An Overview
We will begin the unit with discussion. What are the issues/problems with the students at this age? How do they deal with them, how do they find solutions? What is it that keeps students on the phone with each other until two in the morning after they have spent the entire day together in school? What is it they are talking about and how does it help them get through life?
We will go on to examine adolescent voices in literature, noting how their struggles are similar to ours and in what ways telling the story helps the characters to get through their problems. Holden Caulfield, Huck Finn, and Tyrone Bittings are a few characters that will lead us into their lives and into their struggles through their narratives. One character that students love to relate to is Squeaky in Toni Cade Bambarra's "Raymond's Run." Students hear in Squeaky a voice they can relate to as she seeks to find herself, simultaneously trying to protect her handicapped brother and be the best that she can be.
But now, if anyone has anything to say to Raymond, anything to say about his big
head, they have to come by me. And I don't play the dozens or believe in standing
around with somebody in my face doing a lot of talking. I much rather just knock
you down and take my chances even if I am a little girl with skinny arms and a
squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky. And if things get too rough,
I run and as anyone can tell you, I'm the fastest thing on two feet. (Applebee, 34)
Squeaky's voice tells us so much about her without directly saying it. We know about her conflicts, her attitude towards problem solving, her physical statute, her responsibilities and her hobbies. Squeaky is a great lead in to the search for our own voices.
Finally we will focus on Nikki Grimes'
Bronx Masquerade
. This book is full of students trying to find their way, and struggling with who they are. Chankara's sister is beaten by her boyfriend and is determined not to let the same thing happen to her. Tyrone Bittings has a very pessimistic outlook on life, his father is dead, he hates school and sees little reason to try any harder in life than he already does. Students will model their writing on the writing that they study. They will attempt to mimic the characters with their own voices, which hopefully will become more and more clear as they work through the unit. The Harlem Renaissance will also be included during this section of the unit. Through journal-writing, poetry-writing and the creation of a book not unlike the book written in
Bronx Masquerade
, students will find that writing and sometimes sharing their writing will become a simple way to give voice to their own woes or happiness. The page will become a sounding board, a friendly ear, a place to turn when there seems nowhere else to go. Finally, adding artwork and the spoken word performances to the students' revelations will give life and personality to each classroom and will surely be an experience that we will all remember.
Utilizing the varied texts and working closely with students as they record their own feelings and thoughts in their journals, I will help students attempt to unlock the power of the written word and in the struggle try to explore and discover their own adolescent voices. What begins as a conversation will continue as a search for answers that will take us deep inside of some of the greatest literature ever written as well as deep inside our own selves and to answers that students as well as teachers may find enlightening.
A word about Assessment
As mentioned before, generally I don't grade journal entries as I would an essay or other types of projects. Usually I will simply comment in the journals and give them a reminder that I am checking on their work. In this unit I need to make sure students are participating in the writing assignments, especially as we get closer to the final project in which they will be looking for their own pieces to put in a collection. So journal writing, although basically graded based on participation, does become a form of assessment. Second, students will be asked to participate in the "Open Mic Fridays." This can also serve as a point of assessment, but due to the nature of the activity (Who doesn't remember being terrified when asked to come up in front of the class at least once in their educational career?) I will give extra credit to those who choose to participate in the activity. Finally the third larger part of the project and the one that everyone will be graded on for their participation is the collection of work that culminates this project. Besides these areas, there are several other opportunities along the way where students can be quizzed or tested on the literature they are reading.
Section One-Listening for voices in the classroom
I will begin work in this unit with discussion. It is important that students begin to feel comfortable discussing issues and problems with each other openly. I am certain that students know how to communicate with each other on a certain level, but I am not certain that they are willing or comfortable communicating with each other on a more meaningful and thoughtful level. How many eighth graders are willing to discuss their problems and concerns with each other? Are the issues that students face regarded as secrets that they are unable to share or are they willing to discuss what is on their minds? I think the initial discussion section in this unit can begin the steps needed for students to get to the point where they are willing to talk about their problems in poetry and prose as easily as the eighteen characters are able to in
Bronx Masquerade
.
The discussion session must be a chance for students not only to begin telling or sharing their thoughts and concerns, but a chance for students to begin listening to each other. As students sit in a large circle facing each other in the classroom, I give them an object, a ball, a "talking stick," something (later to become a microphone) which will indicate that they "have the floor."
For the initial discussion, students come up with topics on their own. I ask students to write down issues and concerns that bother them and tell students to write down their concerns on a slip of paper and then put them in a hat. Once someone has chosen a concern from the hat, I see who wants to begin the discussion. Sometimes I, the teacher, have to start and I have to decide if a topic is too much for your class at any point in the exercises.
As students discuss, I remind them to listen to not only the issues being discussed, but to all of the individual voices that are participating in the discussion. Many of the issues concern all of us, but how do we voice them differently, how do we react differently?
Discussions should take place weekly. The literature that is explored in the unit will enter the discussions as the characters we read about have many of the same concerns that students in the classroom have. Finally the weekly discussions will become the "Open Mic Fridays" that will take place on a weekly basis along with the reading of
Bronx Masquerade.
Students should reflect in their journals on their feelings about the discussions. Teachers can provide different writing topics if needed. (How did listening to others make you feel? How were two or more voices different in the classroom? How would might someone else in the class respond to your biggest concern?)
Section Two- The literature
In this section of the unit, I will introduce several stories that I believe will be useful for helping students see the struggle of adolescence in literature. In this section of the unit teachers may want to substitute their own favorites and utilize the activities that I have suggested to their own liking. Toni Cade Bambara's story "Raymond's Run" is one that my eighth graders love to read every year. It is the story of a girl named Squeaky who is growing up in modern day Harlem. Squeaky is a tough girl who really has two loves at this point in her life; one is taking care of her handicapped brother Raymond, the other is running. Like all children at her age, Squeaky has challenges and rivalries which she faces daily and it quickly becomes clear in the story that Squeaky is very much shaped by her environment.
Living in New York, she is a tough girl with tough language and a tough attitude. She has a powerful voice that barely cracks under the rivalries and responsibilities that she faces in the story. Students love Squeaky because of her voice. They love how she deals with her problems and feel that she is a leader who they can look up to.
Another story middle school children love to read is Robert Cormier's "The Moustache." The main character in this story, seventeen-year-old Mike, is anxious to grow up at the beginning of the story. He likes to drive his father's Le Mans, he has a girlfriend and he has grown a moustache. Mike is a middle class kid growing up in the suburbs. His attitude about his conflicts, his having to visit his grandmother in the nursing home, is that he just wants to get it done and move on.
As you introduce these characters into the classroom, they become a part of the discussion. These characters join your students in the "search for self" and they provide you and the students with someone that you can freely talk about and incorporate into the search. Instead of saying "How do you think Billy Smith would handle this problem?" (Billy Smith being a student in your class) you say "How do you think Squeaky would handle this problem?" Or "What would Huck say about this issue?" The characters really provide a sort of safe zone for the students and you to discuss and write about how different people handle different issues, what those responses sound and look like and what they say about the characters and us.
Section Three- Bronx Masquerade and "Open Mic Fridays"
This section is the culmination of the unit. Nikki Grimes has put the characters in her book
Bronx Masquerade
exactly where I want my students to be; in a place where they feel comfortable sharing their concerns and listening to each other through poetry and writing. Basically what we try to do in this section of the class is imitate the students in Grimes' book. I am constantly reminding students that I am "Mr. Ward," the teacher, and that they are the Tyrones, the Wesleys, the Chankaras and the Rauls from
Bronx Masquerade.
