Teaching Maniac Magee

Instructions for You

Objective: There's no question that Two Mills is a city divided by race. Ugh—this one's tough to fix, especially considering the preconceived notions some of the characters in the book hold. But there is hope, right? Maniac is proof of this.

Of course, Two Mills is far from the first city to be divided. And while race is the dividing factor in this town, communities find themselves split for all sorts of reasons. For this activity, students will research one city, culling for facts and history and culminating in a presentation that compares and contrasts their city to Two Mills.

Materials Needed: Internet access; computer with presentation software (i.e. PowerPoint) and/or poster board and craft supplies

Step 1: To generate class discussion and get your students thinking about towns divided, pose the following questions to your class, making note of their responses on the board:

• Has anyone ever heard of a real life divided city? 
• Why is this city divided?

As your students share answers, they just might generate the following list without needing you to do it for them. If not, though, here's some help:

• Baarle—This city straddles the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium. 
• Berlin—Germany's largest city was divided from 1961 (during the Cold War) until 1989. 
• Jerusalem—As far as divided cities go, Jerusalem across the ages just might take the cake. 
• Rome—Divided? Depends who you ask. However, it is a city that technically has another country within it, the Vatican City. How does that work? 
• Philadelphia—The former capital of the U.S. of A., when it comes to class, the City of Brotherly Love steers clear of one another.
• Niagara Falls—One falls, two countries. 
• Budapest—This one got its name when two cities (you guessed it, Buda and Pest) united. See? It can be done. 
• The Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul)—The name really says it all for this one, doesn't it? 

Once you have a good list going, have your students each pick a city they're interested in researching. It doesn't have to be from the list, but it does have to be divided in some way.

Step 2: It's time for your students to roll up their sleeves and start researching their city. The end goal is to create a presentation (either on the computer or on poster board) that combines visuals and short descriptions of the following information (though, of course, they should feel free to include additional info, too):

• The city's location, including country and a map of the area
• Who lives there? What is the population? What are the living standards like?
• Reason/s for division, including a paragraph or two exploring the history of this split
• What's going on there today? Is it still divided? How? Why?
• What does the future look like for this city? Why? 
• Has anyone in particular helped the city unite in some way?
• Are there any similarities to Two Mills? If yes, explain, and if not… are you sure?
• Is there anything about this city that Two Mills might implement to make things better between its residents?
• Why do you think Two Mills became divided? Do you think it was always this way?

Once research is over, have your students organize their information and put together their presentations.

Step 3: For presentations, we suggest handling them in one of two ways: Either have students present to the entire class, or break them into groups, making sure to have a variety of divisions represented in each group (i.e. race, class, religion). This will guarantee that kids learn about reasons for division other than the one they've been focusing on for their own work.

No matter how you proceed, once presentations are finished, share the following questions with your students to wrap up:

• Are any of these cities similar in their struggles, solutions, history, or otherwise? Which ones?
• What are some common themes in all of these presentations?
• Which (if any) city most resembles Two Mills? How? Which is most dissimilar? How?
• What would Maniac have to say about the city you researched? There are no wrong answers here, but think about Maniac's character, and put his running shoes in your town for a moment. Who knows? Maybe he'll have the answer to all your city's troubles.

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: There's no question that Two Mills is a city divided by race. Ugh—this one's tough to fix, especially considering the preconceived notions some of the characters in the book hold. But there is hope, right? Maniac is proof of this.

Of course, Two Mills is far from the first city to be divided. And while race is the dividing factor in this town, communities find themselves split for all sorts of reasons. For this activity, you will research one city, digging into facts and history and putting together a presentation comparing and contrasting it to Two Mills.

Step 1: Ever heard of a real city divided for some reason? Why was/is it divided? Throughout history, and around the world, cities have found themselves divided for all sorts of reasons. If you don't know much about this, though, no worries—check out this list to get your brain going:

• Baarle—This city straddles the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium. 
• Berlin—Germany's largest city was divided from 1961 (during the Cold War) until 1989. 
• Jerusalem—As far as divided cities go, Jerusalem across the ages just might take the cake. 
• Rome—Divided? Depends who you ask. However, it is a city that technically has another country within it, the Vatican City. How does that work? 
• Philadelphia—The former capital of the U.S. of A., when it comes to class, the City of Brotherly Love steers clear of one another.
• Niagara Falls—One falls, two countries. 
• Budapest—This one got its name when two cities (you guessed it, Buda and Pest) united. See? It can be done. 
• The Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul)—The name really says it all for this one, doesn't it? 

Now pick a city, any city—well, one that is somehow divided. It can be from this list, the list you've generated as a class, or something that occurs to you rightnow.

Step 2: It's time to roll up your sleeves and start researching your city. The end goal is to create a presentation (either on the computer or on poster board) that combines visuals and short descriptions of the following information (though, of course, you should feel free to include additional info, too):

• The city's location, including country and a map of the area
• Who lives there? What is the population? What are the living standards like?
• Reason/s for division, including a paragraph or two exploring the history of this split
• What's going on there today? Is it still divided? How? Why?
• What does the future look like for this city? Why? 
• Has anyone in particular helped the city unite in some way?
• Are there any similarities to Two Mills? If yes, explain, and if not… are you sure?
• Is there anything about this city that Two Mills might implement to make things better between its residents?
• Why do you think Two Mills became divided? Do you think it was always this way?

Can you answer all of these questions? Great, now organize your information and put together your presentation. Don't be afraid to get creative and incorporate a little local flavor (bonus points if that local flavor is actually edible… mmm… snacks).

Step 3: It's presentation time, but don't worry—you've totally got this. Plus, you're going to get to learn about other cities and the reasons they're divided, which is pretty interesting stuff. Once presentations are finished, consider the following questions to wrap up:

• Are any of these cities similar in their struggles, solutions, history, or otherwise? Which ones?
• What are some common themes in all of these presentations?
• Which (if any) city most resembles Two Mills? How? Which is most dissimilar? How?
• What would Maniac have to say about the city you researched? There are no wrong answers here, but think about Maniac's character, and put his running shoes in your town for a moment. Who knows? Maybe he'll have the answer to all your city's troubles.