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Free Unit for All American Boys-Part 1

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All American Boys Book Cover
All American Boys Book Cover

During the 2021-2022 school year, I decided to read All American Boys with my English 9 self-contained class. All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely is a high interest read that I thought would be great for this class.This class has about 15 students of varying reading abilities, but most students were far, far behind. This was not a book that they could read independently, so I set about breaking it up into pieces for them. I did a little tooooooo good of a job breaking it down, and it ended up taking us almost the whole year to read. Whoops. I probably won't do that again because the kids did not like spending all that time on one book, but they did ultimately enjoy the book. I have yet to find another class that All American Boys would be a good fit for, so the wait beings. But the mean time, I have a ton of materials to share. I hope these free materials for All American Boys will make your life easier.



When I started teaching the book, I used this free unit that I found at justice.eduation. I am forever thankful to its creator, Madison Webster. There were many days that year where I had zero time to plan and pulled from this unit at the last second. I thought that the videos and extension activities were especially good-things that I never would have thought of and that were really engaging to my students.


The materials below are the materials and reading guides that I created to break down each section and reading and supplement Webster's ideas & materials. All of it is combined below so that the reader can see how the unit unfolded. I have noted when an activity or question came from Webster's unit.


The unit, like the book, is divided into 7 chunks based on the days of the week. Each day of the week is then divided into two different sections so that there can be two different narrators.




All American Boys is about two teenage boys from the same neighborhood: one black (Rashad), one white (Quinn). When Rashad is brutally beaten by a cop, and that was like a father figure to Quinn, Quinn has a lot of thinking to do. The story switches between the perspectives of the two boys.


"Friday"


Day 1

Introduce the "Friday" vocabulary list. Students draw a visual and copy or write a sentence.


All American Boys Opening Journal: 

  • Student Prompt: Write about a time when you got in trouble but did not do anything wrong.


All American Boys Cover Analysis

  • Cover Analysis Handout. I asked the kids to make 5 observations about the over and then use that to make 5 observations and ask 5 questions.


Listen to "Zoom In" (Opening of book)

  • What do you picture in  your head? Draw it. 

  • What is going on here? 

  • Why open the book this way?





Day 2


All American Boys Journal

  • Write about what you do on Fridays after school gets out. 


Analysis of Opening Passage (30-45 minutes)

  • Listen to opening

  • Complete All American Boys First Page Close Reading  In this handout, students are asked to color-code a passage based on action, characters, setting, literary devices, etc. They then have to answer some questions. We usually do the analysis together and then I put the kiddos into groups to answer the questions at the end.

Day 3


The book is divided by days of the week AND by narrator. Each day alternates between Rashad's point of view and Quinn's point of view. The story opens with a chapter from Rashad and a lot of characters are introduced, so it's best to play a little bit of the chapter, stop and fill in the character chart, and then repeat until the chart is done. I played the audiobook for most of the unit and had kids follow along in the paper copies while they listened. I purchased the Audible recording of All American Boys and used that for the unit. I thought it was worth the money.


All American Boys Audiobook
All American Boys Audiobook




Day 4


  • Listen to "Quinn" (pages 24-35). Complete in pieces (like you did for the Rashad chapter).

  • Fill in "Quinn Character Chart"


Day 5


  • Briefly review yesterday's reading & related characters 

  • Listen to 36-40 of "Quinn"

  • Finish filling in more of the "Quinn Character Chart"

This is when I realized that my lessons, although practical, were boring and I needed some new ideas. If I ever taught this book again, I would start with Webster's lesson that explores the question: "What is the responsibility of the witness?"

After the video, my coteacher and I talked about it with the kids we filled in the handout together.

Days 6-7

Day 8

Grammar & Writing time: Write about a time when you told the truth but your parents or friends, etc., didn’t believe you. How did you feel? 150 words (15 minutes) 

  • Capitalize everything that needs to be capitalized. Show a teacher before you submit. 


Vocabulary: Use all of your vocabulary words in a story. 


Four Corners Discussion: What is the responsibility, if any, of the witness?

 (strongly agree/agree/strongly disagree/disagree)


For a "Four Corners Discussion, put signs up in each corner of the room. The signs should say "strongly agree," "agree," "strongly disagree," and "disagree." Ask students each the questions below and have them stand in front of their response. Have kids share out their reasoning.


  • Witnesses have a responsibility to intervene in an incident 

  • Witnesses have a responsibility to intervene in an incident even when their safety might be at risk. 

  • Witnesses should mind their own business.

  • Witnesses should mind their own business during the incident but then speak up after. 

  • Witnesses should mind their own business (during the incident and after) even if it leads to false accusations.



Day 9


  • Journal: Quinn witnessed the cop beating up Rashad, and he was one of only a few people who saw what happened. What should Quinn do? Should he get involved somehow? Should he not? What do you think he should do and why?


  • Listen to "Quinn" Saturday (pages 61-82) -No reading guide for this section.


Day 10

  • "Friday" & "Saturday" Vocabulary Quiz (paid product)

Vocabulary quiz for "Friday" & "Saturday" for All American Boys
Vocabulary quiz for "Friday" & "Saturday" for All American Boys

  • Journal: Quinn witnessed the cop beating up Rashad, and he was one of only a few people who saw what happened. What should Quinn do? Should he get involved somehow? Should he not? What do you think he should do and why?






Day 11


Prompt: As the novel opens, Rashad states, “Let me make something

clear: I didn’t need ROTC. I didn’t want to be part of no military family.”

Despite his lack of desire to be involved in ROTC, he remains a member in

good standing to make his father happy. 

  • What can be inferred about Rashad from this knowledge? Have you ever been in a similar situation where you remained committed to something to please the people you love? Share your experience. (150 word)

  • Or, write about a time that you did something you did not want to do but did it anyway to make someone else happy. Make up your own story if you do not have any of your own examples. 






Day 12



  • Work on "Sunday" vocabulary handout.


All American Boys Reading Time













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