Lesson Plan Intro
In this lesson plan, students examine how setting affects the story in Long Way Down, and how William’s conflicts and choices are the product of his surroundings.
The setting in Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds exerts a great influence over the story and its characters. This influence goes beyond the physical world William Hollomon lives in; it also includes the culture, and “rules” of William’s community.
William is bound to face the conflicts common in his community, and his dilemmas are heavily influenced by his surroundings. “The Rules” William follows are part of the setting in which he lives.
The elevator in which William spends most of the story also has a great influence over the story and William. He is effectively trapped there with the ghosts of his conscience, and forced to face them for the whole ride.
Setting in Long Way Down
Begin the lesson by discussing setting in Long Way Down. Make sure your students understand that setting is the time and place in which a story takes place. Ask them to describe the setting in Long Way Down. How does the author establish and develop the setting for he reader? How does this setting influence the story.
Graphic Organizer
You can print the ready-to-use graphic organizer and lesson plan in this amazing unit plan for Long Way Down, or you can have your students create a graphic organizer to document key elements of setting in Long Way Down. The chart should include columns for page number, quote, and significance.
After defining and discussing setting, ask your students to record key quotes that establish setting in Long Way Down. Beside each quote, students should explain how it helps to establish or develop the setting, and what impact it has on the story.
Example
| Page | Quote | Significance |
Paragraph
You can take this Long Way Down lesson plan a step further by having your students write paragraphs using the material they gathered in their graphic organizers. This is a great opportunity to practice paragraph writing, and the charts the students completed provide excellent scaffolding.
After reviewing paragraph structure (topic sentence, explanation and evidence, conclusion) ask your students to answer the following question with a well developed paragraph:
How does setting affect the conflicts that William faces in Long Way Down?
Students should use the information they gathered in their charts to provide specific evidence in their paragraphs.
