March 27, 2017

On My Bookshelf: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is a fast-paced novel written in verse. Josh, a 12-year old basketball player, must learn to balance school and basketball, as both family and friendships change. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.
The basic plot from Amazon: "With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I’m delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood from Kwame Alexander.

Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.

Why I liked it: The Crossover is a gem of a book for so many reasons. It's title and cover are an immediate draw to student athletes and sports lovers. Students will easily connect with the main character, Josh, a middle school basketball player struggling with a changing friendship with a friend that just also happens to be his twin brother.
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is a fast-paced novel written in verse. Josh, a 12-year old basketball player, must learn to balance school and basketball, as both family and friendships change. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.

I appreciated the cast of strong African American characters who would be appealing to students of all backgrounds. Too often novels featuring African Americans have stereotypical characters and are set in "the hood." Parent figures are frequently absent and sports are the only ticket out. In The Crossover, Josh's parents are both present and play an important role in his life. Education is valued over athleticism.

Classroom application: The novel is written in verse and the author plays with the layout of the text on the page, the format of the type, etc. For these reasons, the novel or excerpts of it could be added to a poetry unit and compared with poets like e. e. cummings.

A possible research topic connected with the book would be hereditary heart diseases. Josh's father suffers from hypertension. Josh and Jordan are twins and have an intuition about each others' feelings, so the commonalities that twins do share would be another possible topic.


If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Crossover 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.

March 26, 2017

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Struggling Readers & Writers

Join secondary English Language Arts teachers Tuesday evenings at 8 pm EST on Twitter. This week's chat will be about supporting struggling readers and writers.
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 week and we hope that you will join us again.




Looking for the recap? Click on the image below.


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 Tuesday, March 28, our #2ndaryELA chat will be about supporting struggling readers and writers.

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 strategies do you use to support struggling readers? #2ndaryELA
8:10 Q2: What strategies do you use to support struggling writers? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: What books you have found most engaging for struggling readers? #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: What writing lessons have you found most engaging for struggling writers? #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: Share any tips, ideas or resources you have for assisting struggling readers and writers. #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 tinyurlbitlygoo.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:

March 24, 2017

Avoiding Teacher Burnout: Tips for Sustaining Yourself Throughout the School Year

Do you have trouble leaving school work at school and spend too many of your nights and weekends planning and grading? This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about avoiding teacher burnout in the ELA classroom. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed how to ease the grading load and classroom activities to use when you need a break from the paper pile. Teachers also shared strategies to help manage stress. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about avoiding teacher burnout in the ELA classroom. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed how to ease the grading load and classroom activities to use when you need a break from the paper pile. Teachers also shared strategies to help manage stress.

Read through the chat below for ways to spend less time marking papers. You'll get ideas about hands-on activities, speaking and listening activities, reading activities, and technology activities that are fun for students and low or no prep for you. You'll also find advice on how to avoid new teacher burnout.

Hope you'll join us on Tuesday March 28th to discuss supporting struggling readers and writers in the ELA classroom. 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.

March 20, 2017

On My Bookshelf: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

In Monsters of Men, the final book in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness the conflict between the men of Prentisstown and The Answer persists, but now they have a common enemy, the Spackle, and possibly a common ally, the settlers. Todd and Violet rise to new levels of leadership and must make tough choices about who to trust. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.
The basic plot from Amazon: As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many. The consequences of each action, each word, are unspeakably vast: To follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of the one you love most, or thousands of strangers? To believe in redemption, or assume it is lost? Becoming adults amid the turmoil, Todd and Viola question all they have known, racing through horror and outrage toward a shocking finale.
In Monsters of Men, the final book in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness the conflict between the men of Prentisstown and The Answer persists, but now they have a common enemy, the Spackle, and possibly a common ally, the settlers. Todd and Violet rise to new levels of leadership and must make tough choices about who to trust. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.

