Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Brown Girl Dreaming (2014)
Written by: Jacqueline Woodson
Nancy Paulsen Books, New York, New York
Lexile: 990L

Accelerated Reader: 5.0

Moving, Emotional, Melodic, Powerful, Honest

Suggested Delivery: small group reading

Electronic Resources to Support Learning:

      1.  Jacqueline Woodson

           This website is author Jacqueline Woodson's personal site in which she gives us fun personal facts, information about her books and inspirations behind them, a biography, research guide, and many other useful tools and information for readers.

      2.  Civil Rights Movement

           This is a Huffington Post article in which the author recounts her experience growing up in North Carolina and the African American woman hired to watch after her.  Unbeknown to the young girl that the woman was hired, she developed a strong relationship to the woman, until her father died and they couldn't afford many of the expenses anymore.  This is a real account of growing up white and the perspective of the Civil Rights Movement through a young girl's eyes.

Key Vocabulary:

• subservient - a person who must obey without question
• pernil - a Puerto Rican dish of pork shoulder
• pasteles - a Puerto Rican dish of plantain covered meat pastries
• mas mejor amiga - Spanish for "a better friend"
• Jehovah's Witness - Christian religion, denies many traditional Christian practices
• kufi - a brimless cap worn by men, a traditional cap in Africa
• Muslim - a person who follows the religion of Islam, based on the Quran

Before Reading:  Teacher will read aloud the first two entries in Brown Girl Dreaming to the whole class, pp. 1-5.  This read aloud will introduce students to what they will be reading about and the point of view of the story, that of Jacqueline Woodson recounting her life from birth through childhood and everything in between.  The read aloud will also help students understand the type of writing in the book, poetry and prose, which takes on its own melodic rhythm and doesn't always read as a narrative.  After reading aloud, the class will construct a list on chart paper of what they know about the time in U.S. history when Jacqueline Woodson was born, specifically that of African American culture and the difficulties they faced during this period, as well as important events and iconic figures in African American history in order to generate schema and set the scene.

During Reading:  After reading "Composition Notebook" on pp. 154-155, students will independently write about a gift they have received that was as special or as powerful to them as the composition notebook was for Jackie.  It can be a material object, but does not have to be; the goal is to get students creatively thinking of a special and meaningful gift they have received that impacted them in a way that the notebook impacted Jackie.  After writing about this object and its importance, students will complete a "Pair Share" with a partner and discuss their gifts and their significance.

After Reading:  Each reading group will perform a "Reader's Theatre" for the rest of the class.  Each group may pick out their own passage to perform with approval from the teacher to ensure appropriate length and that everyone will have a part.  After performing their passage, the groups will share why they picked the passage they did and the significance it had in their choosing.

Writing Activity:  Students will create "found poems" using an excerpt from Brown Girl Dreaming in order to create their found poem.  The teacher will explain what a found poem is by introducing and analyzing An Example of Found Poetry with the class.  Students will then have the opportunity to use "Word Mover", an application on the computer that allows students to manipulate famous speeches, such as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, to create their own found poem.  The app allows students to rearrange and select certain words.  After students practice composing found poems on Word Mover, students will then compose a found poem using an excerpt from Brown Girl Dreaming.  They will construct a final draft on poster paper and may decorate it as they choose to hang on the bulletin board in the hallway.