As a first-year teacher in the non-traditional environment of a prison, I've found that my best lessons have been thematically based. I've developed interdisciplinary units around the novel, Of Mice and Men, the play, A Raisin in the Sun, career/employment issues, twentieth century America, and other topic areas. But no lesson that I have prepared can top a thematic unit on African-American history, one that was developed at the suggestion of a student, curious about his heritage. I developed this unit while teaching at the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston. My students were men, mostly in their 20s and 30s; who read between a 5th and 6th grade level. "Africa Then, African Now—360 Degrees of Blackness," as the project came to be known, had very modest beginnings. My initial aims were to introduce and familiarize students with a few components of African-American history, including ancient African civilizations, the Massachusetts 54th Infantry, and the Harlem Renaissance. Educational objectives prior to beginning the unit included: highlighting less familiar people and aspects of black history, improving literacy, enhancing computer literacy, practicing group presentation skills, and improving writing fluency. Little did I know at that time how much more this would actually involve and include.

By the time John Coltrane's saxophone faded out and the director yelled "Cut!," our "little" project was close to two months in the works. We began with a mini-lesson on Nubian and Egyptian cultures in which students teamed up to tackle a single area of the ancient cultures, for example: family life, religion, contributions to society, and related topics. Each group was required to read and understand its piece, summarize it, then jointly present the newly discovered information to the rest of the class. Lack of preparedness by some of the presenters and difficulty of material caused this part to drag a little. After that section we spent some time looking at the state of Africa today. Geographics, demographics, economics, and other areas were presented with the help of some excellent overhead transparencies, which helped to spark student interest. From there we jumped ahead to the Civil War era and the Massachusetts 54th Infantry's distinguished role in history. We dove into facts and stats, as well as personal narratives from those who were there. It was around this time that I realized that something special was about to happen.

Taking a Back Seat to Students
I decided to take a back seat and allow the students to steer our next course. We held a group meeting in which I told the class that I wanted to put together a comprehensive class project presenting all our new information. I would supply all the resources and assistance needed, but they were responsible for collectively deciding what that project would be, and how to get it from conception to completion. We bounced around many ideas before deciding on constructing a large-scale timeline that would wrap around the classroom and present articles, pictures, and other information about each piece that we covered. We designated two student project leaders who would coordinate and direct the massive project. We increased the caseload to include the transatlantic slave trade, slavery in America, the Civil Rights movement, and African-Americans today. It was as if our team captain yelled "break," the huddle dispersed, and each player set off to do his job. Some navigated their way through Encarta Africana, an unbelievably resourceful computerized encyclopedia of Africana. Others dove into textbooks and other printed resources. Still others viewed video libraries during the research portion of the project.

Mini-Museum and Celebration
Our timeline was literally bursting at the seams. So much so that it actually more closely resembled a mini-museum. Our small cinder-block classroom was transformed into a home of tribute to African history and to my students' vision and perseverance. I arrogantly decided that the museum wasn't enough. I wanted to share, celebrate, and show off our work. Nearing the end of our project, I informed the class that we were going to host a party, an open house that would allow other interested students and staff to view the layout of actual sardine-packed slave ships, read documents and journal entries, skim through volumes of poetry and art created solely by African-Americans, and listen to the smooth sounds of Coltrane, Armstrong, and other jazz greats. We even invited guests to sit and further explore any related areas of interest to them. This followed a 15-minute oratory/theatrical walk through history, which verbally highlighted our educational journey, narrated by the "experts" that had researched and prepared that section. This piece was entirely arranged by my students, who caught me by surprise when they handed me my script, detailing the lives of a few outstanding black women. All in all it was a multimedia event that left us with an engaged audience, a wealth of information, swelling pride, unbelievable camaraderie, and a standing ovation. One staff member, our librarian and a Congolese native, was so impressed that he encouraged us to videotape the presentation as a permanent documentation to have and show in our institutional library.

Unexpected Outcomes
What started as a less than adequately developed lesson ended as a source of knowledge, pride, and development for my ABE students. Each and every member contributed: reluctant writers completed essays, less than artistic individuals designed and colored murals, and computer-phobes navigated CD-ROMs. During this time, my class attendance and size multiplied and students excelled in working both independently and cooperatively. Most importantly, this group gained a valuable sense of pride in themselves. The project exceeded the expectations of even the most optimistic in the group.

Since then, the construction paper backgrounds have faded, most of the students have left the institution, and the museum has long since come down. However, the memories of this amazing experiment in adult education and the possibilities and precedents that were achieved in the process are still fresh and clear in my mind. And if you asked any of them, I bet they'd say the same.

Jill Paquette worked as a reading teacher at the Suffolk County House of Corrections and was an outstanding softball pitcher for Stonehill College in 2001-2002. She has recently left teaching and plans to pursue a master's degree, specializing in learning disabilities and multiple intelligences.