Students use the Timeline Tool and Drama Map to create a decade-by-decade record and play of their community's history.
Playwright August Wilson was born in 1945.
Author Tim O'Brien was born on this day.
After reading O'Brien's story "A True War Story" from The Things They Carried, students choose a powerful event from their own lives and map it using the Timeline Tool. They then create a fictional version of this event.
Author Gabriel García Márquez was born on this day.
Students take place in a collaborative creative writing activity to begin to understand the hallmarks of the literary style known as magical realism.
Avi was born in 1937.
After reading Nothing But the Truth, students explore a current event topic and write their own short work of fiction in a similar multigenre format.
Author Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944.
After students read the novel The Color Purple, dialect is discussed and students write a short piece of fiction or poetry using the dialect of their peer group.
Karen Hesse, author of the Newbery-winning verse novel Out of the Dust, was born in 1952.
Students write original short works of historical fiction in verse format, modeling the style Hesse used to write Out of the Dust.
African American journalist Ida B. Wells was born in 1862.
Students brainstorm a list of human rights issues, research their group's issue in depth, examine the way journalists cover a story, and create articles for a classroom newspaper.
Poet Yusef Komunyakaa was born in 1947.
Students examine imagery in the work of Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa.
In 1928, Maya Angelou was born.
After hearing Maya Angelou's poem, "On the Pulse of Morning," students infer information about the speaker and her feelings about America and reflect on how one's life and experiences can influence one's writing.