Why I liked it: Monsters of Men is the third and final book in the Chaos Walking series. There was much less of a time gap between when I read this book and the second one than when I read the second and first one, so I didn't struggle as much getting back into the story. I would recommend reading all three books in the series in close succession so that you can remember all of the details and understand everything that is going on. These are definitely not stand alone books. I also had to carefully reread the ending of the book. As first I thought the final chapter was a related short story, rather than a part of the book.

This book picks up right where the second book left off. Prentisstown's army of men and the Answer's army of women now face an enemy other than each other: the Spackle, the indigenous race that they've oppressed. An added complication is that the settlers, for whom Violet and her now deceased parents were scouts, have arrived. The settlers have weapons that could halt the war, but don't want to begin their time on Earth that way.

The issue of who can be trusted still plagues Todd and Violet. The mayor, the leader of Prentisstown's army, is behaving unusually well and Mistress Coyle, leader of the Answer, seems more agreeable than normal, but in the end they each have their own agenda. A new development is that Todd and Violet finally acknowledge and act on their feelings for each other.

Classroom application: The series would new appropriate for middle school or high school students. This third installment in the series would connect well with nonfiction texts about the treatment of indigenous people worldwide.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Monsters of Men 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.

March 19, 2017

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Avoiding Teacher Burnout

Join secondary English Language Arts teachers Tuesday evenings at 8 pm EST on Twitter. This week's chat will be about avoiding teacher burnout.
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 week and we hope that you will join us again.




Looking for the recap? Click on the image below.


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 Tuesday, March 21, our #2ndaryELA chat will be about avoiding teacher burnout.

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: Grading ELA assignments can be time consuming and stressful. How do you ease your grading load? #2ndaryELA 
8:10 Q2: What lessons or activities do you do with students when you need a break from grading or to relieve stress? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: What other strategies do you use in school to help manage stress and avoid burning out? #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: What strategies do you use outside of school to help manage stress and avoid burning out? #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: What advice would you give to new teachers to help them avoid new teacher burnout? #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 tinyurlbitlygoo.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:

March 13, 2017

On My Bookshelf: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah follows the lives of two sisters in occupied France during WWII. Despite the struggles of everyday life, both women risk their lives to save others. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.
The basic plot from Amazon: In love we find out who we want to be.

In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah follows the lives of two sisters in occupied France during WWII. Despite the struggles of everyday life, both women risk their lives to save others. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.

Why I liked it: In The Nightingale most of the chapters alternate between two sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, whose experiences during the war are equally interesting. Interspersed with in the third person narratives are a few chapters written in first person. It is not clear which sister is speaking in those chapters until the very end of the novel.

I found myself sympathetic to both sisters, even when their struggle was against each other. Both sisters are complex characters and realistic; neither one is always good or always right.

Classroom application: The novel would be appropriate for upper high school. It includes violence and some sexual violence. The novel could be paired with a unit on WWII or the Holocaust in a history course, or used as an option for literature circles or book clubs focused on the Holocaust.

Both sisters take heroic action during the war, though in very different ways. Isabelle helps downed RAF airmen escape France while Vianne helps to hide Jewish children. Their father also takes part in the resistance by forging identity paperwork. Students could research the efforts of partisan groups during the war to fight against the Nazis and to rescue Jews.

The novel portrays the difficulties of everyday life in occupied territory as well as the experience of being held in a concentration camp as a political prisoner. Both of these aspects of the book could be supplemented with primary source documents. There are a few scenes where Isabelle is tortured for information similar to the main characters in Code Name Verity (also set during WWII) and The Orphan Master's Son (set in North Korea). Students could research the Geneva Convention and its rules about the treatment of political prisoners and also examine the US's use of torture to obtain information.

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

You can find all of my teaching resources for the Holocaust 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.

March 12, 2017

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Growth Mindset

Join secondary English Language Arts teachers Tuesday evenings at 8 pm EST on Twitter. This week's chat will be about implementing a growth mindset in the classroom.
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 week and we hope that you will join us again.




Looking for the recap? Click on the image below.


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 Tuesday, March 14, our #2ndaryELA chat will be about implementing a growth mindset in the classroom.

