Reading Strategy: Character Mapping

Character Mapping is a good tool for students to use when comparing and contrasting two characters from a book, two characters from different books, or characters from a story to themselves. By writing out the characteristics of different people in a visually appealing way via a character map, students have an easy and memorable way to develop comprehension through their similarities and differences. Here is a quick explanation, from www.fcit.usf.edu on how to create one for use in your classroom.

Reading Strategy: Story Maps

Story Maps are a great way for students to make connections, follow along, and develop comprehension about the text they are reading. Story Maps help students identify important features about the text such as setting, plot/theme, & characters. Here is a quick .pdf file from www.readingquest.org to help create a Story Map in your classroom.

Reading Strategy: Compare and Contrast

Throughout the story the main character & Neeka would always reference how they viewed D when they would hear Tupac's music. Using what you've read and this Venn diagram, compare some similarities & differences you have found between these two characters Woodson writes about.

Reading Strategy: Synonyms

"I'm down for y'all, when homies call," D sang. "I was just a shorty," she said. "But that song to me, it was all about having good friends." p. 58, Woodson

Woodson uses the vernacular particular to African-American culture when writing dialog in this conversation between D, Jayjones, Neeka & the main character. Look at the underlined slang terms and think of synonyms that come to mind when you read this passage.

1. Down

2. Y'all

3. Homies

4. Shorty

Getting to Know Jacqueline Woodson

An interview that examines the different types of issues Woodson touches on in her writing. Topics include: race relations, incarceration, foster care, etc.

Jacqueline Woodson Picture Books

Similar to After Tupac and D Foster, Jacqueline Woodson's picture books have deep meaning and mature themes.
Show Way details her own lineage from slavery to the civil rights movement to the present. This book literally gave me goose bumps because it was so well written. I could feel the emotions coming through the words and illustrations.
The Other Side depicts an African-American child and a white child on opposite sides of the fence. They defied cultural norms of segregation by building a friendship.

As a social studies teacher, I would supplement my lesson with these books to help my students get a grasp on the lives and culture of those times.

What Drove Jacqueline Woodson To Write

As a child, Woodson had a knack for telling outlandish stories and, by her own account, telling "outright lies." A turning point in her life came in the fifth grade, and it changed her forever:

"That year, I wrote a story and my teacher said 'This is really good.' Before that I had written a poem about Martin Luther King that was, I guess, so good no one believed I wrote it. After lots of brouhaha, it was believed finally that I had indeed penned the poem which went on to win me a Scrabble game and local acclaim. So by the time the story rolled around and the words 'This is really good' came out of the otherwise down-turned lips of my fifth grade teacher, I was well on my way to understanding that a lie on the page was a whole different animal — one that won you prizes and got surly teachers to smile. A lie on the page meant lots of independent time to create your stories and the freedom to sit hunched over the pages of your notebook without people thinking you were strange."

Years later, she is still telling stories...but now, EVERYONE is saying, "This is really good."


Post based on Woodson's biography from her website: www.jacquelinewoodson.com