My seventh grade students recently finished reading Riot by Walter Dean Myers, which is set in New York City during the draft riots of 1863. Because the students had studied immigration and visited the Tenement Museum and New York Historical Society during a trip to New York, they were familiar with the setting of Riot,… Read more »
I love it when I discover an author a little late in the game, after he or she already has multiple novels out, so that I can finish one and pick up another without having to wait too long. A couple of years ago, I fell in love with Jaclyn Moriarty’s Ashbury High novels, and… Read more »
This year, the theme for fifth and sixth grade English and social studies at my school is China. Last winter and spring, I read several China-related novels as I tried to figure out my book list for sixth grade English. I wanted a range of books that would engage sixth graders, expose them to aspects… Read more »
Not so long ago, Angel was an ordinary girl. But after her mother’s death shattered her family, Angel began shoplifting, and a manipulative, sweet-talking man named Call gave her “candy” (a.k.a. crack) for the first time and took her in when her dad kicked her out. Now, Call is Angel’s pimp, and Angel has to… Read more »
The English and social studies curricula at my school are integrated, so I end up teaching a lot of historical fiction. It isn’t always easy to find a book that’s firmly grounded in a historical time and place and well-written and engaging for middle school readers. But Laurie Halse Anderson’s Chains and Forge are all… Read more »
I’ve decided to write a review of E. Lockhart’s Dramarama for a couple of reasons. One, because I love it. I read it last spring, and the story is still churning about in my brain. And two, because I’ve seen a lot of tired, sweaty high school students roaming the halls after preseason practices the… Read more »
I love to include read alouds in my middle school English classroom. That usually means choosing an effective read-aloud novel, reading somewhere between five and fifteen minutes per class, and giving students some time to discuss their reactions and predictions as we go. I find that read alouds increase students’ enthusiasm about books and lead… Read more »