A Jam-Packed Early April Update
Student Reading Reflections, Book Recs, Author Interviews & Events, Leaning into March Madness, and much more
Happy April everyone,
Apologies for the lack of a newsletter last week (both my son and I were sick for much of the weekend). The good news is that we’re there’s lots to share here, so let’s get right to it.
1. April Reading Reflection: As we start a new month and head into the home stretch of the school year, I had students take a moment earlier this week to reflect on their 2024 reading performance and offer insight into their “reading life.” What a joy it has been to read through their responses and engage in conversations during our WRAP time. Here’s the full WRAP prompt (along with some examples from our classroom).
2. What I’ve Read in 2024: In helping my students be more intentional with their reading, I too have found myself getting back into a wonderful rhythm in 2024. Over the first three months, I too have read widely and read often. I too have done a better job of abandoning books I’m not feeling (for whatever reasons) and finding the right ones. On the adult side, I’ve enjoyed Hello Beautiful, Tomorrow X3, Tom Lake, and The Deal of a Lifetime (a slightly underwhelming novella from one of my favorite authors – the Beartown Trilogy remains an all-time favorite). I’ve read two inspiring MG graphic novels: Play Like a Girl and Swim Team. I’ve also read A Rover’s Story (which was a delight) and The Probability of Everything, our current book club pick. In the YA space, I read Rez Ball (an absolute slam dunk) and Divine Rivals (which was recommended by a student).
Finally, I’ve learned so much from three nonfiction texts, in my own personal “book study” of sorts: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Filterworld, and Stolen Focus. I plan to share some of my findings in future updates. In the meantime, here is one: the three texts reinforce the importance, and I would argue the necessity, of daily independent reading in our middle and high school classrooms. We have an obligation to help students regain their focus, to help them “slow down in a world that is speeding up” (Hari 37). We have an obligation to help students find flow while tech companies continue to promote fragmentation.
3. What I’m Currently Reading: This book needs its own item. I’m halfway through There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib, and my goodness, I can already proclaim that this is one of the most beautiful and brilliant and breathtaking books I’ve ever read.
4. Two more titles that I’ve read (or re-read) recently: Long Way Down and Romeo and Juliet. I’ve written a bunch about our experience with both texts in previous newsletters, but please reach out if you have any specific questions. Happy to answer them in future updates. One of my classes will be writing narrative continuations (wish y’all could have heard our conversation about Long Way Down’s unforgettable ending) next week after completing their outline/brainstorm today.
5. Speaking of Jason Reynolds, here’s another interview that I stumbled upon recently. There are so many takeaways for us to discuss in department meetings and lunchtime conversations with colleagues. Four quotes that resonated with me:
“[My novel in verse] Long Way Down is storytelling, it's straight-ahead language. It's using metaphor, repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia—all the things that are poetic devices—but it's telling a story and it's breaking it into 10 or 20 words on a page. I think every person on Earth who reads wants to feel like they're turning those pages rapidly. If you can turn the pages, you keep going. Everybody likes turning pages. That's one of the psychological parts about reading—it's the feel of turning the pages, and watching the book become thinner and thinner in terms of what you have left to read. It's a physical manifestation of a progress clock. Who doesn't like to see their progress? But that progress needs to be catalyzed, and poetry is a way to catalyze progress, because it's only 20, 30 words per page.”
I loved reading about Jason’s writing process, and I think this is super helpful advice for young readers who are writing stories of their own: “It's for the most part early in the morning, 6 o'clock in the morning, sitting at my desk. I've got my notebooks, I've got my computer, I've got my coffee. Typically for me, it's all about who I want to write about. Who is the person? I [start with] people. Not a product, not a plotline. It's people. So the first thing I do is invent a person. Who's telling the story? And then what complicates that person's life? Then I think about what's the environment and what's the relationship between the environment, this person, and the conflict. From there, I start to build the story.”
On the importance of representation in literature: “Ultimately, because if we don't see ourselves in books, it's like someone saying you don't exist, period. Your life doesn't matter; your story doesn't matter. It's the same thing if we don't see ourselves in movies or we don't see ourselves in music. Erasure is dismissal. How am I ever supposed to believe that I can make a thing happen when I don't ever get examples of seeing myself make things happen? Even in fiction, let alone in the real world. Everyone's story and identity and culture deserves to be seen and celebrated and valued and praised, especially as young people. They definitely need to see it.”
