Locomotion
There is also a two-book series that I want to use with my students. They are called Locomotion and Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson. Although the books are not biographies, I will still use the same concepts learned from my seminar, The Art of Biography. Locomotion is the moving story told exclusively through poetry, of a young African-American boy whose full name is Lonnie Collins Motion, nicknamed "Locomotion". He is suffering from severe emotional issues. Both of his parents die in a fire, and he and his sister are sent to different foster parents. He begins to find his voice when his fifth grade teacher Ms. Marcus introduces him to poetry to help him express himself. Through his poems my students and I will see his personal struggles and his vivid characterizations of the people around him.
"At night sometimes after Miss Edna goes to bed I go up on the roof
Sometimes I sit counting stars
Maybe one is my mama and
another one is my daddy And maybe that's why
sometimes they flicker a bit
I mean the stars flicker"(12)
This passage is an example of what I would discuss with my students to illustrate the trait of perseverance. How would you deal with the loss of both of your parents at the same time? How is Locomotion displaying perseverance in dealing with his loss? In this book I will highlight the young man's perseverance in the midst of a very troubling time in his life.
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