As part of a study of Jason Reynold's Ghost, readers take a close look at sneaker culture and how Reynold uses sneakers as a symbol in his award-winning young adult novel. Groups explore links to "Sneakerology 101", a Carnegie Mellon University course, and a traveling art exhibition, "The Rise of Sneaker Culture."

Concepts

symbolism, popular culture

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Ask class members to journal about an article of clothing or fashion accessory that is popular with their group of friends
• Launch a discussion of symbolism by projecting an image of a United States flag and asking learners to identify what it is as well as what it represents

Classroom Considerations

• Requires individual copies of the novel
• Presumes learners have finished reading the novel
• One of four Ghost resources in the PBS Great American Read series
• Register for a free PBS account to access resources
• Requires extra prep time to set tabs on the classroom computer to show images and to copy required worksheets

Pros

• The plan is richly detailed and carefully scaffolded
• Links are provided to sneaker culture resources

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.6.4 L.6.4.a L.6.4.d L.6.5.c RL.7.2 RL.7.4 L.7.4.a L.7.4.d L.7.5.a L.7.5.c RL.8.2 RL.8.4 L.8.4.a L.8.4.d L.8.5.c