On My Bookshelf: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

The basic plot from Amazon: This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death. 
 
It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.

This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.

Fiercely funny, honest, heart-breaking—this is an unforgettable novel from a bright talent, now also a film that critics are calling "a touchstone for its generation" and "an instant classic."

Why I liked it: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the funniest book I've read in a long time. Funny like you'll laugh out loud and sometimes so hard the person sitting next to you will give you a strange look, especially since the title of the book references death, usually a serious topic. 

The characters are equally well developed and bizarre. Greg, the main character is unsure of himself

and uncomfortable in his own skin. He makes others laugh as a way to cope with his insecurities, often by making depreciating jokes. He is usually brutally honest about his true feelings, which may cause laughter for the reader, but is not as well received by the other individuals in his life. My favorite two characters are Earl, the closest thing Greg has to a friend, and one of his teachers, Mr. McCarthy.

Earl has a terrible home life and takes lower level classes despite being smart enough to do otherwise. He loves disgusting food (as does Greg's father) and serves as Greg's moral compass. Mr. McCarthy is overly enthusiastic (think Robin Williams standing on the desk in Dead Poet's Society). He beats on chest when he agrees with students and demands to hear "facts." He also looks out for Greg all dealing with his friend Rachel's illness becomes increasingly intense.

Classroom application: The novel could be paired with The Fault in Our Stars to look at how teenagers deal with death, specifically terminal illness. The novel could also be connected with a unit on disease in science class and students could research leukemia or other life-threatening illnesses that affect young people.

Unlike The Fault in Our Stars, there's no happy ending in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl; Greg and Rachel do not fall hopelessly in love. A fun writing exercise would be for students to unwrite the happy ending of other famous stories in favor of something more realistic or even humorous.

Greg's meddling mother would be a great topic of discussion. Student could debate whether her actions were appropriate and more helpful or harmful to Greg.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Mentor Texts & Sentences

Brynn Allison, The Literary Maven & Kristy, 2 Peas and a Dog host #2ndaryELA on Twitter every Tuesday evening from 8 - 8:30 PM EST. #2ndaryELA is a weekly chat for secondary English Language Arts teachers focused on a topic. Every Sunday, we post the topic and questions on our blogs to allow you to prepare for the upcoming Tuesday evening's chat. Thank you to everyone who joined us last night and we hope that you will join us again.

Looking for the recap? Click on the image below.

New in 2016 is our 2ndaryELA Facebook group, which we would love to have you join even if you aren't on Twitter. 2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. This group is an extension of our Twitter chat and a place for collaboration, questions, and encouragement. Feel free to post teaching ideas, success stories, resource links, photos, etc. that will enhance our instruction.

On Tuesday, November 29, our #2ndaryELA chat will be about mentor texts and sentences.

The Format:
8:00 Intros: What and where do you teach? Include a link to your blog if you have one. #2ndaryELA
8:05 Q1: Do you use mentor texts as models for writing in your classroom? For what purposes? #2ndaryELA
8:10 Q2: Where/how do you find mentor texts that will engage and inspire your students? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: Do you use mentor sentences as models for writing in your classroom? For what purposes? #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: Where/how do you find mentor sentences that will engage and inspire your students? #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: How do you connect what students learn from working with mentor sentences with larger writing assignments? #2ndaryELA

The Directions:
1. Log into Twitter on Tuesday from 8-8:30 PM EST.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #2ndaryELA in the search bar. Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. Introductions are for the first 5 minutes.
4. Starting at 8:05 (@literarymaven or @2peasandadog) will post questions every 5 minutes using the format Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. and the hashtag #2ndaryELA.
5. Respond to questions using the format A1, A2, A3, etc. with #2ndaryELA.
6. Follow any teachers responding and who are also using #2ndaryELA.
7. Like and respond to other teachers' tweets.