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 does “growth mindset” mean to you? What does it look like in your classroom? #2ndaryELA
8:10 Q2: How do you teach students to have a growth mindset in the classroom? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: What assignments do you use that encourage this mindset? #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: Does applying a growth mindset in your classroom change how you grade? Explain. #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: Share a resource for teaching growth mindset that you find invaluable (book, article, blog post, type of technology, etc.). #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 tinyurlbitlygoo.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:

March 10, 2017

Cultivate A Culturally Relevant Classroom: Recognize & Make Connections With Students' Diverse Backgrounds

Recognizing differences may not always be a comfortable topic, but is necessary to make students with diverse backgrounds feel welcome and a part of your classroom. In this chat, middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed writing assignments that embrace students' backgrounds. Teachers also shared texts in which students can see themselves. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about cultivating a culturally relevant ELA classroom. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed writing assignments that embrace students' backgrounds. Teachers also shared texts in which students can see themselves.

Read through the chat below for reading recommendations for you and your students. You'll get ideas about the challenges in creating a culturally diverse classroom. You'll also find ways to allow students to creatively express their culture in the classroom.

Hope you'll join us on Tuesday March 14th to discuss developing a growth mindset in the ELA classroom. 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.

March 6, 2017

On My Bookshelf: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

In Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, summer in a small town in Alabama is anything but dull when Cullen's cousin overdoses, his brother disappears, the most beautiful girl in town becomes his girlfriend, and the town goes nuts over the alleged sighting of a rare bird. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.
The basic plot from Amazon: In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter’s senior year of high school, he is forced to examine everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears.

Meanwhile, the crisis of faith spawned by a young missionary’s disillusion in Africa prompts a frantic search for meaning that has far-reaching consequences. As distant as the two stories initially seem, they are woven together through masterful plotting and merge in a surprising and harrowing climax.

This extraordinary tale from a rare literary voice finds wonder in the ordinary and illuminates the hope of second chances.
In Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, summer in a small town in Alabama is anything but dull when Cullen's cousin overdoses, his brother disappears, the most beautiful girl in town becomes his girlfriend, and the town goes nuts over the alleged sighting of a rare bird. Read on for more of my review and ideas for classroom application.

Why I liked it: I picked up Where Things Come Back in my quest to read more young adult literature with male protagonists. In the main storyline, I loved the relationships between Cullen and his brother Gabriel, and between the two of them and Cullen's best friend Lucas. The author's description of the small town in Alabama brought it, and all of its quirks to life. Despite the tragic events: the death of Cullen's cousin, the disappearance of his younger brother, and his family's grief in response to the two events, there was also humor throughout the novel, particularly the town's obsession to the supposed sighting of a rare bird.

The second storyline, focused on a mission trip to Africa that doesn't meet expectations, was less engaging for me; it reminded me of The Book of Mormon, but much less funny. The two plot lines eventually intersect, but the events that followed were a little too much like an episode of Criminal Minds to be convincing.

Classroom application: I would add this one to a high school library. The cover of the book may not grab your male readers, so you may want to put this one out during a "blind dating" book event.

It might be interesting for students to do some research on the stages of grief and compare that to how Cullen's family members handle the tragedy in their lives.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Where Things Come Back 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.

March 5, 2017

#2ndaryELA Twitter Chat Topic: Culturally Relevant Classrooms

Join secondary English Language Arts teachers Tuesday evenings at 8 pm EST on Twitter. This week's chat will be about culturally relevant classrooms.
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 week and we hope that you will join us again.




Looking for the recap? Click on the image below.


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 Tuesday, March 7, our #2ndaryELA chat will be about culturally relevant classrooms.

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 does Culturally Relevant Pedagogy mean to you? #2ndaryELA
8:10 Q2: What are some culturally relevant writing assignments you've implemented in your classroom? #2ndaryELA
8:15 Q3: How has the idea of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy impacted the texts you teach or include in your classroom library? #2ndaryELA
8:20 Q4: How can ELA teachers create opportunities for students to express their different cultures creatively? #2ndaryELA
8:25 Q5: What are some challenges you face implementing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in your school community? #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 tinyurlbitlygoo.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:

March 3, 2017

How to Teach Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Making Real World Connections

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out how I make real world connections using nonfiction articles after students have finished reading the play.

