English Teachers Chat

Yesterday during a discussion (as a 9th grade teacher), I chatted with a few10th grade teachers. This year all 10th grade teachers are teaching Just Mercy  by Bryan Stevenson. One of the teachers said, "it's a hard read, the kids really struggled." It's probably been half a decade since I read Stevenson's novel, but I do remember moments that the text is mired in legal language. Another teacher remarked, "well... they need to become discernible readers and figure out what is essential to the story and what's not." Discernible readers? 10th graders? Who are these 10th grade discernible readers?  A larger discussion unfolded about close reading and now to navigate a tricky text. The four of us kibitzed about the successes and failures in each of our classrooms. The conversation naturally steered towards close reading. But what became quickly evident: when we talked about close reading, the four of us were talking about entirely different concepts. It...

Just last week I posted my 2021 Young Adult Summer Reading Guide , but we're back this week with the adult contemporary version. Like the YA version, in order to be eligible for the list, the book needed to be published in 2021. This list offers a wide variety. When I think of summer, I do think of lighter more "exciting" reads (if I can use such a nebulous term). That said, there are some heavy hitters on here, so be sure to read the descriptions. All these books are amazing in their own right. So find something (or several things) to enjoy this summer. And if you're checking this list on June 21st 2021, be sure to head over to Barnes and Nobles which is offering many of these books at 50% off! If you'd like a one page printable list, click here .  So without further ado: 1. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid Malibu Rising is quintessential summer reading. Celebrities, rock stars, gossip, love affairs and bad decisions, Reid’s newest novel is framed by litera...

It's that time of the year again. Summer reading (and a preview of some of my year's favorite books)! Reading shouldn't feel like a chore. This should be a time to engage with texts that YOU want to engage with. As I finish book number 90 (Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon), here's my top 10 picks this year. Just some quick details about this list. All books on this list are 2021. Additionally, this is the YA list; my adult list will be out early next week. So seek and find something that works just for you! (If you want a one page printable list, click here! ) 1. Off the Record by Camryn Garrett In Garrett’s brilliant new novel, Josie is a high school journalist with the opportunity to go on a press tour and write a profile piece on an up and coming actor. But as she starts to do interviews, it’s clear that the director is a “Harvey Weinstein” type with exceedingly questionable behavior. Will Josie confront the issue, and will she come to her own reckoning with ...

This is part two of my four part series Becoming a FITT Reader. Be sure to read Volume 1: Frequency here .  Reading is a skill. It's developed over time like our palate. It's like learning to distinguish deep umami flavors or appreciating a fine red wine. Too difficult texts creates non-readers in the same way a person new to sushi might totally scoff at a dragon roll over the more palatable California roll.  I, like I'm sure many other people, experienced an English class where the text was too difficult, too long, and too beyond my comprehension. In short: too intense. As a freshman in high school, I faked my way through readings of Great Expectations , and I also remember exclusively reading SparkNotes the time Dr. Cotter assigned the entirety of Dante's Inferno  for the next class a mere two days away in undergrad.  Ultimately, intensity in reading comes in four forms: text complexity, length, concept and content. What It (Sometimes) Looks Like There ar...

Maybe because I'm too much into fitness, or maybe because I'm too much into reading, it's clear to me, reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. It's an essential part of what makes people grow. It's healthy and fun, and downright addictive when performed regularly. In the world of fitness, we operate under the ideas of FITT: Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type. That same philosophy can be applied to our students too. Today we're going to look at Frequency. It's my firm believe that if students and teachers follow FITT principles, we'll all become more proficient and FITT readers. Before the How, Why? Frequency is all about how often reading occurs. For our students, we need to build an environment where reading happens not only in the classroom, but then is encouraged at home. Why? The data is clear: Disrupting Thinking, Beers and Probst, 137 A clear direct correlation exists between reading and student performance and language abilities. The...

Since January, students and I explored Reynold’s and Kendi’s remixed version of Stamped . If you told me in January that it would take two months to complete Stamped , I wouldn’t believe you. Of course, there were snow days and February break that impeded our time with the text, but even accounting for that, Stamped remained an exploration, one that exceeded my expectations each step of the way. As you make your way through the text, you might consider the following: Taking Your Time: Unlike other books like The Glass Menagerie or The House on Mango Street , Stamped required students to unpack their emotions and learn about the many diverse people in the text. I started to look at the Afterword of Stamped as my benchmark. At the end of the text when Reynolds addresses the readers about Angela Davis, James Baldwin and W.E.B DuBois, what will my students think at that moment? I didn’t want students simply to see a list of names. I want those names to mean something. The end result? Lots...

I'm two weeks into teaching Stamped by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds, and I won't lie, it's some of the most invigorating work of my career. Now for some transparency before we move on: I do teach at an affluent school district with a largely white population, and I have exactly zero students who are Black. That said, I still have quite a few BIPOC students. It's for this, and so many other reasons, my 9th grade team decided to utilized Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You , and it's nothing short of some of the most important work of my career. I'll start with the biggest challenge: slowing it down. Whole class texts are not my strong suit. In a given year, I might have 4 or 5 whole class texts, 4 or 5 book club units and countless amount of independent books. And when I get into whole class texts, I try not to labor them. The days of 5 or 6 weeks in a book seems antiquated. And yet (YET!), Stamped deserves our time. We need to take it slow to unpack oursel...