You can schedule your responses to the questions ahead of time using a scheduler like TweetDeck or HootSuite (but don't forget to use A1, A2, etc. and #2ndaryELA). Links are encouraged, so be sure to use a link shortener like tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly Just visit one of those links and paste your long link to shorten it for Twitter. Using images is also encouraged when relevant.

New to chats? Here are the rules:
1. Stay on topic & stay positive!
2. Please do not post or promote paid products unless specifically asked.
3. If you arrive late, try to look through other posts before beginning.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet.
5. Always use our hashtag #2ndaryELA, including in your replies to others.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to public. (Also keep in mind that Twitter is completely public – that means students, parents, and administrators can and will read what you tweet.)

Be sure to spread the word to any teacher friends who might be interested in joining us as well. We look forward to chatting with you Tuesday evening and in our 2ndaryELA Facebook group!

Get caught up on past chats here:

11 Activities to Spread Holiday Cheer With Secondary Students

It's almost impossible to ignore the holiday season. Christmas carols are playing on the radio, store windows are decorated, and advertisements for holiday savings are everywhere. Instead of trying to block out the merriment, spread holiday cheer inside your classroom by inspiring students with the texts you read, finding ways to give inside the classroom, and engaging students in volunteer work outside of the classroom.

On My Bookshelf: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

The basic plot from Amazon: My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
 
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Why I liked it: While parts of the plot of Everything, Everything were a stretch for me (Madeline is totally cut off from the world because of her illness, but doesn't have an inkling that there isn't actually anything wrong with her despite the fact that she is never sick), the whirlwind romance between Maddy and Olly is one to which any teenager who has ever been in love can relate. 

The two are immediately attracted to each other and once they finally meet in person, they can't get

enough of each other. Both characters are struggling with controlling parents. Olly's father is an abusive alcoholic and Maddy's mother is afraid of losing her because of her illness as she has already lost her husband and son in a terrible car accident. Throughout the novel Maddy and Olly push each other to do more, be better, but are also extremely caring and protective. Their relationship (except for one sexy scene) is sweet and innocent.


My favorite character in the book is Carla, who has cared for Madeline for most of her life. Carla has Maddy's best interests at heart and wants to see her happy, which is why she goes behind Maddy's mother's back to bring Olly into the house.  She also suspects that Madeline might not really be sick and helps her to investigate once Maddy come to the same realization..

Classroom application: Throughout the book are Maddy's "spoiler alerts," funny one to two line summaries of famous books that she has read. Ask students to write their own about Everything, Everything or for other books, short stories, etc. that they've read recently. Students will not only practice the skill of summarizing, but the short length will make them focus on word choice as well.

For after reading projects, students could research SCID, the disease from which Maddy supposedly suffers, or create an orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system like the one Olly has on his roof. Researching SCID could be part of a cross-curricular science unit on strange chronic illnesses, and creating an orrery would require both science and mathematical knowledge.

The novel would be a good pairing with other texts that deal with love against the odds and/or serious illness like Romeo and Juliet, The Fault in Our Stars, or Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Everything, Everything for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

On My Bookshelf: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

The basic plot from Amazon: Anna can't wait for her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a good job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's not too thrilled when her father unexpectedly ships her off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair, the perfect boy. The only problem? He's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her crush back home. Will a year of romantic near-misses end in the French kiss Anna awaits?

Why I liked it: Anna and the French Kiss is a light read, which is refreshing amongst some of the darker, more serious young adult literature that is currently popular. Its title made me a little nervous about it being a romance novel, but it wasn't. Like and love are certainly central to the book, but it was not overly sexual and focused more on all kinds of relationships, which I found realistic. The friendships that were formed, strained, severed, and repaired were all believable.

The teenage characters, especially the protagonist, Anna,

were relatable. Her thoughts and actions reminded me of myself and many of my girlfriends in our high school years. She made mistakes, judgements, assumptions, and poor choices because of misunderstandings and lack of communication. Despite her missteps, I found myself rooting for things to work out with Anna and her crush Etienne.

