Group+Presentation+-+Teaching+Reading+to+Black+Adolescent+Males

PART 1: CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS**
 * EDCI 570 Group Presentation/ Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males

__The Experience of Turmoil and Its Effects__ -Roots of turmoil -Historical -Image of black males as subhuman, unintelligent, promiscuous, etc. -Present day: -Urban economic neglect -Prevalence of gang/gun violence in poor urban American -Media/pop culture image of black males -Unjust criminal justice policies -Racial discrimination (ex: wrongly accused) -Lack of fulfillment of civil right promises -Lack of positive roles models, books, tv, media, etc.

__Black Adolescent Males Responses to Turmoil__ -Emotional/Physical/Psychological Responses -Feelings of invisibility, shame (ghetto, living outside America) -Anger, disrespect authority=incarceration/suspension/etc -Feel like victim of race/poverty -Mistrust school environment -View themselves as non achievers = self fulfilling prophecy. -Survival through violence (gangs/guns) -“Cool pose” attempts to portray pride, strength control- hide inner turmoil, insecurity and self doubt. Seen in ways BAMs dress, talk, behave

__Educational Responses__ -Students don’t see literacy as having immediate/functional uses. -Don’t believe reading for intellectual development matters. -Preoccupied with day to day activities and own mortality to think of literacy as a bridge to their future. - “Turmoil is so intense they are unable to see beyond it, and do not believe anyone cares about them”

__Institutional Responses Black Adolescent Males__ -Teachers unconsciously project stereotypes -Anti-intellectualism students feel is reinforced in schools. -Poorly prepared teachers, inadequate facilities, low teacher expectations, misguided placement/tracking, and ineffective administration

Tatum suggests however that literacy instruction that is both responsive and meaningful can nurture resilience of this experience and encourage value of the written word.


 * PART 2: PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING**


 * __April__**

1. Provide meaningful classroom experiences that are tailored to students' needs, interests and abilities. These activities must acknowledge their prior knowledge and experiences (cultural, economic, historical, etc).

2. Be a caring, trusting and culturally sensitive teacher, but balance these feelings with your demand for excellence. Set high expectations for your learners, through cognitively demanding materials/activities/lessons. "The characteristics of the teaching are more important than the characteristics of the teacher." (Tatum, 2005)


 * __Tyrone__**

3. Help students understand society's perception of who they are while helping students define who they want to become.

4. Engage students with multi-modal response activities/assignments that allow them to creatively demonstrate their knowledge of texts.


 * __Kristy__**

5. Provide strategies and tools to help students overcome academic and societal barriers.

6. Give students roles in the classroom that emphasize cooperation over competition during instruction.


 * PART 3: BOOK REVIEW OF RELEVANT YA TEXT**


 * Innocence on Trial in Walter Dean Myer’s //Monster//**

In Myers’ brief but subtly powerful novel, we are introduced to 16-year-old Steve Harmon who is on trial for murder – specifically for complicity in a Manhattan drug store robbery that ended with the storeowner lying dead, killed by his own gun. Myers tells Steve’s story through the boy’s eyes via segments of a screenplay that Steve is writing while in prison, reflecting not only a black American teenager’s struggle to define his own guilt/innocence but also giving the reader a peek at his background as a smart, talented student. It is a background that contrasts starkly with those of Bobo and King, the twenty-something participants of the robbery, who are also on trial, but considerably more hardened men. The screenplay segments are interspersed with journal entries by Steve, describing his daily life during the trial and the tumult of emotions that fill his mind.

Although it is never truly clarified whether Steve actually placed himself in the drugstore that day to act as a lookout for the others, Myers makes us realize that this is not really the point of Steve’s story. What is clear is that Steve knows, one way or another, he made a mistake just by being in the company of men like Bobo and King and ever wanting to be tough like them. After spending his days in the courtroom in an atmosphere of grueling tension in front of his worried parents and the other accomplices, who appear remorseless, he spends his nights behind bars, listening to inmates being beaten or raped in the dark. Steve’s brief and tearful visits with his parents are perhaps the most moving, because even his mother and father, though reassuring and caring, are unsure of his innocence.

