Cooperative Learning with Brave Like My Brother

by Jacqueline Jules

As a teacher, I was thrilled to discover Brave Like My Brother by Marc Tyler Nobleman. This slim title will make a perfect read-aloud and writing model for the upper elementary classroom. Told entirely in letters, Brave Like My Brother depicts a touching relationship between two brothers writing to each other during World War II. Joe’s letters home to younger brother Charlie share a fascinating account of an American soldier’s life abroad. The portrayal of war is neither too sugar coated nor too frightening for upper elementary students. Charlie’s letters to Joe share his struggles with a bully at home in Cleveland. The book’s large font and 100 page text should make it attractive to reluctant readers. 

Letter writing is a wonderful vehicle for sharing information. After reading Brave Like My Brother, students could work in pairs, each one taking on the role of a person separated from a loved one by war or circumstance. The letters could involve research into either a historical era or geographic region. It could be an exciting cooperative project. Here are some suggestions.

Student 1: Write letters to a sister/brother/friend describing your life as you travel to a new country and build a new life.

Student 2: Describe your life at home in response to these letters.

Student 1: Write letters home to a sister/brother/friend while you are at summer camp or on a vacation.

Student 2: Describe your life back home in response to these letters.

Student 1: Write letters to a friend during a move to a state across the country.

Student 2: Respond to the letters with information on how things are going in your friend’s old city.

Student 1: Write letters to a parent/sister/brother who is away on business, deployed, or incarcerated.

Student 2: Respond to the letters, explaining your current life situation.

Student 1: Write letters to a grandparent asking what life was like for them and explaining what your life is like.

Student 2: Write letters answering your grandchild’s questions.

In an age, when most people communicate by email or text rather than speaking on the phone, the ability to express ourselves by means of a letter is more important than ever. A cooperative letter writing exercise will give your students practice in both writing and essential life skills.

www.jacquelinejules.com

Writing Connections with Marc Tyler Nobleman

by Mary Quattlebaum

The Power of Words.  Students have heard that phrase so often that it sounds like a cliché.  Marc Tyler Nobleman not only brings that phrase to life in two riveting biographies, but he also shows how the biographies themselves helped to right a wrong.  In a Kids Post interview for the Washington Post, Nobleman talks about the research and writing process for Boys of Steel and Bill the Boy Wonder, his biographies, respectively, of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman, and of Bill Finger, who co-created Batman with Bob Kane.  Finger never received credit for his work until recently, thanks in large part to information uncovered by Nobleman.

Nobleman travels frequently to give presentations and writing workshops, and he has found that, from India to Indiana, people know about Superman and Batman.  These superheroes tap into the human hunger for tales of good vs. evil.

Below are a few writing prompts for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.   Nobleman’s blog Noblemania.blogspot.com is a trove of historic photos, comic book art, quotes and cool stuff.

CREATE YOUR OWN SUPERHERO:  Ask students to read Bill the Boy Wonder and to look at one or two Batman comic books.  

Classroom Discussion: How did Bill Finger help to create Batman?  What traits, nicknames or pieces of costume did Bill add?  Ask students why they think that superheroes and superhero comic books are so popular, around the world.

Fight or Find Peace:  In most comic books, the superheroes use physical force when they fight.  Are there other ways of being powerful besides physical force?  Other ways of fighting back?  As a class, brainstorm a list of people (historic or contemporary) who were powerful without using physical force or violence.

Classroom Writing:  Have students brainstorm attributes for their own superhero.  For example, what is the hero’s super power?  How and when does the hero wield it?  Is there a secret identity or costume?  Who is the hero’s worst enemy and what are the enemy’s attributes?  How and why did the hero become a hero and the bad guy a bad guy?  What makes the superhero weak?  What makes the villain weak?  (Remember, neither hero nor villain need be human.  Either or both can be animals, objects, plants, germs, etc.)

Starting Strong:  Begin a story about how your hero and villain meet for the first time.  Think about who, what, when, where, and how.  What brings them together and when and where? What happens?  How do they fight?  See if students can figure out at least one way that the superhero fights the villain in a non-violent/nonphysical way.  What happens then?

Examining Art:  Choose a panel or two from a comic book and show students how the illustrator showed a close up or an aerial view, for example.   Ask them what makes these different views interesting and why the illustrator may have chosen to show that.  Ask them to do one part of their story as a comic book panel, showing a close-up or an aerial view.  How did that help them to think about their story in a different way?

www.maryquattlebaum.com