Just as Mr Ward's class has "open mic Fridays," so does our class. Just as Mr. Ward's students write poems in their journals, so does our class. Just as Mr. Ward's students confide in their journals, so do we. And finally as Grimes has compiled the poetry and feelings in one collection, so will we. There are several ingredients of this section which should be discussed here.
Bronx Masquerade
In the beginning of
Bronx Masquerade
a student writes a poem to Langston Hughes instead of an essay as his English teacher has asked him to do. Although the teacher does not accept the poem as a replacement for the essay, he does allow the student to read his poem to the class. The reading is such a hit that other students want to share their work and eventually the teacher provides for everyone through "Open Mic Fridays." One at a time Grimes introduces characters as they provide a journal entry and a poem in the text. As the readings unfold a host of problems including alcoholism, abuse, obesity, and dyslexia come out. Throughout the story, one character named Tyrone provides a commentary as students get up to share their work.
The Spoken Word and the Poetry Slam
The development of spoken word can be traced to the Beat poets who regularly read their poetry in New York bars, as well as the protest music of the sixties; it entered a more public forum with the introduction of the open microphone in the late seventies and eighties. In the eighties "performance" was added to the poetry readings and in the mid eighties Marc Smith organized the first poetry slams which are basically spoken word competitions in which the audience scores the performers. Spoken word performance poetry is really poetry reading combined with performance. It is poetry and emotion put out there for the audience and for the poet.
The "Open Mic Fridays" that I have enjoyed with my classes so far are just naturally full of performance. Students love to share their work and by this point in the unit they should be fairly comfortable speaking in front of each other. It may take a little prodding, but once the "Open mic Friday" begins in your class, it will take off.
The Harlem Renaissance
Wesley 'Bad Boy' Boone laments in the beginning of Bronx
Masquerade
, "I mean what's the point of studying poetry and then writing essays? So I wrote a bunch of poems instead. They weren't too shabby, considering I'd only done a few rap pieces before. My favorite was about Langston Hughes." (Grimes, 4) Mr. Ward asks Wesley to read his piece to the class and the "Open Mic Friday" is born.
The Harlem Renaissance also fits nicely with this unit. The movement which lasted from the twenties into the early forties was really a cultural "search for self." African Americans moved to Chicago and New York in search of an identity. Figures such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Billie Holiday and Langston Hughes were leaders in a sort of cultural revolution that resulted in fabulous music, writing and artwork. Let students listen to blues and jazz in preparation for "Open Mic Fridays." Let them look at the artwork of Jacob Lawrence or Romare Bearden and respond in their journals. Students should see that in this cultural search, many identities were shaped just as their own identities are being shaped now
In this unit I will use the Harlem Renaissance in two ways. One way will be in preparation for "Open Mic Fridays." We will listen to the music of the Harlem Renaissance and respond in writing. We will look at artwork and poetry and also respond. I have included a section on this is the lesson plan section of this unit.
The second way I will use the Harlem Renaissance in addition to the
Bronx Masquerade
unit is to have students choose a figure from the Harlem Renaissance and complete a report on that subject at the end of the unit. Many of my students will end up doing power point presentations, but others will choose to do other types.
Activities For the Third Section
The final project in this unit is simply a culmination of the work students have done so far in class. By the end of this unit students should have several pages of poetry and responses in their journals that they will be ready to contribute to a collection of prose and poetry that you as a class can decide what to call.
I allow the students to take charge of this project. I put together an editorial board that will work with submissions and put the book together. I ask all the students to choose one or two poems to submit to the editorial board. A letter that states what kind of piece that they are submitting, what was their motivation and why they think this piece would be a positive addition to the book should accompany the pieces. Once submitted, the board (with the teacher's assistance) can make suggestions to writers. Student conferencing on the work should take place and finally writers should finalize their prose and poetry. Illustrations should also be accepted. At least one piece of writing or art from each student will be included in the book. When submissions are all accounted for the teacher or the board should organize them, bind them with a cover and give a copy to each student.
