Looking for Alaska

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“In Honor of Alaska”

In this activity, students will reflect on the power of their names, choosing to focus on their own name, a new name, or a nickname.

Alaska explains how and why she chose her own name. It becomes central to the novel. Let’s take some time to ponder our own names. For this activity, you can choose your name, a new name you might like to have, or a nickname. Then create a poem about the name and its importance. While reflecting and writing, it might help to consider some or all of these questions:

• How did you get or think of this name?
• What does the name mean to you or to your family?
• How is it pronounced?
• Who calls you this name or who do you want to call you this name?
• What visuals, sounds, tastes, smells, or feelings connect to this name?
• How might the name be symbolic?

Share your poems in small-group presentations. Listen to your peers. Write a journal entry about the power of names.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity can help build community in the class. Since names can be very personal and incorrect pronunciation can be deeply hurtful, it might require revisiting ground rules about respect. Another way to present this could be whole-class or gallery-walk.

Differentiation Suggestion: For diverse learners or any class that benefits from more focused guidance, offering an outline of a name poem with stems to begin each line might help. For example:

My name is______

It means________

It looks like_________

It sounds like_____________

Hearing my name feels ___________ and ___________

Paired Text Extension:

Analyzing Elizabeth Acevedo’s performance of her poem, “Name,” offers a chance to connect texts, examine a poem, view a performance of a poem, and see an example of how someone writes about their name.

Elizabeth Acevedo performs “Name,” an excerpt from The Poet X.

Teaching Suggestion: Viewing the poem toward the beginning of this activity could provide students with an example of a poem about a name. Analyzing specific details like the meaning of the name and how it connects to the character’s birth and style can be helpful as students revise to include details about their own names and personalities. Also, watching her speak the poem illustrates ways students might use tone of voice and pacing in their presentations.