Weekly Update

Book recs, snow day haikus, Read & WRAP prompts, dynamic debate, and more

Happy Sunday everyone,

Finishing up this week’s post after another battle between the Chiefs and the Bills. (Is it just or me, or would Jason Kelce be an awesome middle school teacher?) Let’s get right to it.

1. Book of the Week: REZ BALL by Byron Graves was an absolute slam dunk and a must read for any basketball fan. I raced through it during our Read & WRAP time and already have several students eager to borrow it…

   

2. Updating My TBR: I’ve been really intentional with my TBR list to start 2024, keeping an updated list on the Notes app in my phone. Thus far, I’ve read Hello Beautiful, Play Like a Girl, Rez Ball, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Here’s what else I’m planning to dive into soon (let me know what I should add to to this list):

   ADULT: Yellowface, Let Us Descend, Remarkably Bright Creatures, Tom Lake, Chain Gang All-Stars 

   MG/YA: All My Rage, Swim Team, A Rover’s Story, A First Time for Everything, The Probability of Everything, The Mona Lisa Vanishes, The Girls I’ve Been, The Weight of Blood, Truly, Devious, Thieves’ Gambit, etc. 

   NF: 

   Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity 

   Your Brain on Art

   Stolen Focus

   The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains 

3. Snow Day Haikus: We had a couple of delayed openings last week, and our students enjoyed writing winter/snow-themed haikus. I reviewed the structure, shared a few examples on the board, and then held a “haiku contest.” I gave each student an index card and encouraged them to craft their best winter haiku (writing their initials on the back). I then read each one aloud and picked a bronze, silver, and gold medalist. Lots of fun! (I’d share the winners but the stack of index cards is currently on my desk.)

4. Speaking of index cards, I also used them during our Read & WRAP time. After the timer went off (signaling the end of our independnet reading), I passed out index cards. On the front, I had students analyze the major conflict(s) in their book (my tip: what does your protagonist WANT more than anything? What’s getting in their way?). On the back, I had students analyze the setting (time and place). I modeled with my book (Rez Ball) so students knew exactly what was expected. A low-stakes, high-impact prompt that holds students “accountable” without killing their love of the book. (And this week, I plan to have students write a haiku about their current read, among other WRAP prompts.)

   For the new subscribers, in my book JUST READ IT: Unlocking the Magic of Independent Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms (which is now available for pre-order*), I make the case for daily independent reading. More specifically, I make the case for a Read and WRAP routine, where students have daily time (usually 10-15 minutes) to read self-selected books (including but certainly not limited to our Project LIT titles) along with daily time to WRAP about our reading. Write. Reflect. Analyze. Participate. Write letters to the authors and six-word summaries. Reflect on our reading growth. Analyze conflict and character and setting and theme. Participate in small-group and whole-class discussions.

5. A quick update on last week’s mini-unit that helped us transition from Fahrenheit 451 into our upcoming argumentative/debate unit (see item #6). You can check out the assignment here.

   Think about Guy Montag, Granger, Faber, and the rest of the “book people” in Fahrenheit 451. How would they go about convincing others that reading is worthwhile and that books (particularly quality books) are important? Now, think about our society today. How can you persuade today’s middle school students to spend more time reading? Your group/team will work together to create a creative and compelling 2024 Reading Campaign that attempts to do just that. 

   Instead of creating the actual campaign (we just ran out of time), I had students create three pitches/proposals using ethos, pathos, and logos. Here’s what one group came up with:

   1. Ethos: Find celebrities that are secret bookworms, have them tell the media about their experiences reading, and due to their socio-political position in the world, the target audience will most likely follow their example.

   2. Pathos: Create an algorithm that connects a reader to the right book. The algorithm will ask for personal experiences and traits, then it will find books containing characters with similar traits to tug with the reader’s heart strings and build empathy.

   3. Logos: Create an infographic using published research journal-derived facts and post it around. The higher quality the source, the more credible the infographic.

   4. Another group created a commercial that included all three appeals: The video would start off with two middle school students taking a test next to each other. One is doing very well, flying through the questions, and the other is struggling. The successful kid is answering a question on the test that reads, “Children who read have: a) better mental health b)higher academic achievemnt c)a happy, succesful life d)all of the above”. The succesful kid fills in all of the above, and then closes the packet, because it was the last question on the test. The kid stands up, happy, and behind her is a pile of books written by well known authors. She walks away, and the struggling kid, who looks back to 0 books in his bag, looks upset and slumps down on the desk. 

6. Dynamic Debate: This week, our focus turns solely to our “Dynamic Debate.” I’ll share the complete breakdown next week, but here’s a brief overview. In each class, students are split into two teams. One is arguing that technology has an overall positive effect on our society (and painting an optimistic view of the future) while the other is aruging that technology has an overall negative effect on our society (and painting a pessimistic view of the future). Students worked together to determine the five strongest reasons/claims to support their side. Now, they’ll conduct research from a variety of credible sources and begin to put together a presentation that includes strong evidence & reasoning to support each of their five points. Once each team has built their case, we’ll set up the “rules” of the actual debate (opening & closing arguments, counterclaims + rebuttals, etc.) Please reach out if you have any questions!

7. Article of the Week. As we continue our Dynamic Debate, our AoW will look slightly different this week. Each student will find two credible texts to support their side of the debate. One will be an article (they’ll take notes and complete a CRAAP/SIFT analysis) and the other will be a TED Talk (they’ll take notes and complete a rhetorical analysis).

   NOTE: I broke down our AoW process/protocol in previous updates (check out Weeks 3 and 4), and here’s a running list of articles we’ve read this year:

   • “Let Kids Get Bored. It’s Good For Them”

   • “Stop Multitasking. No, Really — Just Stop It.” 

   • “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?”

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

   • “Why is it fun to be frightened?”

   • “The Spooky Science of Fear”

   • “Listening to Taylor Swift in Prison”

   • “Food and Memory”

   • “Oxford’s Word of the Year is….Rizz”

   • “How to be a Better Reader”

   • Here’s Kelly Gallagher’s running list of AoWs for the 23-24 school year

8. 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. (Hoping to update a few of our graphics in the weeks ahead.) And 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. If anyone decides to create a MG version — or any other resources — please pass them along so that I can share with our community!

9. Finally, if you have a few minutes, I’d love your help with our upcoming “READ WIDELY, READ OFTEN” campaign. To help our students find their next read, I’m planning to create social media graphics that encourage students to read widely and read often. Put simply, each image/graphic will include four book covers/recs around a common genre, theme, category, etc. For example: four MG graphic memoirs, four YA thrillers, four books about basketball (The Crossover, Rez Ball, Hoops, and Ball Don’t Lie), four moving novels in verse, four rom-coms, four historical fiction, four YA memoirs, etc. The books do not have to be past/present Project LIT titles but they can certainly can be :) Share your suggestions here! You can submit this form more than once — thank you in advance!

10. Thank you, thank you! Please reach out if you have any questions. Have a wonderful week, and as always, happy reading,

Jarred

*Be sure to use the code CORWIN25 for a 25% discount + free shipping. Thanks to everyone who has already pre-ordered and shared with friends and colleagues in your school and district. It means the world to me!