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    • 1. Axe Body Spray (Critical Thinking)
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Rosa Parks: Quiet Courage in Communication

High-interest reading article about COMMUNICATION.

Reading comprehension article handout (differentiated Gr 4, 6, 8) about Rosa Parks focusing on her conversation with the bus driver as an example of assertive communication. Includes sample answers.

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Quiet Courage in Communication

Rosa Parks was arrested because she didn’t give up her seat to a person who was White in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955.

She was 42 years old at the time. Rosa Parks was part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She was planning a major youth conference.

Rosa Parks worked as a seamstress. After work, she took the bus to go home. She sat in the front row of the segregated section. Here’s what happened on the bus in her own words:

“A white man got on, and the driver looked our way and said, “Let me have those seats. It did not seem proper, particularly for a woman to give her seat to a man. All the passengers paid ten cents, just as he did. When more whites boarded the bus, the driver, J. P. Blake, ordered the blacks in the fifth row, the first row of the colored section (the row I was sitting in), to move to the rear. Bus drivers then had police powers, under both municipal and state laws, to enforce racial segregation. However, we were sitting in the section designated for colored.”

More people who were White got on the bus. The driver asked the people who were Black in the front row of the segregated section to give up their seats.

“Y’all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats,” said the driver.

Three people who were Black gave up their seats and moved further back. Rosa Parks chose not to. She moved closer to the window.

Later on, Rosa Parks wrote a book about what happened. “When I reflect on conditions in the South, I recall that people had become worn out from being humiliated. They were sick of accepting the racial segregation that seemed to be worsening each day. Someone had to take that first step.”

When she got on the bus that Thursday evening, Rosa Parks didn’t plan to get arrested. She wanted to go home. But, at that moment, she made up her mind to stay in her seat. She wasn’t physically tired, but she was tired of the oppression.

This was not an easy decision to make. She knew there were risks if she refused to move. “I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others.”

The bus driver asked her if she was going to stand up. “No. I am not,” she answered.

Rosa Parks was aware that she might be in danger. “Though I knew we needed to strive for nonviolence, when I saw the brutal treatment some of us got, I had trouble believing it was always the best thing to do.”

The bus driver said that he would have to call the police. “Go ahead,” she replied.

J.P. Blake called the police. The police arrested Rosa Parks because city laws gave bus drivers the power to enforce segregation.

Rosa Parks asked one of the police officers, “Why do you push us around?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, “but the law is the law and you’re under arrest.”

None of the people on the bus who knew her did anything. They didn’t even bother telling her husband that she was in jail.

“There were other people on the bus whom I knew. But when I was arrested, not one of them came to my defense. I felt very much alone… In jail I felt even more alone. For a moment, as I sat in that little room with bars, before I was moved to a cell with two other women, I felt that I had been deserted.

Rosa Parks was not the first person in Montgomery arrested for not giving up their seat to a person who was White. But her arrest did start the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Throughout her life, Rosa Parks continued to speak up for civil rights. Thinking back about the conversations on the bus, Rosa Parks wrote, “Human dignity must be respected at all times. I would have compromised my dignity if I had buckled one more time… I also would have compromised my dignity if I had resisted violently.”

Communication Mini-Lesson

We’ve all had tough conversations – when you want something and the other person you are communicating with wants something else.

Just because you disagree about something doesn’t always make a conversation tough. For example, if you want to see an action movie and your friend wants to watch a comedy, but it doesn’t really matter to either of you, then we don’t really have any conflict.

Tough conversations happen when you want something, the other person wants something else, and this is important to both of you. Now what?

Here are four styles of communication in tough conversations. They differ based on what outcome you’re working towards – who “wins” and who “loses.”

1. ASSERTIVE communication style: The Diplomat

  • You could be “the diplomat” (assertive) where your needs come first in a respectful way.
  • You win because you set personal boundaries and limits on what you’re willing to do/accept.
  • You’re also working to help the other person win because you’re trying to find a solution that works for them (as long as you don’t compromise your personal boundaries/limits.)

2. AGGRESSIVE communication style: The Steam Roller

  • You could be “the steamroller” (aggressive) where your needs come first no matter what – you win, and they lose.

3. PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE communication style: The Rain Cloud

  • You could be “the rain cloud” (passive-aggressive) where their needs come first (begrudgingly with indirect resistance).
  • They win, and you might win or lose depending on what the other person does because of how unhappy you act or pushback.

4. PASSIVE communication style: The Door Mat

  • Finally, you could be “the doormat” (passive) – they win, and you lose.
  • You avoid confrontation at all cost.

Being assertive is tough.

