Book Review

Walter Dean Myers creates a contemporary retelling of Romeo and Juliet in his book Street Love. Myers tells the story from different points of view using free verse poetry. He sets the story in Harlem amidst temptation and drugs. Damien and Junice must decide if they will follow hearts and pursue their love. Myers does an excellent job of telling the story from multiple perspectives and engaging the reader. I strongly recommend this book due to its readability and clean content. This is a good selection for middle level to adult readers.

Craft Lesson 5

Resources
Myers, Walter Dean. Street Love. New York: Harper Collins, 2006.
Discussion
Street Love is an amazing work of poetry that focuses on two individual’s discovery of love. Walter Myers’s book is a great example of how to take a classic plot and retell the story in a new way. This lesson allows the students to practice this method of retelling while increasing comprehension of the parts of a story. Text Reformulation engages the students to think about the original text and identify key elements. They also get to practice sequencing, generalizing, and predicting. The goal is to develop and reinforce good reading strategies. To accomplish the assignment, students need to have background knowledge of the elements of a story (plot, characters, theme, etc.).
How to teach it
The students should read Street Love and identify key elements of the story. After they finish the book, the teacher will give them an example of a text reformulation. Since I play guitar, I would write a song that summarizes the book. Next, the teacher will assign groups and have the students pick how they will retell the story. The students can create a narrative, a poem, a short story, or any other written format. The new text will be shared with the class to review the key concepts in the story. The student’s work will be evaluated with a rubric based on the main parts of the original story.

Street Love

I really enjoyed reading this book. At first I was turned off by the poetry and didn't know what was happening. As I started to understand how the book was written, I was able to pick up on the flow of the verses. This is a great retelling of Romeo and Juliet in contemporary times. Students could relate and identify with emotions and feelings described by characters in the story. I think students would enjoy reading the poetry because it is written in a concise and easily understood format. A lot of good lessons could be constructed by comparing Street Love to other books about love (especially Romeo and Juliet).

Myers, Walter Dean. Street Love. New York: Harper Collins, 2006.

Craft Lesson 4

Resources: Draper, Sharon. Fire From the Rock. New York: Dutton, 2007
Discussion- This lesson focuses on using reading to expand the student's perspectives of a variety of cultures. Many students have stereotypes and prejudices against other cultures due to a lack of experience with that culture. Reading can be used as a tool to expose students to a different lifestyle then their own. Before teaching the responsive writing exercise, the students should be familiar with civil rights and the social conditions in the 1950s. They should also be aware of African-American traditions and customs practiced during this time period.
How to Teach it- As the students are reading Fire from the Rock, they begin the assignment by taking notes of similarities and differences between the character's lives and their own. At the end of each reading they will write a short reaction response describing how they feel about the text. After finishing the book, the students will use the notes they have been compiling to write a one page response paper based on one of the following prompts- Have the students compare the events in the book to personal experiences. Have the students put themselves in the position of a main character and write from that perspective. Pose a controversial queston related to the book (segregation, racism, etc.) and have the students write their opinions. When the students have turned in their papers, the teacher can use their responses to generate a class discussion based on a variety of interconnected themes.

Daily Reading for 2-18

I was glad to finally be through with this book. The journal format really bothered me. It was interesting to see the different perspectives of the races. The author did a good job of showing that racism extended even to the Jews. I wish there would have been a more exciting plot. I never could get caught up in the book. I don't think I would use this book in my class based on its lack of appeal and interest. I think students could find more interesting books to learn about the same time period.

Draper, Sharon M. (2007). Fire From the Rock. New York: Dutton Children's Books.

Daily Reading for 2-13

The book is still setting up the conflict with integration at the High School. The fact that the book is written in journal format for both points of view confuses me. I think the book would have been better off if the author stayed with one point of view for the entire story. Some of the pressures and conversations are interesting to experince from a black girl's perspective. It is also going to be fun seeing what happens with her Jewish friend once she starts actually attending. I think Reggie will still like her even after they move to different schools. This book does have some important court cases mentioned throughout it that could be tied into a social studies lesson.

Draper, Sharon M. (2007). Fire From the Rock. New York: Dutton Children's Books.

Daily Reading for 2-11

I do not like this book at all. It is a very slow read and the chapters are boring. It seems like it is taking the author a long time to set up the plot even though it is clear from the title what the book is about. The readings seem drearfully long and I can't wait to finish this book. Even the action in the story is predictable (Gary getting beat up for back talking white teenagers). I can't see many students getting involved with this book and wanting to finish. The multiple cultural perspectives and ties are interesting though. A lesson could be taught on the interdependence we have with each other, and how we need to respect each other.

Draper, Sharon M. (2007). Fire From the Rock. New York: Dutton Children's Books.