Fall Poetry, In-Class Debate, One-Pagers, Book Club, and More

Good morning everyone,

As always, there’s never enough time to read or teach or “cover” it all – and while it can be easy to feel like we’re not doing enough, we most certainly are. In this week’s update, I wanted to share what our students have been up to lately. Let’s get to it: 

1. Fall Poetry: On Friday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went outside to analyze poems from this fall collection. Students worked in groups to analyze one of four fall poems (I printed four of eight so they could fit front/back on one sheet) and completed this graphic organizer (minus the paragraph). Over the next couple of weeks, students will also have an opportunity to write an original poem; possible topics/themes include fall vibes, nature/observational, change in seasons, scary/spooky, fall memory/narrative, ode to fall, write about a photograph, fall sports, missing/saying goodbye to summer, “fall is…”, etc. Here are a couple of unfinished fall poems I wrote last year (inspired by Maggie Smith’s “First Fall”) along with several outstanding student examples. Let me know if you have any questions – would love to see what y’all come up with! 

2. In-Class Debate: Our school subscribes to The New York Times Upfront Magazine – an outstanding resource. This week, we’re discussing and debating this question: should the government restrict teens’ use of social media? Here’s the graphic organizer we’re using, as well. (Note: The article, which includes argumentative essays from both perspectives, is from the August 28, 2023, edition. This will also serve as this week’s AoW.) 

3. Coming of Age in an Algorithmic Age: For those who have been reading all school year, you know that our “themed” Article of the Week has been a massive hit as we continue to examine what it means to read and write (and for our teenagers, come of age) in this algorithmic age. Thus far, we’ve read several texts, including “Gen Z Has Regrets”, “If You Know What ‘Brainrot’ Means, You Might Already Have It” and “Let Kids Get Bored. It’s Good For Them.” We’ve analyzed several charts and graphs (shout out to Turner’s Graph of the Week for the inspiration) and written a multi-paragraph analysis/synthesis that makes connections between several of the graphs/charts, articles, and our whole-class text (Fahrenheit 451). The “big” essay will come later this month. As always, reach out if you have any questions! (Note: Here’s another article I’m hoping to read and discuss with students: “TikTok executives know about app’s effect on teens, lawsuit documents allege.”)

4. Speaking of Fahrenheit, we’re working on beautiful one-pagers this week (which work well with any book – whole-class or independent reading). Here are my directions: four inside boxes (analyzing character, conflict, setting, and craft); inside border (key themes and/or symbols); outside border (key quotations). Here’s one student example (and a reminder that not all look like this one – and that’s okay!). And here’s our first 451 reading check-in.

   

5. Grammar: Our current focus is all things punctuation (again, with the primary goal of helping students elevate their own writing): apostrophes, colons, semicolons, parentheses, hyphens, dashes, and ellipsis. Here’s a simple graphic organizer along with some practice problems.

6. Vocabulary: Excited to jump into our first batch of Greek/Latin roots later this month (you can see the entire list here) but definitely not this week :) 

7. The Wild Robot: Our middle school book club had a wonderful discussion of The Wild Robot (an OG Project LIT pick) last Friday. (The formula remains simple – snacks, discussion, trivia. Anything else is a bonus.) Then, a few of us “met up” at the local movie theater after school to watch the movie. I even brought my three-year-old, who enjoyed his “field trip” with the big kids. 10/10 experience – highly recommend! 

8. Project LIT Book Club Nomination Process: You can check out our complete list of titles here. Now, we need your help! What middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA) books should we add to our collection?! What books are super popular with your middle and high school students? What books would y’all like to read, discuss, and celebrate together as a local chapter and/or national community? NOMINATE TITLES here! (More info to come soon!)

9. UPDATES & REMINDERS: 

• I recently recorded a webinar that outlines my Read & WRAP framework and general approach to the ELA block. You can check it on Corwin’s YouTube channel here.

• I was honored to join Natalie Daily, Stephanie Wilson, and Amy Hermon, the incredible host of the School Librarians United podcast. You can listen to our conversation here.

• Project LIT Community: 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 graphics 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 here 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!

• Spooky Season: Shout out to Common Lit for putting together this fantastic text set. Oh, if you’re looking for a short text to read aloud (or listen to) this month, I highly recommend Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (congrats, Jason!).

• Two More AoWs To Consider: I’ve used these in the past, and while I may not have time for them this year, they make work for you.

  • “Autumn Splendor: Why Do Leaves Change Color in the Fall?”

  • “Why is it fun to be frightened?”

• Kwame Alexander Author Study: Be sure to book your spot for October 29, when Kwame will be joined by the one and only Jason Reynolds. (Bonus: Use the code PROJECTLIT50 for a $50 discount!)

• JUST READ IT has been out in the world for eight months, and it is officially (or perhaps unofficially?) an Amazon Top New Release and Corwin bestseller. Thanks again to everyone who continues to support the book and spread the word. I am appreciative of every Instagram post, every comment, every email, and every book review. This book continues to find readers because of y’all. 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.

• If your school, district, or organization is planning a JUST READ IT book study or would like for me to deliver a keynote address and/or lead a workshop/PD session in 2024 or 2025, please reach out! (Look forward to seeing many of y’all in Boston for NCTE’s annual conference next month!)

As always, thanks for all you do, and happy reading,

Jarred