Getting Ready: Brown Girl Dreaming (HMH)

Getting Ready: Brown Girl Dreaming (HMH)

Memoir in Verse

Background

Jacqueline Woodson (b. 1963), who had difficulty reading when she was young, has written more than 30 books. She wrote Brown Girl Dreaming to learn about her family and to discover what led her to become a writer. She says her memoir is a series of poems “because memories come to people in small bursts.” Brown Girl Dreaming won the National Book Award in 2014, and Woodson was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2018–2019.

Background

Jacqueline Woodson (b. 1963), who had difficulty reading when she was young, has written more than 30 books. She wrote Brown Girl Dreaming to learn about her family and to discover what led her to become a writer. She says her memoir is a series of poems “because memories come to people in small bursts.” Brown Girl Dreaming won the National Book Award in 2014, and Woodson was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2018–2019.

Multiple Select

CHECK ALL THAT APPLY: Features of memoirs include...

• 3rd Person POV

• Non-Fiction

• Re-telling of a real event

• Fantasy

• 1st Person POV

MEMOIR

a written account in which someone describes past experiences or has personal knowledge about.

1st Person POV

Non-Fiction

Tone is more intimate

E.g., Into the Lifeboat

Multiple Choice

The memoir Into the Lifeboat provides intimate details about what happened on the Titanic the night it sank through the eyes of Violet Jessop.

What is the definition of intimate based on how it is used in the sentence above.

• Distant or Far-away

• Personal or Familiar

• Silly or Humorous

• Maddening or Crazy

Discussion: What do you think is a memoir in verse?

• Where do we normally see "verses"?

• What does this say about the rhythm?

Multiple Choice

Rhythm is defined as...

• lines and stanzas of a poem

• rhyme and repetition of a poem

• beat and pace of a poem

READ THIS VERSE

What elements of poetry do you recognize?

So wake up the members of my nation, it's your time to be

There's no chance unless you take one and the time to see

The brighter side of every situation, some things are meant to be

So give me your best and leave the rest to me.

Multiple Select

Check all that apply:

So wake up the members of my nation, it's your time to be

There's no chance unless you take one and the time to see

The brighter side of every situation, some things are meant to be

So give me your best and leave the rest to me.

This verse contains what elements of poetry...

• Matching Rhythm in Alternating Lines

• Lines end with rhyming words

• Multiple Stanzas

Look through pages 267-272. Highlight the "subheadings." These are actually the titles to each of her poems.

• writing #1

• late autumn

• the other woodson

• reading

• stevie and me

• when I tell my family

Open Ended

RACE Response. Restate the Question, Answer the Questions, Cite your evidence, Explain how your evidence supports your answer.

How does the structure of Woodson's memoir in verse contrast with the structure of the memoir Into the Lifeboat? What was her reason to share her memories in this way?

Setting A Purpose

As you read, notice how Woodson uses elements of poetry, including repetition, line breaks, and imagery, to describe events.

Multiple Choice

The definition of repetition is...

• using the same word or phrase over and over again

• the deliberately placed threshold where a line of poetry ends and the next one begins

• a vivid and vibrant form of description that appeals to readers' senses and imagination

Multiple Choice

The definition of line break is...

• using the same word or phrase over and over again

• the deliberately placed threshold where a line of poetry ends and the next one begins

• a vivid and vibrant form of description that appeals to readers' senses and imagination

Multiple Choice

The definition of imagery is...

• using the same word or phrase over and over again

• the deliberately placed threshold where a line of poetry ends and the next one begins

• a vivid and vibrant form of description that appeals to readers' senses and imagination

The End

until tomorrow...