Teaching Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds can be an awesome experience for you and your students, and the lesson plans on this page will help you get started.
Long Way Down is a unique, engaging novel written in verse. Jason Reynolds uses elements of concrete poetry to tell the story of a black teenager named William Holloman struggling with the dilemma of how to respond to his brother’s murder. Should he follow “the rules” and retaliate by killing the person he think is responsible? Or should he break “the rules” and the cycle of violence they perpetuate?
Reynolds takes readers on a riveting descent into the depths of William’s dilemma, and your students will love it!
To help get you started on your journey, here are 10 Long Way Down lesson plan ideas you can incorporate into your unit plan.
Lesson Plan Ideas for Long Way Down
1. Jason Reynolds Background Research
A great way to get started teaching Long Way Down is to introduce your students to the author. Jason Reynolds is a unique voice in young adult literature, and it is well worthwhile to spend some time getting to know him. And instead of simply reading about Reynolds on a wikipedia page or the like, why not learn about him using some of the many speeches, interviews and appearances he has done?
Dear Dreamer is a brief biographical documentary about Jason Reynolds. Through interviews with Reynolds, the video explores his history, his writing process, and his motivations and objectives for writing. It is available on his webpage, jasonwritesbooks.com, and also on youtube and vimeo.
You can also watch other interviews Reynolds has done on youtube.com including this entertaining appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, or this piece on “Book Haters” with the UW-Madison School of Education.
2. Long Way Down Anticipation Guide
An anticipation guide is a series of questions that ask students to take a position on issues that will emerge in the text. It is usually done before (in anticipation of) reading the text.
In this lesson plan idea, students respond to statements by saying if they agree or disagree and explaining why. The statements should be related to important themes and issues that will arise in the novel.
For Long Way Down, you could ask students to respond to statements about following rules, gun violence, loyalty, revenge, etc.
For example, you could present your students with the following statement:
You should never “snitch.”
Students then agree or disagree and explain why. You should have three or more statements for students to respond to.
Once they have written their responses, you can invite students to share their thoughts with the class. This often leads to lively discussions, and is a great way to kick-off your Long Way Down unit.
3. Long Way Down Anagrams
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase.
In Long Way Down, William enjoys anagrams, and cleverly uses several of them throughout the story to show how different things might be related.
When talking about his relationship with his brother, Will uses the anagram “scare=cares.”
When describing how he wants to run away from his feelings, Will uses the anagram “feel=flee.”
After discussing what anagrams are and how they are used in Long Way Down, you can challenge your students to solve others.
Students can also make anagrams and challenge each other.
4. The Rules
In Long Way Down, William contends with the unwritten rules of his community: no crying, no snitching, and always get revenge. In this lesson, students explore and reflect on the unwritten rules that govern our lives at home, at school, with our friends, and in the street.
Ask your students to think about the unwritten rules in their lives. What are the positive and negative effects or consequences of these rules?
After some class and/or group discussion, students identify a set of rules analyze why they exist and if they should be changed.
Fore more detail, see the post titled The Rules on this blog.
5. Long Way Down Character Study
A staple of English unit plans, the character study invites students to show a deep understanding of a character, their traits, motivations, and personality.
In Long Way Down, only one character is fully developed: William. The other characters are, literally, ghosts, so William makes the obvious choice for a character study. But students could choose others.
There are many ways to go about a character study. One approach is to divide your class into small groups. Give each group a large sheet of brown paper (long enough for one of the them to lie down on). They then trace one the group members on the paper, giving them a life-size outline to use. Students then decorate the outline and surround it with symbols and quotes to represent aspects of the character. Under each symbol and quote, students write short paragraphs explaining their significance and relationship to the character.
6. Long Way Down Playlist
In this activity, students create a playlist or soundtrack for Long Way Down.
The playlist should include at least eight songs, and each song should represent an important event, theme, or character from Long Way Down.
For each song, students should explain why it is appropriate and what it represents in the story.
For example, students might include the song Changes by Tupac to represent “the rules” and the cycle of violence they perpetuate in William’s community.
7. Extended Ending
The indeterminate ending in Long Way Down leaves the reader wondering what choice William makes. In this writing activity, students speculate on the possible paths William could take before choosing one to write about.
The trick is to mimic the style and voice Jason Reynolds uses in Long Way Down.
For more details, see the post entitled Long Way Down Extended Ending on this blog.
8. Graphic Novel Comparison
While Jason Reynolds’ writing style in Long Way Down is very accessible, even for reluctant readers, some students will benefit from seeing the scenes illustrated as they are in the graphic novel version of the story.
Spend some time exploring this version of the story, and discuss how it differs from the original text. What are the pros and cons of having illustrations? How is the reading experience changed?
9. Poetry Write
Ask your students to choose a verse from Long Way Down to use a blueprint for a poem of their own.
One possibility is the verse that starts “MY NAME IS.” Students can write a similar poem in which they describe themselves.
Another possibility could be “THE RULES.” Students can write a similar poem in which they describe the rules of their household or social group.
The possibilities are endless, and Reynolds gives us so much material to use as templates for poetry writes.
10. Long Way Down Unit Plan
Finally, you can use this amazing unit plan to teach Long Way Down, and have all of your lesson plans done instantly. No prep work. No stress. Lots of fun.
It includes everything you need to teach Long Way Down from beginning to end: detailed lesson plans, questions, activities, assignments, puzzles, projects, a unit test, and more.
Thanks for these great lesson plan ideas for Long Way Down. We have just begun reading the novel, and my kids love the style and pace. It’s very accessible, but still absolutely riveting regardless of reading ability. Just a great text for teaching.