Slam!Slam!|
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Walter Dean Myers’ novel
Slam
is
a coming of age novel about an inner- city youth who must deal with reality
and his future, when all he can see is his the here and now, which revolves
around his ingenious basketball skills. Slam has teachers and family
around who are concerned for him and his future, and these individuals
push and challenge Slam to achieve not only on the court, but in the classroom
as well. Myers’, in the novel, attempts to use the street jargon
of the inner- city to re- create an experience that is as real as possible
for his readers. Myers’ also recreates Slam’s basketball moves and
high- flying artistry on the court with words for his reading audience.
This book can satisfy all readers, but I suggest that Secondary teachers
make this mandatory reading for students who have outstanding illusions
regarding their future and athletics.
Walter
Dean Myers was born in West Virginia in 1937 but spent most of his childhood
in Harlem. He was raised by foster parents and had both a happy and
a horrific life throughout his adolescent years. He began writing
poetry and short stories as a teenager and acquired an early love of reading.
He is now a writer of both children’s and young adult literature.
Myers
dropped out of high school in 1954 and joined the army. He held many
positions with various agencies including the New York State Department
of Labor, the post office, a rehabilitation center, and a transformer company.
Throughout this time, however, Myers was still writing for magazines and
periodicals. The turning point in his writing career came when he
won a contest run by the Council on Interracial Books for Children with
his book Where Does a Day Go? in 1969. He received his degree
from Empire State College in 1984. He has since supported his wife
and four children with his writing in the area of children’s and young
adult literature. In addition to writing he also volunteers at schools
in Jersey City where he presently resides.
Myers
feelings towards the young adult novel are as follows: “The special place
of the young adult novel should be in its ability to address the needs
of the reader to understand his or her relationship with the world,
with each other, and with adults. The young adult novel often allows
the reader to directly identify with a protagonist of similar interests
and development. It is this language of values which I hope to bring
to my books. I want to bring values to those who have not been valued,
and I want to etch those values in terms of the ideal. Young people
need ideals which identify them, and their lives as central guideposts
which tell them what they can be, should be, and indeed are.”
English - The class will recreate the basketball scenes. This will give everyone an idea at how much skill Slam really possessed. It will also give students an idea at how words described the actual game. There are two ways that the class can recreate these games. One way is to have students in the class recreate the scenes - or - request to see the schools basketball team play basketball according to the scenes.
Creative Writing: Write about what happens to one of the characters in Slam! in about five to ten years after the book ends. Example of questions that can be written about: Does Slam get into the NBA? Does he marry Mtisha? What happens to Mtisha? How about Ice, does he stay a dealer or does he give up that life? You may even write about one of the lesser characters that exist in Slam's life.
Social Studies: This book shows the life of Slam outside of school as well. Do some research about Harlem and then write whether what is described in the book is close to reality. You may want to look at some pictures that show Harlem, before decided what your opinion is about this area.
Purpose: To truly understand Slam as a character, let’s learn more about Harlem, where he grew up. Harlem is the north most region of New York City. It is an area filled with a mixed history. While today, it is images of a crime infested area stick in people’s minds. This Web Quest will help student dismiss all the stereotypes of a special part of New York Culture.
How: Student’s will be spilt up into three groups. Two will deal with Harlem’s rich history and the third group will deal with its present state.
Group
one: History from
1900-1940
http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/
On this web site students
will choose decades, they can pair up or do it alone. They must find
5 events in the decade and explain how they relate to one another and why
it is significant towards the time period.
Group
two: The Harlem Renaissance: the History
and The Artists
http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/harlem.html
One student will explain what
exactly the Harlem Renaissance is.
Other students will have to
pick short stories or painting and explain how it relates to Harlem Renaissance.
Group
Three: Harlem Today
http://detnews.com/2000/nation/0001/31/01310109.htm
The students will read this
article, summarize it, and then project their ideas of the future for Harlem.
List
of Related Books
By Brooke Coalter
Other books written by Walter
Dean Myers:
Brown Angels: An Album of
Pictures and Verse. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
Crystal. New
York: Viking 1987.
Darnell Rock Reporting. New
York: Delacorte Press, 1994.
The Dragon Takes a Wife. New
York; Scholastic, 1995.
Fallen Angels. New
York: Scholastic, 1988.
Fast Sam, Cool Clyde and Stuff.
New
York: Viking, 1975.
The Glory Field. New
York: Scholastic, 1994.
Hoops. New
York: Delacorte, 1981.
The Legend of Tarik. New
York: Viking, 1981.
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary.
New
York: Scholastic, 1993.
Me, Mop, and the Moondance
Kid. New York: Delacorte, 1988.
Mop, Moondance, and the Nagasaki
Knights. New York: Delacorte, 1992.
Motown and Didi: A Love Story.
New
York: Viking, 1984.
The Mouse Rap. New
York: HarperCollins, 1990.
Now Is Your Time: The African-American
Struggle for Freedom. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
One More River to Cross: An
African American Photograph Album. New York: Harcourt
Brace,1996.
The Outside Shot. New
York: Delacorte, 1984.
The Righteous Revenge of Artemis
Bonner. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Scorpions. New
York: Harper & Row, 1988.
Shadow of the Red Moon. New
York: Scholastic, 1995.
Somewhere in the Darkness.
New
York: Scholastic, 1992.
Won't Know Till I Get There.
New
York: Viking, 1982.
The Young Landlords. New
York: Viking, 1979.
Another Slam!
Book Study-http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~elbond/slam.htm
A third Slam!
Book Study-http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~elbond/slam2.htm
Walter Dean
Myers-http://www.carr.lib.md.us/mae/myers.htm
Fallen Angels-http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Bistro/9717/main.htm
Untitled-http://sirsisun.emu.edu/WebCat/33.prn
Walter Dean
Myers- http://www.virginiahamilton.com/pages/walter_dean_myers.htm
Walter Dean
Myers Web Site Design-
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages.wbmyers/index_f.htm
More of Walter Dean Myers' Books-http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/myers.html
