Writing Strategies

Christopher Myers’ Black Cat is a lyrical poem that follows a stray cat along his journey through New York City.  From the city streets to the subway, to basketball courts and urban playgrounds, we follow Black Cat as he slinks his way through days and nights in the city. 

Black Cat is an outstanding example of the SENTENCE FLUENCY trait, with wonderful rhythm and perfectly selected phrases that communicate the mood of the poem. 

As always, there are some words that should be defined for your students before you read Black Cat to your class.  And because it is set in New York City, it might be helpful for your students to learn some urban vocabulary as well.

·         saunter – to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner

·         tar beach – refers to Faith Ringgold’s book entitled Tar Beach; a building rooftop where residents could go to relax and get away

·         bodega – a usually small grocery store in an urban area; specifically : one specializing in Hispanic groceries

·         project – a usually public housing development consisting of houses or apartments built and arranged according to a single plan

·         platform – a usually raised horizontal flat surface; especially : a raised flooring

·         subway - a usually electric underground railway

·         graffiti – usually unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface

·         bricked-in windows – window openings that once held glass windows, but have now been filled with bricks, probably because the building is no longer inhabited

·         fire escapes - a metal stairway attached to the outside of a building that residents use in the case of a fire

* Teaching Sentence Fluency *      

“Words are to writers as notes are to musicians…music begins one sound at a time, adding up to a combination of sounds that creates the melody, harmony, and rhythm,” Ruth Culham explains.  So, too, it is with writing.  Writing is about combining the right words, phrases, and punctuation marks to create sentences that are just right.  And it’s also about creating a piece that sounds good to the ear and doesn’t just look good to the eye.  “Sentence Fluency is the auditory trait,” Ms. Culham says.  So we need to really listen to our students’ writing, and encourage them to listen to their own writing and the writing of their peers.  And to the writing of wonderful authors like Christopher Myers.

When you’re teaching Sentence Fluency, Ruth Culham has distinguished three different skills that are the
components of the trait:         

Lesson Idea for Sentence Fluency:

Black Cat is written as a long, flowing, rhythmic poem.  Each page reveals to us new phrases and stanzas.  If we study those stanzas, we see how Christopher Myers uses interesting verbs and verb phrases to describe Black Cat’s home among the city.

1. Begin by reading Black Cat once aloud, sound so that your students can hear and appreciate the sound of the story.  Then discuss what you learn about Black Cat’s urban home in New York City.  What kinds of places and objects does Black Cat encounter?  (city streets, sirens, subway trains, housing projects, concrete sidewalks, chain-link fences, etc.)  Begin a T-chart, listing the things from Black Cat’s city home in one column. 
2. Now, consider our own neighborhoods or that of our school.  Complete the T-chart with a list of the places and things that Black Cat would see or hear if she lived in Marietta.  Would she see green grass and trees?  Cars and traffic?  Would she hear the sounds of birds and kids playing?  Would she climb wooden fences and playground benches? 
3. If you’d like, go ahead now and write your own poem about Black Cat, this time as if she lived in Marietta.  You might begin it with “black cat, black cat, cousin to the southern heat, creeping down our winding streets, where do you live, where will we meet?”   Then use your list of Marietta characteristics to create phrases that describe what she would hear, see, and do in our environment.
4. If you really want to enhance the fluency, reread the story again, this time listening out for the verbs that you hear.  Create a chart, and list the interesting verbs that you hear as you read, including creeping, sauntering, ducking, dancing, and chasing.  In discussion, note that Christopher Myers never uses a verb on its own.  He always enhances his verbs with a phrase that better paints the picture or tells the story.  That’s what makes this poem so powerful!
5. As  you create your own version of Black Cat, ask your students to incorporate the verbs that you charted, or other interesting verbs, as they describe Black Cat’s journey through Marietta.  And challenge them further to carefully select the phrases that they use to tell Black Cat’s story.

Additional Idea:

·   Tie this story into your social studies unit about urban/suburban/rural communities.  Have groups of students detail Black Cat's journey through each type of community.  Include drawings or collages of the types of environments the cat would experience. 

(See the Sentence Fluency chapters of 6+1 Trait of Writing and 6+1 Traits of Writing for the Primary Grades for more teaching ideas!)

6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham