Objectives
My goal is to instill a sense of value in reading for information as a tool for success and also as a leisure activity. Research shows a wide range of benefits of fiction reading, including personal development and empowerment, increased understanding and sympathy with different cultures, escapism and relaxation, acquisition of new knowledge about the world, stimulation of new literary creation, and as a tool for improving literacy amongst children and adults (Glenn 2004). All behaviors are teachable. Teaching the actual skill and practice of reading is the fostering of one behavior. Once students master decoding they will use it to read for knowledge, and this will support successful post-secondary outcomes, including higher education and employment. The other behavior to teach is reading for leisure. Strategies for teaching reading and behavior modification to motivate students to read for leisure will be described in this unit.
Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries are intended for adult audiences. Devil in a Blue Dress is between a fourth and fifth grade reading level, but the content is appropriate for high school students. The readability level was found using Fry's Readability graph in which an excerpt of one hundred words is selected. The number of sentences and the number of syllables within the one hundred words are counted. This is done with three different excerpts, ideally from the beginning, middle and end of the book. I took passages from chapters three, eleven and nineteen. The readability levels were fifth, second and seventh grade, respectively. An average of those three levels indicates a mean grade level of 4.6. This is probably lower than expected because there is a lot of dialogue that includes short sentences, idioms and dialect. The readability is very appropriate for my below grade level readers, and the content is still of an adult nature. This is extremely beneficial in keeping my students motivated with literature they can read and content that is still interesting. Teachers of literature and social studies at the middle and high school levels may be interested in this unit. The Easy Rawlins novels give historical insight. I recently completed a curriculum in my local seminar through the Pittsburgh Teacher's Institute. The seminar examined African-American impact on United States culture. My unit detailed youth in the civil rights movement. Mosley's novels in historical settings leading up to the civil rights movement will relate to my local seminar curriculum unit.
Walter Mosley was born and raised in Los Angeles and now resides in New York. Mosley's popular Easy Rawlins novels began in 1990. Since then Mosley has authored twenty-eight books. In 1997 Mosley published an Easy Rawlins prequel, Gone Fishin' through Black Classic Press. His goal was to let other writers know they can publish a book successfully out of the mainstream of New York. What Next, a political essay and handbook encouraging African-Americans to take action for world peace, was published in 2003. Mosley has also published some science fiction and nonfiction books. He has won numerous awards, including the Anisfield Wolf Award for his contribution of works that improve appreciation and understanding of race in America. Recently Mosley created The City College. This establishment is a new publishing degree program aimed at young urban residents. Clearly Mosley is a model African-American writer, one whom urban youth can admire (http://www.waltermosley.com).
Comments: