David Drake: Enslaved Potter and Poet Unit Study
It is Black History Month and we are giving away a lesson about David Blake, also known as Dave the Potter. Dave was enslaved in the 1800s and became a skilled craftsman and artisan creating large, beautiful pottery. His pottery is notable both because of the size and craftsmanship but also because he wrote small poems on the pots. His story is important both because Dave was special, but also because his story was not unique. He was enslaved from birth, he was separated from family and sold several times, and he was treated horrendously by his enslavers.
This unit study is uses the book Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet by Andrea Cheng as the foundation of the unit study. The book is a collection of poems presenting different points of view on Blake’s life and gives us some great jumping off points into a whole range of subjects. Topics covered in this unit study include history, art, pottery making, geography, poetry, and science. It touches on big topics and offers opportunities for hands-on crafts.
This unit is designed to be used mostly independently by your high-school aged student. The lessons are written directly to the student with instructions to discuss topics with you as their teacher, or to think critically about prompted ideas and questions. We absolutely encourage you to engage with this unit study along side your student. But we know that high schoolers like a degree of independence. So the lessons are designed to suit the best of both worlds, your student initiates the discussion based on their reading or prompting, and you can engage with them from there.
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Learning Through Literature
Your free lesson plan is a literature-based unit study all about David Blake, an enslaved African American who lived in the 1800s.
The book for this unit study is Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet by Andrea Cheng. This book is made up of a series of poems, both from David’s point of view and the point of view of other people in his life.
The lesson plans will have your child learning not just history, but art, geography, science and poetry.
Why?
Why give away a lesson? It just feels like the right thing to do. Black History month is something we feel is important to celebrate and acknowledge. It is also important to tell stories of people who didn’t really make history. History stories are full of “great men” who changed the world. But history is full of ordinary people who lived real lives that are just as important to talk about and share.
We choose to honor David Drake and acknowledge his struggle and the beautiful gifts he left for us by sharing this free lesson plan with you.
As always, our lesson plans are appropriate for a range of ages, and learning styles. This program is designed to be used with high school students, with or without learning disabilities and neurodiversity.
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