There are incredibly profound lines in this book that stay with me and haunt me well after the last page has been turned. Steve has a younger brother named Jerry whom he thinks about often, and he says that he would tell Jerry, “Think about all the tomorrows of your life”. Steve’s defense attorney, Katherine O’Brien, tells Steve that they must find a way to make him look “human in the eyes of the jury”, instead of the “monster” the prosecution has dubbed him, since the mere fact that he is “young, black, and male” has nearly convicted him already. Myers makes the reader have no choice but sympathize with Steve and uphold his fervent hope that he is not doomed to a life of incarceration and condemnation by society. Steve Harmon is a young boy with a creative mind, a full,remorseful heart, and a strengthened value of family and human life, qualities that appear beyond the reach of his acquaintances who have begun their adult lives as convicted felons and as statistics that serve to reinforce an unfortunate stereotype.

By the end of the book, we see Steve Harmon potentially on his way to breaking the cycle to which so many young, African-American men have resigned their futures. In the words of James Baldwin, as noted by literary professor Alfred Tatum from Teaching Black Adolescent Males to Read, “many black males are never able to shake their dungeons, becoming defeated long before they die.” As readers and as human beings, we hope that Steve Harmon does indeed shake his dungeon.


 * PART 4: RECOMMENDED PROJECTS**


 * //Monster// Assignment:** Choose 1 of the following

1) A no-name musician, Tar-Tar Magilicutty, has just been signed to Arhoolie Records. His debut album, Monster, includes a song that details Walter Dean Myers’ story. You have been asked to design the album cover. The cover should include images depicting or alluding to the themes, events, ideas, and messages in Myers’ Monster. You should also include an image of at least one character. We will have peer revisions in class next period - you may bring in a rough draft sketch or your work in progress. The revision will consist or you explaining what you’re trying to accomplish with your design and exchanging ideas about it with another classmate. Make sure to bring your work.

2) Write a 1-2 page poem, song, or rap about Steve Harmon. To get started, try to reflect on his situation, his perspectives, and others' percetions of him. We will have peer revisions in class next period.

3) Write a 3-5 paragraph long book review of Monster. Remember to be specific with your writing. Does this novel stand out from others? If so, why? What did you like about Myers' writing? What didn't you like? Would you recommend it others? Try not to spoil the ending. We will have peer revisions next class.


 * //Monster// Activity:**

1) You and your group (5 per group) will be assigned one of the below six characters. Your group’s job is to figure out what each character’s charm bracelet might look like. You will draw the individual charms and the bracelet on a piece of construction paper. The charms your group draws should reflect your character’s traits, values and beliefs. Each bracelet must have a minimum of 10 charms. You will then present your character’s charm bracelet to the class.

Osvaldo Cruz James King Richard “Bobo” Evans Steve Harmon Mrs. O’Brien Sandra Petrocelli


 * Extra Credit:** Choose 1 of the following

1) Research a person that you believe has been wrongly convicted in a criminal case and is currently incarcerated somewhere. Write them a letter detailing who you are, why you support them, and offer several recommendations for books you think they may like. You will do an in-class presentation on the person you researched and tell their story. Sending the letters is optional. Make sure to include an introduction, body, and closing.

2) Go to www.innocenceproject.org and research an exonerated inmate from the innocence project. Write a 700-800 word newspaper article (editorial) about the exonerated prisoner. You will do an in-class presentation on the person you researched and tell their story. Trying to get your article published is optional. Step 1: Click “Know The Cases” in the upper left hand tab Step 2: Click “Browse Profiles”

3) Privatized prisons are a multi-billion-dollar industry first introduced to the United States in 1984 under the Regan administration. Write a three-page argumentative essay agreeing with or disagreeing with the advent of privatized prisons and their function as a profitable business. You will do an in-class presentation of your argument at some point. Trying to get your essay published is optional.


 * Sweet Links For Getting Involved:**

http://www.innocenceproject.org/fix/947/What-You-Can-Do.php
 * Help wrongfully convicted prisoners get their freedom:

[|http://www.jailguitardoors.org]
 * Help rightfully convicted prisoners get back on track:

http://www.foreignprisoners.com/
 * Help prisoners abroad:

http://www.prisonersabroad.org.uk/Get-Involved.aspx
 * Help British prisoners abroad:

Statistic to remember:

//90% of all inmates return to society//.