Al Capone Does My Shirts

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.

“Alcatraz News”

In this activity, students will create an article for the Alcatraz newspaper detailing events and people in the novel.

Al Capone Does My Shirts is a historical novel set in the 1930s, while Al Capone is in the Alcatraz prison. Create a newspaper article about noteworthy events that occur in the novel. Use the characters in the novel to create interviews of eyewitness accounts. Then, create a digital copy of your newspaper article complete with pictures and captions for your news story. Use the details below to assist in the development of your article.

• Select a noteworthy event in the book to report on in the local newspaper.
• Identify the characters you would like to interview about the event.
• Select pictures and research backstories to use in the article.
• Draft your article with a headline, and revise after peer review.
• Don’t forget to name your paper!

Share your news article with the class; as you describe your article, compare the article to the description of the event(s) in the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: You may want to encourage students to use events such as Mrs. Capone’s arrival on the island or Al Capone’s note to Moose as examples that might be interesting to readers on the island, just as they were interesting to characters in the novel. Students may find it beneficial to research Al Capone or his mother to use details about their lives in the article; however, consider guiding students in this research as many resources on this topic are not necessarily student friendly.  

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who demonstrate interest and skills in audio-visual communications, consider allowing students to script and record the news story, or for students who prefer visual arts/artistic expression, consider allowing them to create a graphic-novel style news article with drawings, captions, and dialogue and/or narration. Some students may also benefit from a graphic organizer to help them plan their product and document their ideas before drafting it.