Engage the class in a discussion before and after reading "The Slave Dancer." Before they read the book, ask the students how they would feel about being forced to do something that they know is wrong and if they would take a stand against something that is wrong. Ask the students if they've ever been in a difficult situation and what they did to overcome it. Some of the questions that you can ask students after they read the book are why Jessie was kidnapped and what Jessie thought and felt the first time he had to make the enslaved
Africans dance. You can also discuss the conflicts that Jessie had with nature, himself, society and the other characters in the book.
Students can use their creativity and imagination to create a work of art related to the book. Kids can paint a mural of the sea with the passage from the book, "the sea groaned around us, bearing upon its heaving back great forks of lightning" in mind. Another idea is for each student to create a shoebox diorama that captures the student's favorite scene in the book. Students can also draw their own version of "The Moonlight" to help the students better visualize the setting aboard the ship.
Instruct students to research narratives written by people who were formerly enslaved. Slave narratives, or first-person accounts of slavery, can help the students to imagine what it was like to be a slave. When the students complete their research, they can pretend to be the character and present their story orally to the class in the form of a dramatic reading. Students can use a tone of voice and gestures that are appropriate for the emotions that the person they researched about would want to convey.
Divide the students into groups of two or three. Instruct the students to make a time line from the 1500s to the 1860s to show the history of slavery and abolition. Students can make the time line any way they wish, such as in a book form or on a long sheet or paper. The time line should include important events accompanied by illustrations either by drawing or by cutting out images found online. Each student in a group can be assigned to work on a specific decade or they can work on the entire time line together.