Classroom application: Anna is sent to a boarding school in a foreign country for her senior year of high school. A fun assignment would be to have students research other boarding schools and then create a presentation of the school they would love to attend, sharing information about the school's structure, courses, cultural surroundings, etc.

Anna is a film buff hoping to one day become a film critic. After studying the structure of a film review, have students view and review one of the films mentioned in the novel.

The novel, set in Paris, would also be fun to have students read in a French class. Students could discuss cultural differences between Parisians and Americans and research the landmarks  mentioned in the book.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Anna and the French Kiss for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Online Book Clubs

Brynn Allison, The Literary Maven & Kristy, 2 Peas and a Dog host #2ndaryELA on Twitter every Tuesday evening from 8 - 8:30 PM EST. #2ndaryELA is a weekly chat for secondary English Language Arts teachers focused on a topic. Every Sunday, we post the topic and questions on our blogs to allow you to prepare for the upcoming Tuesday evening's chat. Thank you to everyone who joined us last night and we hope that you will join us again.

Looking for the recap? Click on the image below.

New in 2016 is our 2ndaryELA Facebook group, which we would love to have you join even if you aren't on Twitter. 2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. This group is an extension of our Twitter chat and a place for collaboration, questions, and encouragement. Feel free to post teaching ideas, success stories, resource links, photos, etc. that will enhance our instruction.

On Tuesday, November 15, our #2ndaryELA chat will be about online book clubs.

The Format:
8:00 Intros: What and where do you teach? Include a link to your blog if you have one. #2ndaryELA
8:05 Q1: Share books you’ve found that work well for discussion in Book Clubs. #2ndaryELA
8:10 Q2: What are the benefits of having students connect with readers outside of your classroom? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: How can Book Clubs help you encourage readers to diversify their reading diet? #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: Share mini-lessons you have used to teach students how to have online conversations. #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: Discuss how you balance every student’s reading diet between core texts, book clubs, and independent reading. #2ndaryELA

The Directions:
1. Log into Twitter on Tuesday from 8-8:30 PM EST.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #2ndaryELA in the search bar. Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. Introductions are for the first 5 minutes.
4. Starting at 8:05 (@literarymaven or @2peasandadog) will post questions every 5 minutes using the format Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. and the hashtag #2ndaryELA.
5. Respond to questions using the format A1, A2, A3, etc. with #2ndaryELA.
6. Follow any teachers responding and who are also using #2ndaryELA.
7. Like and respond to other teachers' tweets.

You can schedule your responses to the questions ahead of time using a scheduler like TweetDeck or HootSuite (but don't forget to use A1, A2, etc. and #2ndaryELA). Links are encouraged, so be sure to use a link shortener like tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly Just visit one of those links and paste your long link to shorten it for Twitter. Using images is also encouraged when relevant.

New to chats? Here are the rules:
1. Stay on topic & stay positive!
2. Please do not post or promote paid products unless specifically asked.
3. If you arrive late, try to look through other posts before beginning.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet.
5. Always use our hashtag #2ndaryELA, including in your replies to others.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to public. (Also keep in mind that Twitter is completely public – that means students, parents, and administrators can and will read what you tweet.)

Be sure to spread the word to any teacher friends who might be interested in joining us as well. We look forward to chatting with you Tuesday evening and in our 2ndaryELA Facebook group!

Get caught up on past chats here:

Using Social Media to Connect with Other Educators: Expanding Your Personal Learning Network

This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about using social media to connect with other educators. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed the different forms of social media they use to connect with other educators and the different purposes for each. Teachers also shared how they collaborate with other educators via social media and how they connect their classroom with others.

Read through the chat below for ways to expand your personal learning network using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Voxer. You'll get ideas about sharing student writing through blogs, sharing books through Global Read Aloud, and sharing discussions through student Twitter chats. You'll also find out who's looking for opportunities to connect their classroom with others.

Hope you'll join us next Tuesday November 15th at 8pm EST to talk about online book clubs. We'd also love for you to join our 2ndaryELA Facebook group (even if you aren't on Twitter). 2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. This group is an extension of our Twitter chat and a place for collaboration, questions, and encouragement. Feel free to post teaching ideas, success stories, resource links, photos, etc. that will enhance our instruction.

