Happy Friday everyone,
In this video update, I discuss a few things:
This AoW from Brad Stulberg as we get ready to write our 8th grade graduation speeches over the next couple of weeks. (On a related note, I thoroughly enjoyed Eric Church’s UNC commencement speech.)
This WRAP prompt as we continue reading independently and reviewing our troublesome/confusing word pairs.
The inaugural “Class Cup,” a classroom activity that will help you and your students stay sane until the final day :)
Four book recommendations!
A few reminders:
WRAP Prompts/Cards: Here’s the first set of 48 WRAP prompts/cards that address dozens of lit standards and concepts, and here’s the second set that encourages students (or adults) to reflect on their reading identity. Simply download the two sets, print, laminate, cut, and you’re good to go. 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.
AoWs: Debate Topics + Genius Hour. As a reminder, here’s a potential Article of Week “sequence” for the 25-26 school year (going to update this for 26-27!), which includes thematic text sets/mini-units (pages 1-2) along with standalone articles and debate topics (page 3). And here’s a helpful graphic organizer that you can use with any topic.
Poetry Collection. Here’s a beautiful collection of poems that we can read and celebrate (and perhaps analyze) with middle and high school students throughout every “season” of a school year. I went through this list and found a handful of spring poems, including some of my favorites from Billy Collins, William Carlos Williams, Emily Dickinson, and Langston Hughes. And as a reminder, I also created two different templates to help us compare/contrast, defend, analyze, justify, etc. two similar texts (poems, short stories, short films, songs, etc.).
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.
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 to everyone who has nominated books thus far :)
Have a wonderful weekend, and as always, please reach out if there’s anything I can do to support you and/or your students.
Cheers,
Jarred
