Plan Your African American Read-In
from NCTE INBOX 1-31-12
Join over a million readers in the 23rd National African American Read-In throughout the month of February! Learn more about what happens at a Read-In in the English Journal article "The African American Read-In: Celebrating Black Writers and Supporting Youth" (G). The following resources can get you started:
Tune into this ReadWriteThink.org podcast episode (M-S) for recommendations of both old and new titles by distinguished African American authors who write for teens. Featured books range from historical novels to contemporary explorations of African American life in both urban and suburban settings.
"Jacqueline Woodson: Real Characters, Real Voices" (E-M-S), from Language Arts, explores the people and experiences that influence the writing of Jacqueline Woodson.
Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963 is the focus of the ReadWriteThink.org lesson plan Graphing Plot and Character in a Novel (E), which invites students to graph the journey of the family while exploring the plot and character development in the novel.
Nikki Giovanni's poetry is the focus of Childhood Remembrances: Life and Art Intersect in Nikki Giovanni's "Nikki-Rosa" (M-S-C), from ReadWriteThink.org. The lesson is based on an activity described in the NCTE book Nikki Giovanni in the Classroom: "The same ol' danger but a brand new pleasure" (S) by Carol Jago.
Poet and novelist Nikki Grimes talks about her background, her influences, her life as a writer, and her thoughts on sharing poetry in "Interview with Poet Nikki Grimes" (E-M-S) from Language Arts.
Langston Hughes's poetry is explored alongside rap lyrics and jazz and blues music in the English Journal article "Culturally Responsive Teaching: The Harlem Renaissance in an Urban English Class" (S). Read more in NCTE's Langston Hughes in the Classroom: "Do Nothin' till You Hear from Me" (S) by Carmaletta M. Williams.
"Charles Johnson's Middle Passage as Historiographic Metafiction" (C), from College English, outlines techniques for using Johnson's postmodern novel in literature studies.
The works of Alice Walker, bell hooks, and Nikki Giovanni are all explored in "Becoming a Writerly Self: College Writers Engaging Black Feminist Essays" (C), from College Composition and Communication, which asserts that personal essays by Black feminist writers can be used to teach writers how to connect their personal and social identities.
For more ideas, see the ReadWriteThink Calendar entry for the African American Read-In, which includes lesson plans, classroom activities, and online resources.
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