Hi everyone,
Hope all of you are doing well. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to reset and recharge a bit today. I spent the morning entering grades and prepping things for the next two weeks, and then this afternoon, I put together a quick video for y’all. Here are some of the topics I discussed:
Our students 5-Minute PIES projects and presentations.
Our continued study of Greek and Latin morphemes (advice: don’t try to do mental math while on camera).
Our upcoming March Madness unit.
Our recent book club selections here at my NJ middle school.
Our WRAP prompts/cards.
For more details, I’m re-sharing some of the updates and reminders from the previous updates.
I’m excited to share more WRAP prompts/cards with y’all! Here are 48 WRAP cards that encourage students to reflect on their reading identity. Feel free to download, print, and laminate before sharing with all of the book people in your life. And here’s the first set of 48 WRAP prompts/cards that address dozens of lit standards and concepts. The cards work in a whole bunch of ways, whether it’s in response to a self-selected text (following our independent reading time), whole-class read (such as The Outsiders), or a book-club pick. Be sure to tag me on Instagram if you end up using them! And, as always, let me know if you have any questions.
As a reminder, here’s a potential Article of Week “sequence” for the 25-26 school year, which includes thematic text sets/mini-units (pages 1-2) along with standalone articles and debate topics (page 3). I’m excited to get into our “March Madness” mini-unit later in the month (the week of 3/16), which leads to the next item . . .
For those looking for “March Madness” ideas and inspiration, check out last year’s update.
ONE MORE BIG ASK that I wanted to repeat here: I’m THRILLED to announce that Project LIT Community will be returning in a big way for the 2026-27 school year. So much has changed since my Maplewood HS students and I launched Project LIT in the fall of 2016. But in many ways the work remains the same: to promote a love of reading, a love of literacy, in our classrooms, libraries, schools, and communities. More information to come soon (book lists, book clubs, Project LIT events and conferences, etc.) but in the meantime, I’d love your help with something that I’m hoping to roll out at my own middle school. What are the 50 books everyone should read by the time they graduate from middle school? And what are the 50 books everyone should read by the time they graduate from high school? NOMINATE BOOKS here! Thanks in advance for your help on this project! Think it’d be a powerful graphic and “challenge.”
Lastly, please let me know if your school, district, or organization is planning a JUST READ IT (use the code RAVEN25 for 25% off + free shipping) book study, or if you would like for me to deliver a keynote address and/or lead a workshop or PD session. Feel free to share this letter with your school and/or district leaders. You can also contact Authors Unbound (requests@authorsunbound.com) to arrange a speaking engagement and view my speaking profile here. I love connecting with fellow educators and supporting/strengthening your team’s literacy efforts, and it’d be an honor to collaborate.
Cheers,
Jarred
