Inside our ELA Classroom: "Brainrot," Books, and Much More

Happy Saturday everyone,

I wanted to start with some exciting news. You can now check out a free hour-long webinar (look for “Just Read It Webinar” in the “Related Resources” section — it’s at the bottom of the webpage on a mobile device and on the right-hand side on a computer) that provides an in-depth look at our independent reading routine, specifically our Read and WRAP framework, and outlines my literacy game plan for the 24-25 school year. All you will need to do is fill out the form to view the webinar, which I recorded last month. Please reach out with any questions, and thanks in advance for sharing with fellow educators in your network!

And, ICYMI, the National Book Foundation announced the Longlist for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature (YPL) earlier this week. Shout out to Olivia Cole, Violet Duncan, Margarita Engle, Josh Galarza, Erin Entrada Kelly, Randy Ribay, Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Angela Shanté, Ali Terese, and Alicia D. Williams!

The focus of this week’s update is to share five things that are going well in our 8th grade ELA classroom as we wrap up week #2 and look ahead to week #3, so let’s get right to it:

1. Our first “Article of the Week” was a massive success. I wish you could have heard the conversations we had after reading and annotating “If You Know What ‘Brainrot’ Means, You Might Already Have It.”

Here was the sequence: 

Day 1: Read, annotate, and brief discussion (the “Immediate Reaction”)

Day 2: Extended discussion/seminar. A few of the student-generated questions included: 

• How “cooked” is your brain? 10%, 1000%, or somewhere in between? 

• Do you have a healthy or unhealthy relationship with technology and social media? 

• Is “brainrot” a “badge of honor” for you? Why, or why not?

• How concerned should we be with “brainrot”? Are adults overreacting, or are their concerns valid? 

• What does the author get wrong about “brainrot”? How does it differ from Problematic Interactive Media Use?

• Do you believe “brainrot” is as bad as drug or alcohol abuse? 

• Are you happy to be growing up in this time period, or do you wish you grew up in a different generation?

Day 3: Mini-lesson helping students write an objective summary (a difficult but important skill that they will get a ton of practice with over the course of the year)

Day 4: Personal response/critical analysis (1-2 strong paragraphs)

Day 5: Revise, share, and submit 

Overall, I couldn’t be happier with our first AoW selection — for a whole bunch of reasons. The rich conversations. The critical thinking. The writing (practice with both an objective summary and analysis.) The connection to our independent reading — I think we all agreed that it’s important to put down our phones/screens and get back into a reading routine. And to that point, students completed the entire AoW by hand. I’m trying hard to limit our Chromebook use this year, and the early results are extremely encouraging. 

On Monday, we’ll jump into AoW #2: “Let Kids Get Bored. It’s Good For Them” with “Stop Multitasking. No, Really — Just Stop It” on deck for the following week. (Here’s an AoW refresher from last fall, but feel free to reach out with any questions you may have about how I approach the AoW. And thanks to one of our readers for suggesting that I put all past & current AoWs in one folder – stay tuned!) 

2. Students loved reading aloud their persuasive paragraphs, inspired by our week 1 “This or That?” activity. After students submitted their first draft, we took 10-15 minutes the next day to introduce/review the three rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) and give them an opportunity to make revisions. Then, students had an opportunity to come to the podium and read their outstanding paragraphs aloud. Highly recommend. 

3. Students are pouring their hearts out in their “10 Things…” letter/personal essay. As I told my students all week, the goal is twofold: 1. To show who you are as a person, and 2. To shine as a writer. (Overheard in our classroom: “Thanks for giving us a chance to write about ourselves in such a creative way.”) The final draft is due Friday (9/20) but the early results are promising. Here’s a brainstorming example that I shared with students to help them get started (along with a list of questions). We also reviewed exemplars from last year’s group and we will review figurative language during the revision process later next week. 

As a reminder: The assignment is inspired by this letter from Jason Reynolds. Students will write their own version, which can be framed as a letter to me, their classmates, their younger/future self, and/or a specific person in their life. A slight tweak this year is that I’m going to set guidelines for two of the 10 items.

• In one of their 10 items, I want students to examine their relationship with technology and social media. Healthy or unhealthy? Has brain rot set in? How many hours per day? How do they feel about their tech/social media use? What joy does it bring? What benefits does it provide? Any drawbacks? (You will notice the connection to our first AoW.)

• I also want students to reflect on their reading identity. Possible questions (from JUST READ IT) include (*these questions also work really well as WRAP prompts):

  • Who am I as a reader? What and why do I read? How would I
    characterize my reading identity?

  • Who am I as a writer? What and why do I write? How would I
    characterize my writing identity?

  • When and where do I prefer reading? What is my ideal reading
    environment? When and where am I most relaxed and comfortable?
    Are there are any specific places that come to mind?

  • When and where do I prefer writing? What is my ideal writing
    environment? When and where am I most relaxed and comfortable?
    Are there are any specific places that come to mind?

  • What individuals shaped the reader, writer, and person I am today?

  • What literacy experiences/memories (positive or negative) stand out
    in my life?

  • How have I changed (perhaps evolved or regressed) as a reader and
    writer? Why?

  • How would I describe my relationship with reading and writing?
    What role do they play in my life?

  • Why are reading and writing important to me?

• The other 8 items in the essay/letter are entirely student driven!

4. We’re reading! Our school library is currently off limits (the renovations are taking longer than expected), making our work a little more challenging – but not impossible. I’ll have more thoughts on this later, but here are the temporary solutions:

• I am fortunate that I have enough high-quality titles in my classroom library for all 70 students to start the year with a book they’re excited to read. After administering the fall reading survey (excited to share more thoughts on this survey and the importance of a “literacy dashboard” in a future update), I spent the week putting together stacks of some of the “greatest hits” and book-talking them all like crazy. Then, during our independent work time (as students were finishing their AoW or starting their “10 Things” letter), I bounced around the room, engaging in one-on-one “reading conferences” and helping students select their first read (and add others to their TBR lists.) 

• I also encouraged students to bring in books from home and to take advantage of their incredible town and county libraries. (I’m even offering “extra credit” for any student who shows me their library card by Sept. 30.) 

5. Here’s what we have planned for the week ahead: lots of Read and WRAP (write, reflect, analyze, participate) time now that students have their books; finalizing our “10 Things…” essay (including time for revision and celebration); AoW #2; our Luca scene analysis (which I wrote about last week); and possibly some super simple grammar stuff. Shout out to Melissa Leisner for the inspiration!

6. UPDATES & REMINDERS: 

• 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 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!)

• 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!

• FREE LITERARY PEP RALLY WITH KWAME ALEXANDER: Join Kwame for a FREE Literary Pep Rally on September 17 at 1pm EST/ 10am PST. This 25-minute special event will celebrate the launch of Kwame's new book, Black Star, with a read aloud, special guest appearances, exciting announcements, and Q&A time. The Literary Pep Rally is free, but registration is required - grab a spot for your classroom today! And then 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 seven 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! Shout out to the PGCPS and LCPS educators I had the honor of meeting back in August. (Look forward to seeing many of y’all in Boston for NCTE’s annual conference in November!)

Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend, and as always, happy reading,

Jarred