Finally, Jason’s distinction between literacy and literature is something that I discuss in Just Read It: “So this idea that you have to get them to read Hemingway I think is misplaced and a little naive. I haven't read some of those books, and I'm not made a worse person for it. But having a relationship with literature has made me a much better person. So let's focus on the important thing, which is literacy.”
6. Here’s another article I enjoyed recently: “A Bronx Teacher Answered. Tommy Orange answered.” I have a feeling you’ll enjoy it, too.
7. In more author news, I’m thrilled to share a special offer & invitation for our Project LIT family: Save $50 off registration for Kwame Alexander's April 30th Author Study event -- a celebration of National Poetry Month and the 10-year anniversary of The Crossover (which was also the first ever Project LIT selection)! Kwame will be joined by two special guests: hip hop educator and poet Toni Blackman and award-winning picture book author Sue Fliess. This is a 45-minute online event where students can learn from Kwame and his guests about the magic of poetry as a writing spark, with opportunity for students to ask questions and interact with the authors. You can reserve your class's spot now at AuthorStudy.com using the code PROJECTLIT50 for $50 off the price of one registration. Registered attendees can pay online by credit card, debit, Paypal or Google Pay through the Eventbrite system. Pay by check and ACH options are also available - please first complete this form and the event organizers will be in touch regarding next steps.
8. And if you’re in the NY/NJ area, a far less prolific author would love for you to attend book launch and PD event at the Curious Reader in Glen Rock on Sunday, April 14 from 12-1. In all seriousness, I would love to connect with those of you who are nearby; please let me know if you’re planning to attend. (Also, I miss my friends and former students in Nashville dearly, and I would’ve loved to celebrate with y’all at Parnassus.)
9. One quick story from my after-school library visit earlier this week: I pick up my son from daycare every afternoon around 3:30. The first thing we do when we get in the car is have a snack. It’s almost always a pouch (Lucca will only have the “green ones”) and some Pirate’s Booty. Then, we put on some music (he’s loving “Hit the Road, Jack” and “Happy” lately) and head to a playground (if the weather cooperates), or walk through the nearby Petco, or walk through our town and watch the trains go by, or stop at the local library…which brings me to the point of this story. Judging from this photo, I bet you can tell what Lucca is fascinated with lately…Do I judge or shame him for his bug obsession? Of course not. Do I force him to read something I deem more appropriate? Not a chance. Instead, I laugh alongside Lucca as he squeals at the sight of every spider on the page.
10. How are we already at item #10?! There’s still much to share:
Check out the winners of the NYT How To Contest. I’m bookmarking these for later…And here’s the NYT Open Letter Contest along with 300+ prompts for argumentative writing.
Next week, we’re jumping back into our study of Greek & Latin roots. Here are the 84 we’ve focused on this year.
To celebrate March Madness (how awesome has the women’s tournament been?!), students enjoyed putting two of their favorite reads head-to-head in our “book madness” activity. Here’s a graphic organizer that I put together to help students dig into the task — will share more next week…
We also participated in some “poetry madness” with two head-to-head matchups. Here’s the graphic organizer we used. The poems? “Introduction to Poetry” vs. “How to Eat a Poem” and “We Real Cool” vs. “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”
ICYMI: a new Jason Reynolds video, “The Power of Narrative.” You can check out the full transcript and unit plan here.
Check out the previous update for our full rundown of AoWs…
Project LIT Book Club: As a reminder, you can check out all of our 23-24 Project LIT selections (along with all of our previous picks) in one place. You can check out many of our images and links here. Thanks again to Rebecca A. for creating this fantastic slideshow, featuring all of the YA titles sorted by genre, to help students find their next read. And are the most recent MG titles in one place (thank you, Stephanie!). If anyone decides to create additional Project LIT resources — please pass them along so that I can share with our community!
JUST READ IT is officially out in the world and an Amazon Top New Release! You can order on Amazon or here (use the code RAVEN25 for 25% + free shipping.) Corwin has also shared an excerpt from the book; check out Chapter 1 here. Thanks again to everyone who continues to support the book and spread the word. So grateful for every Instagram post, every comment, every email. If your school, district, or organization is planning a JUST READ IT book study, please reach out! Would love to be involved in any way that I can. And if you have a minute, a positive review on Goodreads or Amazon would be greatly appreciated.
Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend, and as always, happy reading,
Jarred
Hi, Meghan -- woohoo! I'm going to check with the Corwin team on that and let you know. In the meantime, let me know if there are any specific resources you'd like, and I can try my best to share them with y'all!
Love the YA list. I just finished Promise Boys and I am onto As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow.