FOR SITE ADVISORS, LITERACY ASSISTANTS, TUTORS
2012: Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers
W R I T I N G E X E R C I S E S
Also good for “Read Aloud, Think Aloud,” or dialogue/discussion.
Remind students that writing can be a kind of therapy, a safe place to put feelings and thoughts, a safe place to think about things. Tell them they may write about things that they don’t want anyone else to read, and that is okay.
1) Do you think WE ARE AMERICA: A TRIBUTE FROM THE HEART presents a balanced view of history? What happens if history books focus on only one version of history?
2) Why is it important to be honest about the past? Write about an example from your own life—when being honest about the past helped you.
3) Write about a hero/heroine in your own life.
Kalpana Chawla; Franklin Delano Roosevelt
38) What do you think makes a country good?
39) Walter Dean Myers has said, “When you go into the history of the country and who stood up for the country, who fought for the country, who worked for the country, it’s never [people who want to achieve power or have power]. It’s always small people who saw a sense of duty and did it.”
Discuss this statement. Write about your own personal sense of duty.
40) Write about a time in your life when the “the little guy or gal” won.
M O R E T I T L E S B Y T H E M Y E R S E S
Looking Like Me; Harlem; Jazz; Blues Journey; Monster; Autobiography of My Dead Brother; Time to Love: Stories from the Old Testament
Also check out Walter Dean Myers’ book, Harlem Summer, for more advanced readers interested in history.
A D D I T I O N A L R E S O U R C E S
Related Links:
Walter Dean Myers’ wonderful website
http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/index.html
Who is America? A beautiful site and companion to the book, We Are America. Created by Christopher Myers. Focuses on children.
http://www.who-is-america.com/
Walter and Chris interviewed by StoryCorps
http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/walter-myers-and-his-son-christopher-myers/
Scholastic video interview with Chris and Walter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qDSadevtaA
C-SPAN video interview with Chris and Walter
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/183347-1
Walter Dean Myers narrates a section of We Are America (along with video of Chris’ images)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDCD6eHhGzw
Walter and Chris discuss the creation of We Are America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDQXjG0hjLQ&feature=youtu.be
Reading Rockets video interview with Christopher Myers
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/myersc/
Short, easy to digest interview with Walter Dean Myers (good for literacy students)
http://www.harpercollins.com/author/authorExtra.aspx?authorID=12522&displayType=interview
Huffington Post interview with Walter Dean Myers on literacy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-martin-phalen/the-importance-of-literac_b_1504905.html
New York Times article on Walter Dean Myers as our current national ambassador for young people’s literature
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/books/walter-dean-myers-ambassador-for-young-peoples-literature.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share
TIME (for kids) interview Walter and Chris about We Are America
http://www.timeforkids.com/news/honoring-america/12696
P L A C E S T O V I S I T
The Museum of Chinese in America
http://www.mocanyc.org/
National Museum of the American Indian (free)
http://nmai.si.edu/visit/newyork/
El Museo del Barrio
http://www.elmuseo.org/
Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture
http://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg
Museum at Eldridge Street
http://www.eldridgestreet.org/
http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island.asp
C O N T E N T R E L A T E D M E D I A
PBS series “Finding Your Roots” with Skip Gates
HBO series “John Adams”
PBS series “Triangle Fire” (on the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and labor conditions)
PBS series “Children of the Camps” (Japanese internment)
PBS series “We Shall Remain” (Native American history)
American Roots Music (oral histories with musicians):
http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_oral_histories.html
Voices of World War II (short clips on working women’s lives):
http://www.wwiihistoryclass.com/documentaries/women.html#
Civil Rights Era movies: “Do The Right Thing,” “Get on the Bus,” “Malcom X,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Hairspray,” “Mississippi Burning,” and “King.”
Documentaries: “Standing on my Sisters Shoulders,” “Freedom Riders,” “Eyes on the Prize.”
Parts of “Eyes on the Prize” here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHonvu-HxqE
Youtube. Short Civil Rights Movement pieces:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhOeOCnQQ9M
Library of Congress, Civil Rights era photographs:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/084_civil.html
Links to two articles on Christopher Columbus’ changing historical identity:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/us/08columbus.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147558/Christopher-Columbus-Jewish-looking-new-homeland-discovered-America-historians-say.html
V O C A B U L A R Y A N D T H E M E S
COPYRIGHT NCV FOUNDATION and THE STORYLINES PROJECT
CLICK HERE FOR ARCHIVE:
2011
2010
2009