After students finish reading Act V of Romeo and Juliet, I don't want them to write off the play as just a far fetched love story from the past.

I use three nonfiction articles to show students that love, and the hate that can tear that love apart, are very much still a part of today's world.

Romeo and Juliet in Bosnia
Our first read is an opinion piece from the New York Times titled "In America; Romeo And Juliet In Bosnia." The piece was written in response to a PBS documentary focused on Bosko Brkic, an Eastern Orthodox Serb, and Admira Ismic, a Muslim, who met and fell in love, but died together trying to escape Sarajevo and the Bosnia-Serbian conflict taking place there.

In our discussion following the reading, we compare and contrast Bosko and Admira's conflict with the one Romeo and Juliet faced. We also compare and contrast the feelings of Bosko and Admira's family members to feelings of the Montagues and the Capulets. Finally, we compare and contrast the death of Admira and Bosko with the death of Romeo and Juliet.

Besides comparing and contrasting the characters of Shakespeare's tragedy and this real life couple, we also focus on the hate that complicated Bosko and Admira's relationship, and whether that kind of hate still exists. The Bosnia-Serbian conflict lasted from 1992-1995, and while that was only twenty some years ago, it can feel very far away for students. Showing the documentary or clips from it, can make the events seem even even further in the past for students because the quality of the video is so different from what they see today.

After students finish reading Romeo and Juliet, I use nonfiction texts to show students that love and hate are part of today's world too.

Romeo and Juliet in Afghanistan
Our second read is a series of articles from the New York Times focused on two young Afghans in love. "2 Star-Crossed Afghans Cling to Love, Even at Risk of Death" is followed by other articles and several video interviews. Zakia is 18 and Mohammad Ali is 21, both the children of farmers in this remote mountain province. Mohammad Ali is a Hazara, who are mostly Shia Muslims. Zakia is a Tajik, a Sunni ethnic group. Despite threats of death from her family, the young lovers elope and become fugitives. The articles, the first of which was published in the spring of 2014, follow their attempts to flee the country until they are able to seek asylum in the United States in the spring of 2016.

In our discussion following the reading, we compare and contrast Mohammad Ali and Zakia's conflict with the one Romeo and Juliet faced. We also compare and contrast the feelings of Mohammad Ali and Zakia's family members to feelings of the Montagues and the Capulets. While their love story does not end in death, we discuss the challenges that still remain for the couple.

After students finish reading Romeo and Juliet, I use nonfiction texts to show students that love and hate are part of today's world too.


Dear Juliet
Our final reading is more about love than hate. "Dear Juliet: Let Me Tell You About My Problem" explains the letter writing phenomenon more recently featured in the film Letters to JulietThe Club of Juliet is a private organization that receives, translates and answers Juliet's mail; she now receives 50,000 letters a year.

In our discussion following the reading, we examine the reasons why people write to Juliet. Some of the letters described in the article mirror the plights of Bosko and Admira and Mohammad Ali and Zakia. I also have students write their own letters to Juliet. The letters can be a response to the play, filled with unanswered questions, or of a more personal nature. The last time I mailed them off, it did take a year, but my students did get a response from Juliet!

Assessment
After reading all about all three topics as a class, students have a choice of which one to follow up on with further reading, research, and completion of a project. For Romeo and Juliet in Bosnia, students compose an interview script with a member of Bosko or Admira’s family 20 years after their deaths. For Romeo and Juliet in Afghanistan, students create an informational pamphlet about seeking asylum in the United States. And for Dear Juliet, students write a movie review of Letters to Juliet, including analysis of the accuracy of the representation of Juliet’s Club.

After students finish reading Romeo and Juliet, I use nonfiction texts to show students that love and hate are part of today's world too.