On My Bookshelf: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

The basic plot from Amazon: In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen ­year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heartwrenchingly beautiful, this will change the way you look at life, love, and family. Now a major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

Why I liked it: If I Stay is filled with a cast of wonderful characters. Mia, the main character is talented and humble, with an adorable younger brother Teddy and slightly eccentric, but humorous parents. She has a thoughtful boyfriend, Adam, and a supportive best friend, Kim. She's got kind grandparents and hip family friends. Her biggest problem her senior year of high school is that acceptance to Julliard as a cello player will put even greater distance between her and the growing success of Adam's band. 

When disaster strikes, a terrible car accident which leaves

Mia in critical condition and kills the rest of her immediate family, she must make a choice between living and dying. The novel flashes between past and present as she dwells on the defining moments of her life and the relationships with her loved ones, living and deceased. I won't tell you what her final decision is, but toward the end of the novel, I began to be annoyed by her indecision and the idea that the choice was entirely up to her (as opposed to medicine, God, or whatever it is that you believe in). However, I did like it enough to want to read the next book in the series, Where She Went.   

Classroom application: If I Stay is an appropriate addition to either a middle school or high school classroom library and will likely appeal to your female students most. Mia's debate over staying or leaving would spark interesting classroom discussion. You could ask students to compile their own list of defining moments in their young lives and which way they would be swayed.

The author also seamlessly weaves together the past and present, so the novel could be used a mentor text for examining the literary technique of flashback. 

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of If I Stay for yourself, you can find it on Amazon here.

Note: The Literary Maven is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Using Social Media to Connect With Other Educators

Brynn Allison, The Literary Maven & Kristy, 2 Peas and a Dog host #2ndaryELA on Twitter every Tuesday evening from 8 - 8:30 PM EST. #2ndaryELA is a weekly chat for secondary English Language Arts teachers focused on a topic. Every Sunday, we post the topic and questions on our blogs to allow you to prepare for the upcoming Tuesday evening's chat. Thank you to everyone who joined us last night and we hope that you will join us again.

Looking for the recap? Click on the image below.

New in 2016 is our 2ndaryELA Facebook group, which we would love to have you join even if you aren't on Twitter. 2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. This group is an extension of our Twitter chat and a place for collaboration, questions, and encouragement. Feel free to post teaching ideas, success stories, resource links, photos, etc. that will enhance our instruction.

On Tuesday, November 8, our #2ndaryELA chat will be about using social media to connect with other educators.

The Format:
8:00 Intros: What and where do you teach? Include a link to your blog if you have one. #2ndaryELA
8:05 Q1: What forms of social media do you use to connect with other educators? Do you have a “teacher” account or just a personal one? #2ndaryELA
8:10 Q2: Do different forms of social media serve different purposes for you? Explain. #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: Have you used social media to do any collaboration with other educators? Describe your experiences. #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: Have your used social media to connect your students with other classrooms? Describe your experiences. #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: Would you like to collaborate or connect classrooms? Share what you are looking for and you may find an interested chat participant. #2ndaryELA

The Directions:
1. Log into Twitter on Tuesday from 8-8:30 PM EST.
2. Search for tweets with the hashtag #2ndaryELA in the search bar. Make sure to click “All tweets.”
3. Introductions are for the first 5 minutes.
4. Starting at 8:05 (@literarymaven or @2peasandadog) will post questions every 5 minutes using the format Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. and the hashtag #2ndaryELA.
5. Respond to questions using the format A1, A2, A3, etc. with #2ndaryELA.
6. Follow any teachers responding and who are also using #2ndaryELA.
7. Like and respond to other teachers' tweets.

