Grades 9 & 10: 1 - 7; Grades 11 & 12: 1 - 6)

Writing Standards (Grades 9 & 10, Grades 11 & 12: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10)

Episode: “Cracked Windshield” (Season 7) Full audio | Transcript

Lesson Length/Time Needed: 3 class periods

Lesson Created by: R. Versaci, California

Lesson Objectives

• Students will identify & summarize main themes/issues in police encounter narratives

• Students will compare & contrast different forms of 1st person narrative

• Students will analyze sources of conflict in order to propose solutions

• Students will synthesize their ideas in an essay or presentation

Materials Needed

Audio Clips

Listening device (computer, etc.)

Part 1: Earlonne, Yahya, Nigel, Troy

Part 2: Sam

Part 3: Tom

Transcript excerpts for above sections

Gary Jackson, “Watchmen” (poem)

Hanif Abdurraqib, “My First Police Stop” (essay)

Activities

This particular lesson is meant to stretch over three class periods and culminate in a writing assignment or presentation, though teachers will see that the lesson as a whole can be modified to fit their needs and/or time constraints in any number of ways.

Day 1:

• In-class writing: “What do you know about conflicts between police and individuals that you hear about on the news or see on social media?”

  • Give time to write

  • Share in small groups

  • Discuss as larger class (keep notes on board)

• Put names on board: Earlonne, Nigel, Yahya, Troy, Sam

• Play Parts 1 and 2 from “Cracked Windshield”

  • Students take notes, including the following:

    • Details that confirmed your ideas?

    • Details that surprised you?

• Discuss as class (keep notes on board)

  • Details that students identified in both categories

  • What common themes/issues emerge across these narratives?

• Assign homework

  • Pass out transcripts (for segments played; i.e., not Tom’s)

  • Pass out “Watchmen” and “My First Police Stop”

• Read poem and essay carefully (depending on the reading needs of students, teachers may elect to read these pieces together in class)

  • Consider commonalities with each other and “Cracked Windshield” stories (teachers might task students with completing a Venn diagram or notes that students will be required to bring to class)

  • Consider new themes presented

  • Consider any other guided reading questions supplied by instructor (assigned homework should take about 1 hour)

Day 2:

• Put students into small groups (half the groups focus on poem; other half on essay)

  • Give time to share observations/thoughts

• Discuss “Watchmen” & “My First Police Stop” as larger class (notes on board)

  • Draw connections (similarities and differences) among all three — poem, essay, podcast

• In-class writing: “What do you think would be the police perspective on these stories?”

  • Give time to write

  • Discuss students’ thoughts as entire class

• Listen to Tom’s excerpt (Part 3) from “Cracked Windshield”

• Discuss how his perspective compares with students’ predictions

• Assign homework

  • Pass out transcript for Tom’s testimony

  • On board (or as handout) — three different tasks

    • Summarize themes that emerge in the narratives & support with text (complete a T-chart with “themes” on one side and text excerpts on the other)

    • Compare and contrast two forms of 1st person narration (i.e., how do the different modalities of the 1st person voice impact the message?) — podcast and poem OR podcast and essay OR poem and essay (complete a Venn diagram of the two chosen modalities)

    • Identify cause(s) of these conflicts and suggest solutions (complete a T-chart with “causes” in the left column and “solutions” in the right)

• Randomly assign students one of the tasks so that they’re equally covered

• Have students complete their assigned task and bring to class (assigned homework should take about 1 hour)

Day 3:

• Put students in small groups according to their assigned tasks

  • Give time to share their brainstormed ideas

• Discuss each topic as larger class (keep notes on board)

• Synthesizing assignment (options: in-class essay, take-home/longer essay, group essay, individual or group presentation, etc.)

  • Students will choose one of the following topics for the assignment:

    • Common Themes in Police Encounter Narratives

    • Comparing Different Modes of 1st Person Police Encounter Narratives

    • Police Encounter Conflicts: Causes and Solutions

Additional Resources

Gary Jackson, Missing You, Metropolis: Poems (Graywolf Press, 2010)

Hanif Abdurraqib, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Two Dollar Radio, 2017)

Extension:

Ear Hustle Podcast, Episode 36: “Tell Christy I Love Her”

Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give (HarperCollins, 2017)

Ryan Coogler (dir.), Fruitvale Station (Lionsgate, 2014)

Content Warnings

Use of the word “shit” (right at the beginning of the first excerpt, at the 8:04 mark)

Nigel: Both Earlonne and Yahya – what was your first encounter with a police officer?

Earlonne: Well, shit, if you say first encounter, you speaking as a kid.