My Great Big Book Blog: National Book Award Winner: Brown Girl Dreaming

Written by Jacqueline Woodson

Copyright 2014
Published by Nancy Paulsen Books
Reading level: ages 11-13, grades 4-6, Lexile measure 990L
Suggested delivery: independent read, small group
Genre: Autobiography and Biography, Poetry and Rhymes

Memorable ~ Powerful ~ Thoughtful ~ Moving ~ Poetic

Summary:

As a young girl raised in South Carolina and New York, Jacqueline had trouble knowing that she had a home in two different places so far from one another. Woodson is creative in the way that she creates several poems to tell her live story, and what it was like to grow up as a young African American in the 1960's. Each poem in her book leaves the reader emotionally engaged. The poems allow for one to visualize Woodson's life as she did, and how as a young girl, she searches for her own place in the world.

Vocabulary to Know:

Civil Rights movement: The national effort made by black people and their supporters in the 1950s and 1960s to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights

Ethnicity: a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion, or language

Memoir: a record of events written by a person having personal knowledge of them and based on personal observation

Negro: relating to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, generally marked by brown to black skin pigmentation, dark eyes, and tightly curled hair and including especially the indigenous peoples of Africa south of the Sahara

Segregation: the act of separating, or setting apart of people or things from others or from the main group

Race: refers to groups of people who have differences and similarities in biological traits deemed by society to be socially significant

Jacqueline Woodson

Suggested Lesson Ideas:

+Before Reading Activity: A really great before reading activity to do with students would be to conduct a Read, Write, Pair, and Share. You could have the students pre-read articles related to the history of "Brown Girl Dreaming" in order to give them some great background knowledge prior to reading the book. After they read, have them write about what they read (thoughts, feelings, questions etc.), after that you can then have the students come together in partners to then share their thoughts and what they wrote about. This type of activity is an excellent way to get students thinking about what they will be reading.

+During Reading Activity: Fishbowl Discussions are an interactive way to get students thinking about what they are reading. A fishbowl discussion is when you have a few selected students sit in the center of the classroom while the rest of the students sit around them. The students in the center discuss a certain topic, while the ones on the outside of the circle listen or take notes on what is being discussed by their fellow classmates. As a teacher, you could provide the students with thoughtful prompts to get them to better comprehend their reading, discuss a particular problem in the book etc. "Brown Girl Dreaming" would be a great book to use for a Fishbowl Discussion.

+After Reading Activity: Response Writing is a way in which you have the chance to communicate a particular viewpoint to a book you've just finished reading. In response writing, it is great to be able to make connections, ask unanswered questions, but it is not necessarily intended to be a comprehension test.

A good response paper could include the following:

l. What (meanings, values, etc.) was the author trying to promote?

2. What is my personal position relative to the author's

3. How has reading and reflecting on this affected my lived world experience?

+Writing Activity: Woodson wrote her book by writing several poems. Have student create their own "I Am Poems" following the template shown below. Before sending students on their own to write, I would recommend completing a sample "I Am Poem" so that they all know how the poem works. Students' poems should be well developed and edited by the teacher. After students have finished the draft of their poem, have them put it on the final template. These poems can be hung around the room for other to see!