Here are five things to look for in assertive behaviour:

  1. Respectfully stand up for your point of view by telling the other person what you want.
  2. Set personal boundaries and limits on what you are willing to do / accept. You’re willing to compromise as long as it doesn’t cross your limits.
  3. Your needs come first.
  4. You consider the rights and beliefs of others and their points of view.
  5. Courageous direct confrontation by being true to yourself and considerate of others.

Based on this article, what type of communication style can we infer Rosa Parks used?

Reading Comprehension Questions

Based on this communication mini-lesson, how would you answer the following questions: 

  1. Why was this a tough conversation between the bus driver and Rosa Parks? 
  2. Based on this article, what type of communication style can we infer Rosa Parks used?
  3. What communication style did the bus driver use?
  4. Think of a tough conversation that you’ve had. Why was it tough? What communication style did you use?
  5. Does being assertive always work? Why or why not?
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Filed Under: Reading Comprehension 6Cs Article Tagged With: article-005, communication

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Different Reading Strategies List (PDF)

Evaluating Reading Strategy: Lesson, video, handouts (that work with any text)

Evaluating Reading Strategy Lesson Plan

How to Infer – 4 PRO TIPS: 1. Figure out what the text is really saying even though it doesn’t say it like this. (Evidence from the text + your thinking = an inference) 2. Your inference cannot be directly in the text. It has to be something new that you figured out based on the text. 3. Use Somebody Wanted But So to think about the text and make inferences. 4. Use It says, I say, And so to explain your inference.

Inferring Reading Strategy Lesson Plan (Inferencing)

How to Make (Deeper) Connections - 4 PRO TIPS: 1. Connect with things you’ve read (text to text), things you’ve experienced (text to self), or things people know (text to world) 2. Avoid simple connections. Find things that are same-same but different. 3. Use one of these thought patterns: "This is like that, but… so…" or "A is like B, and B is _ so A is probably _" 4. Stop after every heading or paragraph and make a connection

Making Connections Reading Strategy Lesson Plan: How to make deeper Text-to-Self, Text-to-Text, and Text-to-World connections

4 PRO TIPS to the Repairing Comprehension Reading Strategy 1. Read a paragraph and SAY SOMETHING: Ask a question, Make a connection, Make an inference, Form an opinion 2. Does your SAY SOMETHING make sense with stuff you know about the world? If not, re-read the paragraph. Use PEEP to clarify your thinking. 3. Does your SAY SOMETHING make sense with stuff you already read in this text? If not, re-read the paragraph. Re-read the other stuff you already read.Use PEEP to figure out why it doesn’t make sense. 4. PEEP: Point, Evidence, Explanation, Point

Repairing Comprehension Reading Strategy Lesson Plan

Asking Questions Reading Comprehension Strategy - 4 PRO TIPS 1. Don't ask a question you already know the answer to. 2. Try to answer your own question. Use evidence from the text. 3. Ask lots of questions. Include higher-order thinking questions (why or how / would or might) 4. Stop after every heading or paragraph and ask a question.

Asking Questions Reading Strategy

FIND THE MAIN IDEA 4 PRO TIPS: 1. Focus on the BIG PICTURE (the entire article). Summarize the entire article in a word or phrase. What general point is the author trying to make? 2. Look for clues in key spots. (How is the text organized?) 3. Think about each paragraph. What is this paragraph about? (Where is the main idea in the paragraph? Beginning? Middle? End?) What role does this paragraph play?  4. Find the “best” main idea. The main idea is NOT always directly stated. The best idea has strong support from the beginning, middle, and end of the entire article.

Finding the Main Idea – Reading Comprehension Strategy Lesson Plan

Active Reading Strategies Lesson and Handouts: Works with any text!

Active Reading Strategies Lesson – Power Up Tool Kit

6Cs Reading Comprehension Articles

  • Axe Body Spray stops a Florida school bus due to a “hazardous materials incident”
  • Small business owner pays it forward by paying overdue utility bills for 36 families over the holidays
  • Pork roast cooked in a car during a record-breaking heat wave in Australia
  • Airplane wheel falls off during takeoff in Canada
  • Rosa Parks: Quiet Courage in Communication
  • Building Bridges between Police and Youth
  • California Surfer Breaks Stereotypes – Character Education
  • Green Leader Says It Shouldn’t Have Taken This Long – Collaboration
  • Service Dog – Is this Discrimination? (Critical Thinking)
  • Devious Sips, TikTok trends, and Active Citizenship
  • Online Shopping and Fraud – Critical Thinking – Article 011

SEL Reading Comprehension Articles

  • This US fighter pilot is terrified of flying…
  • Change The Game And Earn Your Leisure
  • This App Can Help Close The Gap
  • Ballet, Beauty, and Being Girly
  • Born Here. Failed Six Years!
  • Dwayne Johnson The Rock
  • What if I took it off for you? Reading Response Passage

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