Author as Mentor: Lesson Plan Three: The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers

Author as Mentor Blog Lesson Three

Focus Trait: Voice

Support Trait: Word Choice

Grade Level: 9-12

Mentor Text: The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers

Ohio Department of Education Academic Content Standards for Language Arts:

11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Processes, A. Formulate writing ideas and identify a topic appropriate to the purpose and audience.
11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Processes, B. Select and use an appropriate organizational structure to refine and develop ideas for writing.
11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Processes, C. Use a variety of strategies to revise content, organization and style, and to improve word choice, sentence variety, clarity and consistency of writing.
11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Processes, D. Apply editing strategies to eliminate slang and improve conventions.
11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Applications, B, Write responses to literature that provide an interpretation, recognize ambiguities, nuances and complexities and that understand the author’s use of stylistic devices and effects created.
11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Conventions, A. Use correct spelling conventions.
11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Conventions, B. Use correct punctuation and capitalization.
11-12 Program pg. 174: Writing: Writing Conventions, C. Demonstrate understanding of the grammatical conventions of the English language.

Book Summary:

This captivating saga of one black family takes readers on a journey from slavery to modern times. The book features teenagers from five generations, each undergoing a crisis that leads them to maturity. The collection of stories is compelling. Together they present a dynamic portrait of the progress of black people in the United States. A riveting, important book for all Americans.

In 1753, ten-year-old Muhammad is chained in the hold of a slave ship. In 1864 thirteen-year-old Lizzie escapes from slavery. After the war the family receives the Glory Field as their own farm. In 1900, they struggle to pay their taxes, and fifteen-year-old Elijah earns the money by saving a blind white boy. In 1930, his sixteen-year old daughter, Luvenia, is fired from her job in Chicago but decides to start her own business.
Back in South Carolina in 1964, sixteen-year-old Tommy, who has a chance to become the first black to enroll in the local state college, loses the opportunity when he stages a demonstration for civil rights. In 1994, Luvenia gives money to Malcolm to attend the family reunion, but Malcolm has difficulty trying to travel with his crack-addicted cousin, Shep. In South Carolina, Malcolm helps bring in the last crop from the Glory Field and learns his family's history.

Author Bio:

Walter Dean Myers is a pioneer of young adult fiction. His novels about urban teens and the challenges they face have won him both a devoted readership and dozens of book awards. His eighty-plus titles include Monster, Scorpions, and a memoir of his own youth, Bad Boy. Once thought to have been aimed at the so-called "at-risk" reader, Myers's books have stood the test of time as "poignant, tough stories for and about kids who don't appear in most storybooks," asserted Sue Corbett in a Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service report. "Children whose fathers are absent or jailed. Children who share playgrounds with drug dealers and gangs. Teens struggling to maintain their dignity while living with poverty, violence and fear."

“Voicing” a Believable Account

(How would it feel to really wear someone else’s skin?)

Teachers Instructions and Lesson Resources:

Pre-step (using a picture book to start a discussion before sharing from the young adult novel):

Share the story “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss to the students. This story is about a set of beings called Sneetches. Within their culture, there exists a small class system between the star-bellied Sneetches and the bare-bellied Sneetches. One group of Sneetches is perceived as better than the other. As you are sharing the story, students should listen for the voices of the three major sets of characters: the star-bellied Sneetches, the bare bellied Sneetches, & the salesman. The students should look for evidence from the story to support how they would describe each set's voices. To direct students thinking during the reading, have the students fill out the “Sneetches”reading guide.
Have students discuss the responses they wrote on their reading guides. These discussions can be in the form of small group discussions or whole class discussions. As a class, discuss different tactics Dr. Seuss uses to tell his story (i.e. the rhyming scheme Seuss is notorious for, dialogue of the characters, events in the story). Talk about different ways writers make written descriptions more vibrant (i.e. using the thesaurus to use synonyms for dead words, or using metaphors, similes and other figurative language to enhance descriptions).

Step one(sharing the published model):

Read the fist chapter of The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers. This novel follows the history of a black American family. The story is told from the points-of-view of several different members of this family. These characters' different stories are told as they happened in history. One major character lives in modern times. Another lives during the Civil Rights Movement. Another lives on a Southern plantation during slavery. And the character who is featured in the first chapter is an African forced into a slave ship.
For the reading of the first chapter to be effective, it is important that students actually see the words as you read them. So, you may want to make copies or overheads of the chapter OR use class sets of the novel, so that students may follow along.
After you've read the chapter, have students locate words and phrases in the chapter that use descriptive voice-laden language...that makes the experience in the ship come alive for the reader. Use this Glory Field Reading Guide for students to record their examples. In small group discussions have students share the phrases they chose and talk about the images they see because of those phrases.

Step Two (introducing student models of writing):

In small groups., have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models. The groups will certainly talk about the voice, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might also have your students talk about the word choice in the writing too.

Three eighth graders share their "voicing a believable account" stories

Step Three (thinking and pre-writing):

Before they start writing, remind the students that they are aiming or accomplishing two objectives with their one-page rough draft :

You might have them revisit their Glory Field Reading Guide ideas once more before drafting.
To encourage more voice in students' rough drafts, you might have them compose their rough drafts on the drafting sheet.

Step Five (editing for conventions):

After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. With yellow high-lighters, each peer reads of and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it.

Author as Mentor