Roots Lesson Plan

Fact and Fiction

Kind of Activity:

Group Discussion

Objective:

To distinguish among facts and literary license in the text

Common Core Standards:

"Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text."

Structure:

Students should be asked to discuss to what extent the author's recreation of Kunta Kinte's world is based on generally knowable fact and to what extent he is inventing events, scenes, characters, and history itself in the telling of the story. The author relies heavily on the local griot for information on his ancestors and for the details of their story; students should discuss not whether such accounts can be considered reliable across...