You can find all of my resources for teaching Romeo and Juliet, including the materials described above that I use to make connections with the play, here.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out how I make real world connections using nonfiction articles after students have finished reading the play.


How to Teach Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Act V

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out what scenes I focus on in Act V and why, how my students read and act out those scenes, and what activities I use to extend learning and make connections.

After reading Act IV of Romeo and Juliet, students are well aware of all the things that could possibly go wrong and they can't wait to see how it all ends. Here's my approach to teaching the final part of the play.

Planning Out The Reading
I don't want to kill the play, so in each act, I generally choose to read the scene with the events most important to developing the plot. In Act V, that is the final scene. While I usually choose one other scene per act to read, Act V is short so we just read one.

I provide short summaries for any scenes we skip to fill students in on the less important events. I like to spend about a week on each act of the play, so the days we don't spend reading are spent on after reading activities, writing, and a short assessment.

Before jumping into this week's reading, we'll spend a few minutes reviewing the scenes from last week. I'll also review dramatic irony (introduced in Act IV) using examples from previous scenes and couplets, which I cover in a poetry unit earlier in the year.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out what scenes I focus on in Act V and why, how my students read and act out those scenes, and what activities I use to extend learning and make connections.

Act V, Scene III
This scene is meant to be read independently because of the number of monologues. It includes summaries of Act V, Scene I; Act V, Scene II; and parts of Act V, Scene III. Then I provide the text of Act V, Scene II with the original text and the modern translations side by side. I edit the scene by cutting lines out. After reading, students translate words from the original to modern text, and vice versa. Then students answer short written response questions to demonstrate comprehension. We review this together at the end of class.

After Reading Activities
By the time the play ends, students have been on as much of an emotional roller coaster as the characters. They are often unsatisfied with the lack of specificity of the Prince's statement about pardons and punishments at the end of Act V, Scene III. I give students a chance to journal about who is to blame for the death of the two young lovers and what the punishment should be for those responsible. We also return to the idea of "what ifs" from Act IV. Students reflect on how both Romeo and Juliet and the adults in their lives could have acted differently to prevent such a tragic ending.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out what scenes I focus on in Act V and why, how my students read and act out those scenes, and what activities I use to extend learning and make connections.

If I haven't already taught Shakespearean sonnets as a part of my poetry unit earlier in the year, I'll introduce them to the poetic form now. After reading one of Shakespeare's sonnets, I show my students the clip from 10 Things I Hate About You where Kat reads her “sonnet” to the class. I have my class decide if she is following the format of a Shakespearean sonnet (hint: she doesn't). You may have to play it several times for the students to make a decision.

Then we write some silly sonnets of our own. I start with a fill-in-the-blank template to help them get started with lines like "I love you like a kid loves birthday cake" and "I even love your stinky feet." We do some whole class brainstorming of words that rhyme with the provided lines and when finished, I let students share their favorite lines. Finally, I set students off to write a sonnet on their own. This one can be silly or serious. As students work on their own poems, I remind them of the rhyme scheme and if they are comfortable with that, I challenge them to also use iambic pentameter.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out what scenes I focus on in Act V and why, how my students read and act out those scenes, and what activities I use to extend learning and make connections.

Writing & Assessment
At the end of the week, I will give students a choice of two constructed response prompts, one connected to each of the scenes on which we focused. This is a chance for them to independently express their understanding of what we read, practice citing text evidence, and continue to build on their writing skills in general. 

I also assign a text based assessment, which covers Act V. The assessment includes a section of Act V, ten multiple-choice questions, and two choices for a written response. Questions ask students to to analyze characters words and actions, to paraphrase important lines, and to define and give examples of dramatic irony and couplets.

You can find all of my resources for teaching Romeo and Juliet, including the materials described above that I use to teach Act V, here.

Read on for my approach to making real world connections to Romeo and Juliet.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out what scenes I focus on in Act V and why, how my students read and act out those scenes, and what activities I use to extend learning and make connections.