You can schedule your responses to the questions ahead of time using a scheduler like TweetDeck or HootSuite (but don't forget to use A1, A2, etc. and #2ndaryELA). Links are encouraged, so be sure to use a link shortener like tinyurl, bitly, goo.gl or ow.ly Just visit one of those links and paste your long link to shorten it for Twitter. Using images is also encouraged when relevant.

New to chats? Here are the rules:
1. Stay on topic & stay positive!
2. Please do not post or promote paid products unless specifically asked.
3. If you arrive late, try to look through other posts before beginning.
4. Feel free to just read, like, and/or retweet.
5. Always use our hashtag #2ndaryELA, including in your replies to others.
6. Make sure your twitter feed is set to public. (Also keep in mind that Twitter is completely public – that means students, parents, and administrators can and will read what you tweet.)

Be sure to spread the word to any teacher friends who might be interested in joining us as well. We look forward to chatting with you Tuesday evening and in our 2ndaryELA Facebook group!

Get caught up on past chats here:

Mind Mapping: A Visual Summarizing Strategy

Mind mapping is a visual representation of ideas, a combination of words and images, that can be used with fiction or nonfiction texts. This strategy particularly appeals to visual learners as well as to ESL or special education students whose vocabulary may be more limited or for whom writing is a struggle.

How to Mind Map

Step 1: Use a blank piece of paper with a landscape orientation.

Step 2: Start in the center with an image that represents your topic.

Step 3: Draw a branch stemming out from the center for each of the main ideas connected to the topic. On each branch, write a word or phrase that captures that main idea. If possible, create an image to accompany each main idea and place that image at the end of each main branch.

Step 4: From each main branch, create as many smaller branches as needed to represent the details connected to that main idea. Again if possible, create an image to accompany each detail and place that image at the end of each smaller branch. Repeat this step as needed.

Step 5: Add additional images and color to your mind map. This makes the mind map more appealing to the eye and easier to remember.

Using Mind Maps with Nonfiction and Fiction Texts

When working with a nonfiction text, a mind map could be used to summarize main ideas and supporting details. It could also be used to synthesize information from multiple texts. Asking students to create a mind map rather than fill in a graphic organizer forces students to pull out key ideas (and create visual representations to accompany them) rather than just copying details and whole sentences. They have to process the information and organize it in a meaningful way rather than just regurgitate it.

When working with a fiction text, a mind map could be used to focus on the setting, characters, or central conflict. Students could add details to this mind map as the story or novel progresses.

I first tried out this strategy after a short reading about teenagers involved in gangs, a nonfiction connection to my unit on Monster by Walter Dean Myers. While some of my students had experiences with mind mapping, many had not so we reviewed the directions on this site and Googled some additional examples.

Recently, my students examined a text set about school start time. After reading and annotating three articles on the topic, students created a mind map of the information. Students started with the topic at the center and then created branches for the main arguments surrounding the issue of school start time. Stemming off of those branches were the reasons and evidence to support the arguments.

If it is your students' first time using mind maps, remind them throughout the activity to only use key words and phrases and incorporate images as much as possible. This forces students who haven't read the text closely the first time to return to the text. 

Independent Reading in the Secondary ELA Classroom: Engaging Middle School & High School Students

This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about independent reading in the secondary ELA classroom. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed the types of independent reading that take place in their classrooms, how to hold students accountable, and how to motivate them. Teachers also shared favorite independent reading projects and other helpful ideas.

Read through the chat below for ways to structure independent reading in your classroom, even with 45 minute periods. You'll find out how other teachers use conferences, book talks, check-ins, letters, and Goodreads as methods of accountability and motivation. You'll also get ideas about independent reading assignments, such as literary theme parks, literary feasts, movie posters, and book trailers.

Hope you'll join us next Tuesday November 8th at 8pm EST to talk about using social media to connect with other educators. We'd also love for you to join our 2ndaryELA Facebook group (even if you aren't on Twitter). 2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. This group is an extension of our Twitter chat and a place for collaboration, questions, and encouragement. Feel free to post teaching ideas, success stories, resource links, photos, etc. that will enhance our instruction.