by Jason DeHart By far, one of the biggest challenges my middle school students faced when Common Core State Standards were introduced was a focus on writing in response to nonfiction text. This new look at composing required students to build texts based on stimulus materials, rather than writing narrative and emerging explanatory essays. I…
Bats in the Belfry by Jayden (7th grade) I have always wondered what it feels like when you die. What channels it? I have been thinking about this ever since my mother died on April 3, 2013. Yet, I have faced worse challenges than this. Welcome, take a seat while I talk to you about…
by Jennie Weng Character analysis is an important skill for writers to learn. However, too often students label characters with one-dimensional terms (e.g., good, bad, funny, evil, protagonist, antagonist). Well-crafted characters are a lot like real people; they are complex. If students can understand this integral component of character analysis, they will not only be…
By Bushra Rehman In the following lesson plan writer Bushra Rehman considers diary writing as a vehicle to explore personal experience. Grade: 5 Genre: Prose Download: Dear Diary… Common Core State Standards: (Refer to the ELA Standards > Writing > Grade 5) ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3.B: Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and…
By Susan Karwoska The Poetry of Kevin Young, says Lucille Clifton, ”re-creates for us an inner history which is compelling and authentic and American.” A National Book Award finalist, Young is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, most recently Blue Laws: Selected & Uncollected Poems 1995-2015 (Knopf, 2016), longlisted for the National Book Award; Book of…
by Tricia Ebarvia This article was originally published at movingwriters.org. The school year is winding down—and I find myself thinking more and more of warm poolside days—yet everywhere I turn, rich mentor texts seem to come my way. I’ll find something and think, “Oh, that would have been perfect to use with ____” or “That would have…
By Charlotte Pence On a recent night in England, where I spent the fall semester teaching abroad, I ended up as I often did, sitting at a sticky pub table older than the Tudor dynasty, exchanging travel stories with friends. Doug, an expat from Ireland, began telling me a tale from his time in Vietnam….
By Kelly Quayle Richie is five foot nothing and not even a hundred pounds, just months out of elementary school. He wears a SpongeBob backpack high on his shoulders and Gap Kids khakis picked out by his mother. He’s never seen an R-rated movie, never been reprimanded in school, and rarely comes to class without…
2015 I Turned Myself Into A Poet And I Was A Poet 722K New Heights Middle School, Brooklyn, NY Edited by Sarah Dohrmann, writer‐in‐residence
Renée Watson’s books include the YA novels Piecing Me Together, What Momma Left Me, and This Side of Home, which was nominated for the Best Fiction for Young Adults award by the American Library Association. Renée’s writing and teaching work aims to help youth cope with trauma and discuss social issues. Her picture book, A…