How to Teach Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Act IV

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out what scenes I focus on in Act IV and why, how my students read and act out those scenes, and what activities I use to extend learning and make connections.


After reading Act III, students can't wait to see what will happen to Romeo and Juliet. Will their love prevail or will their relationship end as quickly as it began? In Act IV, Scenes I and III, it is clear that desperate times call for desperate measures. Here's my approach to teaching those scenes.

Planning Out The Reading
I don't want to kill the play, so in each act, I generally choose to read the scene with the events most important to developing the plot. In Act IV, that is the first scene.

I usually choose one other scene per act to read that highlights another important aspect of the play. Act IV, Scene III is full of amazing imagery and is further evidence of Juliet's commitment to her new husband Romeo.

I provide short summaries for any scenes we skip to fill students in on the less important events. I like to spend about a week on each act of the play, so the days we don't spend reading are spent on after reading activities, writing, and a short assessment.

Before jumping into this week's reading, we'll spend a few minutes reviewing the scenes from last week. I'll also introduce or review important terms. I'll introduce dramatic irony and use examples from previous scenes. I'll review cause and effect, which students can get mixed up even at the high school level. I'll also review aside and soliloquy, both introduced with Act II.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's

Act IV, Scene I
I present this scene to students entirely in Shakespeare’s language, but an edited down version. The scene ends up about one page front and back, creating a script that can easily be acted out by students.

Before assigning parts and having my students act, as a class we do one or two read throughs. In the first read through, we number the lines of the scene up to the number of students in the class and then repeat until each line of the scene is numbered. Then students count off and read “their” lines regardless of the character speaking. If I feel like a second read through is necessary, we number the parts rather than individual lines. Each time a different character speaks, so does a new student.

Once students are comfortable with the language, I ask them to play the part of the director and insert stage directions. Where do characters enter and exit? When does Juliet reveal her knife? When does the Friar reveal the potion?

Finally, I have students get up and act out the scene. I usually let students choose their parts, but if necessary I will assign them. Some students don't mind reading, but don't want to get up out of their seats, so I will sometimes have someone assigned as the reader for a part and someone else as the silent actor or actress for the part. I can get twice the number of students involved that way and draw on students’ strengths. Students who are uncomfortable getting up in front of the class can still participate and students who enjoy acting won't be hindered by having to hold a script.

Act IV, Scene III
This scene is a monologue, so students read it independently. I include summaries of Act 4, Scene 2; Act 4, Scene 4; and Act 4, Scene 5. Then I provide the text of Act 4, Scene 3 with the original text and modern translations side by side. I edit the scene by cutting lines out. After reading, students translate words from the original to modern text, and vice versa. Then students answer short written response questions to demonstrate comprehension and identify the possible series of cause and effect of Juliet’s actions. We review this together at the end of class.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's

After Reading Activities
While students know how the play will end, it is fun to think about the "what ifs." We use Juliet's monologue from Act IV, Scene III to begin listing all of the possible directions the storyline could go and the events to which those directions would lead. Students choose one possibility about which to write a creative end to the play. Students then share their writing with each other in a collaborative Jamboard. I love seeing how they incorporate unexpected characters and create twists in the plot.

Writing & Assessment
At the end of the week, I will give students a text dependent analysis prompts connected to one of the scenes on which we focused. This is a chance for them to independently express their understanding of what we read, practice citing text evidence, and continue to build on their writing skills in general. 

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's

I also assign a text based assessment, which covers Act IV. The assessment includes a section of Act IV, ten multiple-choice questions, and two choices for a written response. Questions ask students to analyze characters words and actions and paraphrase important lines.

You can find all of my resources for teaching Romeo and Juliet, including the materials described above that I use to teach Act IV, here.

Read on for my approach to teaching Act V of Romeo and Juliet.

Whether you are a teacher tackling William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet for the first time or you are a veteran looking to change how you’ve taught it in the past, it is always helpful to find out how another teacher plans it all out. Read on to find out what scenes I focus on in Act IV and why, how my students read and act out those scenes, and what activities I use to extend learning and make connections.