Jason Reynolds is the man. You have probably seen a number of his written works on lists of must-reads for YAs and teachers on topics of race. He is a New York Times bestselling author, a NAACP Image Award Winner, a National Book Award Finalist, and has received multiple honors from Coretta Scott King Award. … Continue reading Mentor Author – Jason Reynolds
Category: Book Clubs
Book Clubs Independent Project
After four weeks of time in class for the independent reading of their book club books and completion of weekly check-in notes, students were presented with the next phase of our World War II book clubs: an independent project. Student choice is important to me when assigning reading projects. I knew that I wanted to … Continue reading Book Clubs Independent Project
Author Visits Bring Reading Alive
Fern Schumer Chapman, author, and her mother, Edith Westerfeld Schumer, pose for a photograph with some of the 7th Grade students. Photo Credit: Amy Hamernick https://twitter.com/AhamernickCJH In the seventh-grade social studies curriculum, students learn about World War II which grants a natural cross-curricular experience with fiction and nonfiction texts about the topic in language arts … Continue reading Author Visits Bring Reading Alive
Update on Book Clubs
We are now three full weeks into our book clubs and my students are blowing me away with their excitement and participation within the reading process. In my prior post, I touched on the set up the process of student choice for students to be more involved and ultimately invested in their book clubs. The … Continue reading Update on Book Clubs
Cultivating Student Choice in Reading with Book Clubs
“I love this” - an actual quote from a seventh-grade student as he met with his book club. I told the student I would be quoting him; he smirked at me and said, “go ahead, this is going to be fun!” My teacher heart was so full. Getting middle schoolers excited about reading is one … Continue reading Cultivating Student Choice in Reading with Book Clubs
The Chronicles of Middle School 