Programming Spotlight: Malcolm X & Julius Caesar

New Victory Teaching Artists Janet Onyenuchea and Chad Beckim pose with students after a pre-theater workshop.  Photo credit: Jessica Fenster-Sparber

To get students ready to see X: Or, Betty Shabazz vs. The Nation in repertory with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, placement advisory classes have been reading Myers’ Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary for the last two and a half weeks. Part of a larger interdisciplinary collaboration with Social Studies and Art teachers, and heavily supported by Belmont's speech and reading specialists, placement students at Belmont have approached the historical figure and his context with a variety of lenses.  Last Monday, songwriter Janet Onyenuchea and playwright Chad Beckim deepened the unit of study further when they visited Belmont to conduct pre-theater workshops with all placement groups in their roles as teaching artists with the New Victory Theater.  Chad and Janet engaged students’ growing base of knowledge of Malcolm X’s life and death and then invited students to create tableaux and portraying a variety of roles relating to the play they are rescheduled to attend at the end of the week.  We can’t wait! --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: Muhammad Ali at the New York Historical Society

George Kalinsky
Muhammad Ali training at Madison Square Garden, 1967
Chromogenic print from original scanned film
Courtesy George Kalinsky

Ali, who had a soft spot for children, took a break from a workout to banter with a young fan. Kalinsky recalled this young admirer announcing, “I am the greatest for a moment.”

Students residing in the three group homes visited the New York Historical Society this afternoon for a private tour of the two Muhammad Ali-themed exhibits currently on display.  Students learned about the timeline  of Ali's fights, watched historical footage of the athlete, activist and humanitarian, and examined photographs like the one above in a beautifully arranged gallery at the Manhattan institution.  Many thanks to Literacy for Incarcerated Teens for providing the funding that made this trip possible, along with purchasing gift copies of The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers for all participating students.  The image above, by George Kalinsky, can be viewed at the museum as well as by clicking on the museum's website gallery here. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Sneak Preview: Carmen by Walter Dean Myers

This urban retelling of the tale of a beautiful and sensuous woman who has a strong loyalty to her people and a deep need to be free will resonate, thematically, with readers who have felt the pull of loyalty vs. the law. Myers dusts off the classic Carmen, often found these days in opera houses and ballet performances, and brings it to life in East Harlem, with a cast of over 20 characters-- perfect for a classroom reading. The play, which is broken up into two acts with two scenes per act, promises to lend itself to a week long unit in an ELA class at just over 100 pages.

I was lucky enough to pick up a free advanced uncorrected proof of this title at the ALA mid-winter meeting in San Diego earlier this month. Because that means that none of our students have read the book yet, I can’t tell you with any accuracy how they’ll respond. I can just say, without giving away too much, that readers who found themselves hooked on the form of Monster and Riot have something to look forward to on April 26th, 2011 (publication date) or whenever it makes its way into their libraries. In the meantime: has anyone seen the Spanish film by the same name starring Paz Vega? I’d love to hear if there are any clips that would pair well for a class. This would be a nice read to contrast with Street Love by the same author.

Myers, Walter Dean. Carmen. New York: Egmont, 2011.