Sharlene Lien

SLIS 5960.005

 

 

Multicultural Literature Activities

 

 

Youth Literature Activity

 

About the Book:

·      Burning Up.  Caroline B. Cooney. Delacourte Press. New York: 1999.  ISBN 0385323182 (Hardcover).  230 Pages.

Interest Level: YA

 

Fifteen-year-old Macey Clare decides to investigate a fire that took place 40 years ago for her history project.  Macey soon gets suspicious when everyone, including her own grandparents, try to persuade her to forget about it.  She quickly learns that the fire may have been set intentionally to frighten away the town’s first black teacher.

Interwoven among this investigation are Macey’s own feelings of grief and a search for herself after she meets a new friend volunteering at an inner city church and that friend is killed in a drive by shooting.

 

 

 

About the Author:

Caroline B. Cooney was born in 1947.  While in College, she discovered her love of writing.  Some of her most notable books include:  Driver's Ed (An ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults, and a Booklist Editors' Choice), Among Friends (A New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age), Twenty Pageants Later (An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers).

Her popular books include: The Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie? and The Voice on the Radio.

When asked about her writing, Caroline states, "I love writing and do not know why it is considered such a difficult, agonizing profession. I love all of it, thinking up the plots, getting to know the kids in the story, their parents, backyards, pizza toppings."
Caroline has three grown children and lives in Westbrook, Connecticut.

 

(Caroline Cooney information taken from:    www.randomhouse.com/teachers/authors/burn.html)

 

 

Objectives:

 

*Students will have a strong understanding of the Civil Rights Movement, some notable people of this movement, and what life what like during this time of turmoil.

 

·      Students will learn terminology of the Civil Rights Movement such as integration, segregation, Jim Crow laws, racism, and prejudice.

 

·      Students will discuss current problems they experience because of race and what society is doing to prevent hate/race crimes today.

 

·      Students will understand that each generation has societal issues that must be addressed in a fair and reasonable manner.

 

Materials needed:

     Picture books listed below.

     Access to computer- preferably a lab.

     Posterboard, scissors, magazines, newspapers, and glue.

 

Before Activity:

Students will be read a variety of picture books that discuss segregation including:  The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles.  Through My Eyes, by Ruby Bridges, Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack, and The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson.

Although these are picture books, they can still be used with older students to introduce the topic of racism and segregation.  They would be used to prompt discussions about what we already know about this time period and what we still need to know.

 

 

During Reading:

     This would be a good book to do as a read aloud so that Civil Rights issues can be addressed throughout the book. 

·      When the time period of 1959 is brought up- we will discuss what life was like during that time and what was happening with integration during that year.

·      When Macey volunteers to help at an inner city church and her friend is killed during a drive by shooting, we will discuss some of the problems we face today.

·      Throughout this book, students will be required to make journal entries about topics discussed.  Some of these entries will be made up of feelings and others will be answers to given prompts.

·      When we finish, we will discuss what types of racism are still experienced today and examples.

·      A great picture book that fits extremely well with Burning Up is Patricia Polacco’s, Mr. Lincoln’s Way.  We will read this book and discuss the similarities of this story with Burning Up.

 

After Reading Activity:

Students will be given posterboard, magazines, magazines, markers, paints, scissors, and glue.

Students will be instructed to make a collage on one side of their posterboard that depicts some current day societal issues we are facing and would probably not want to talk about to our grandchildren (much like Macey’s grandparents).  Some examples would include: homelessness, hate crimes, drug addiction, homocide, etc.

On the other side of the posterboard, students will make another collage that depicts what we are doing as a society to help alleviate these problems such as the DARE program for drugs and Get Rage for smoking, etc.  Students will also include how they personally can help with these issues such as serving food at a homeless shelter, becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister, or any other volunteering service.

 

 

 

Extending the Activity:

There are numerous ways this activity can be extended.  Using this book as a starting point; an in-depth look at the Civil Rights Movement can be developed.

     Some areas that can be discussed; along with websites include:

 

     To learn more about some of the Jim Crow laws, look at: http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm

 

To learn more about the Greensboro sit-ins along with live audio  interviews of the people who instigated this famous sit- ins, look at:

     www.sitins.com/multimedia.htm

 

 

     To hear an Oral History of the Civil Rights, try:

                                                                                         

http://www-dept.usm.edu/~mcrohb/html/cd/intro.htm

 

 

There is also a good tolerance site that gives ideas about settling differences and getting to know others at:

     www.tolerance.org/pt/

     It may be a little young for YA students but is a great resource for    

     teachers and parents.

 

     A good website for volunteering ideas:

     http://www.areyouintoit.com/

 

 

Evaluation:

Students will be evaluated on a number of criteria, including; participation in class discussions over materials read, journal entries, and the cumulative collage.