Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson is an excellent novel written through verse for readers at all ages. Through a series of poems eleven-year-old Lonnie C. Motion a.k.a. Locomotion begins to gain the strength to talk about his life over the last four years. He includes events such as, his parents’ death in a fire at age seven, being separated from his sister, living in a foster home, living with Miss Edna, and finding his voice through poetry. Set in Brooklyn, Lonnie has had some tough breaks in his life. But this fall, Lonnie’s fifth grade class is learning to write poetry. Lonnie embraces poetry and uses it as an outlet to find the words to tell the world about the world he has experienced and is experiencing.

Jacqueline Woodson Biography

Jacqueline Woodson is is an American author who writes books targeted at children and adolescents. Her work is filled with strong African American themes, generally aimed at a young adult audience. She is an openly Lesbian woman with a lifelong partner and two children, a daughter named Toshi Georgianna and a son named Jackson-Leroi. She was born to Jack and Mary Ann Woodson on February 12, 1963. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, the family settled in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn in 1973. As is the case for many teens, her high school years were confusing. She began to question many aspects of life that she was expected to conform to. She spent a lot of her time writing poems and songs as a means of expressing her frustrations.

Her college education includes receiving a B.A. in English from Adelphi University in 1985 and studying creative writing at New School for Social Research (known now as New SChool University).

In addition to her writing, Woodson has also worked as a writing professor at Goddard College, Eugene Lang College, Vermont College as well as a Writer-in-residence for the National Book Foundation. She has also held positions as an editorial assistant and a drama therapist for runaway children in New York, NY.

She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Woodson

Why does she write?

Woodson loved telling stories when she was a young girl. She would get in trouble for telling stories, similarly to how Lonnie gets in trouble for talking so much

in the early parts of Locomotion. Woodson grew up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which is extremely culturally diverse. She was noticing that the kinds people around her were not at the center of the books she was reading. Many of her books focus on people of color as a means to give them a voice. Her books tend to reflect the emotions she has felt and experiences she has had. Woodson strives to write in a way that her audience learns about the other people around them. She does this in the hopes of them becoming tolerant of others by learning about groups of people through her characters and their stories.

Implications for teaching:

Locomotion is a fantastic text to use when going a unit based on poetry. The students get to see so many different types of poetry and the many forms it can take. Teachers can discuss the various poetic styles Lonnie writes in throughout the text, including free verse, haiku, sonnet, epistle, list, epitaph, and rap. After students explore these they could choose one to and write a poem in that style.

Students could also use the “I Am From” format to write a poem. Sometimes students get overwhelmed when given free reign to write on anything they choose. In using the “I Am From” poem students are given a focus in their writing. However, students could use the idea of this format, but alter it to be one of the styles used in Locomotion. For very creative students, illustrations could accompany the poem in order to show the mood and theme of the poem even more.

Aside from poetry, students could write a fan fiction except about Lonnie in the future. Teachers could instruct students to imagine Lonnie’s life ten years after the end of Locomotion and make some predictions about his future. Who or what does Lonnie care about? Who are his friends? Does he still write? What kind of person is he?

Essential questions:

1. Do you think the story would have changed at all if Lonnie was to write poetry on his own, instead of being encouraged by Ms. Marcus?

2. Miss Edna is overjoyed because her son Rodney is coming back to the city to live. How does Lonnie feel about Rodney, and what role does Rodney end up playing in Lonnie’s life?

3. When his friends are trying to outdo one another with tall tales of the strange things they’ve seen, Lonnie just says, “Never seen nothing.” Why doesn’t he talk about his family tragedy with his friends? Do you think he should be more open? Can you imagine how you would be, in Lonnie’s shoes?

4. Lili gives Lonnie her Bible and often talks about God to him. Why do you think it is so important to Lili for her brother to “find God”? Do you think Lonnie does “find God” as his sister hopes?

5. Through the book, Lonnie’s idea of home starts to change. What does home mean to Lonnie at the end of the book? How do his ideas about this seem to change, as he stays longer with Miss Edna?

Extras:

1. Locomotion is available in audio recording

2. Elementary school boy’s review of the book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyvh3g4lagA

3. Woodson has written numerous texts and received many awards. This video highlights these. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1zD632shIE&feature=related

4. Jacqueline Woodson speaks in an interview about the themes of her novels. Why she started reading and writing. An inside look as to where she came up with a scene in Locomotion. What she wants her readers to walk away thinking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6VoTe-JiXc&feature=related

5. The first 1 minute 30 seconds of this video is Woodson reading two excerpts from Locomotion in how she intended it to be read.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_jD54_Of5A

6. This link will bring you to an example of how an “I Am From” poem can be outlined and completed.

http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/iampoem.htm