Grades 9–12
60+ Minutes
Poetry
VideosJason Reynolds was born in Washington, D.C., and was raised in neighboring Oxon Hill, Maryland. Inspired by rap, he began writing poetry at nine years old. He focused on poetry for approximately the next two decades, only reading a novel cover to cover for the first time at age 17. He published several poetry collections before his first novel, When I Was The Greatest, came out in 2014, earning the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Reynolds was the 2020-22 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He is on the faculty of the Writing for Young People MFA program at Lesley University, and lives in Washington, D.C.
About Life Stories
Life Stories is a non-profit media organization that creates and distributes documentaries, interviews, and educational resources about people whose lives inspire meaningful change. These stories address issues of civics, history, politics, the arts and culture by shining the spotlight on relatable human stories of purpose and meaning in times of change. Life Stories provides open access to all their content for communities and classrooms through their curated website and YouTube channel.
About The Thread
The Thread is a new documentary interview series by Life Stories, exploring what it means to live a purpose-driven life through conversations with multi-faceted people who have helped shape our society. Each 30-minute episode takes viewers on a personal journey into the life of extraordinary people who candidly share their triumphs and failures. The Thread is available on the Life Stories website and YouTube channel, and as a podcast across all major platforms. Teaching The Thread brings the series into the classroom with episode lessons designed to strengthen social emotional learning and media literacy skills and expand the scope of subject matter in Social Studies and English Language Arts. Future seasons of The Thread will include similar curricular support.
Introduction:
In this lesson, Jason Reynolds reflects on his upbringing in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and how his parents gave him freedom and encouraged open communication. Reynolds discusses his approach to connecting with young readers and the importance of literacy, emphasizing how it teaches discipline, persistence, and broadens vocabulary. Please visit “Jason Reynolds: The Power of Narrative“ to see the full lesson provided by Life Stories.
Content Notes:
STEP 1
Begin by watching the introduction of Jason Reynolds’s The Thread interview: 0:34–3:43. In the first three minutes, Jason Reynolds recounts the “soundscape” of his old neighborhood. A soundscape is the sounds of a particular location, when considered as a whole.
For this exercise, we recommend viewing the introduction two times:
STEP 2
Next, think about the sounds of your home and neighborhood. You can use the place where you live currently, a neighborhood from your childhood, or a neighborhood you visit often and know very well. Use the Brainstorm Activity on page 1 of the Soundscape Poems—Handout to guide you in this process.
Educator Note: After students complete the brainstorm activity, ask for volunteers to share one sound from their neighborhood. As you go around the room, you will create a soundscape together as a class. To take the idea of a soundscape even further, you could have students share in two rounds: For the first round, ask volunteers to share one sound each, one at a time. For the next round, ask students to share their sounds together, repeating their sound and playing off of the other sounds in the room (it’s OK to get silly!) to create a new, collective sound.
STEP 3
Now, it’s time to write a soundscape poem! You will weave together all the sounds you’ve identified from your neighborhood into one cohesive piece of writing. Think about how the sounds interact and build upon one another in your neighborhood. How might you capture this environment of sound in one poem? Here are couple ideas to get you started:
Finally, write your poem on page 2 of the handout.
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