authors.simonandschuster.ca Jason Reynolds is a very character centered author.  His story When I was the Greatest centers around some amazing characters.  Allen a.k.a. Ali is a very down to earth young man who understands sometimes you have to do, what you have to do in order to take care of family.  His dad teaches him this…Read more When I Was the Greatest: Jason Reynolds

New to the field of education I have several questions about how to accomplish goals set for my students in order for them to be successful in their continued education and as citizens of the community I share with them.  It seems that there are no concrete answers from the sources I have read in…Read more Reading Research Project

Penny Kittle’s last three conventional chapters in Book Love are the core ‘How to’ chapters of the book. Chapter 7: Responding to Reading In this chapter, Kittle brings forth several writing exercises that demonstrate a student’s comprehension of the text without involving quizzes or essays.  I like how she models the question response and has her students…Read more Book Love: Chapters 7-9

It is unfortunate that in every town, and in every school, there is a Yaqui Delgado.  There is always a bully.  (I feel Meg Medina fully understands this.)  Worse than having a bully is knowing that society continues to nearly ignore the problem of bullying.  In my short time as an educator, I have seen…Read more Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass: Meg Medina

Chapter 5:  Book Talk For me this could be the most important chapter in this book.  After all, how do you convince a non-reader to pick up a book.  You can’t just say, “Do it, it will be okay.”  By the time my students enter my room they may be several years behind the expected…Read more Book Love: Chapters 5-6

One of the biggest ideas that I will walk away from these chapters is that “good teaching is based not on a system but on a relationship” (35).  This quote stuck with me because it is pretty much what brought me to teaching.  I understand that the system may not be broke, but it is…Read more Book Love: Chapters 3-4

Every so often a book comes along that offers absolute clarity about something you did not necessarily expect to find before opening the cover to discover the wonders within its pages.  Looking over the cover and reading  the quotes on the back led me to believe that I would learn about kids struggling to be…Read more Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

There is a lot that can be said about Brent Hartinger’s Geography Club.  It is a quick read and I think that my students could work through the book even if they find themselves uncomfortable with the topic.  I would encourage all of my students to read this book because it illuminates the isolation that…Read more Geography Club: Brent Hartinger

To borrow a phrase from baseball, “Matt de la Pena not only swung for the fences; he parked it.”  Again, I am not a basketball fan.  I honestly haven’t watched a full NBA game since Larry Bird and Michael Jordon were both still playing.  I never fell in love with the game.  This book conveyed the…Read more Ball Don’t Lie: Matt de la Pena

Erika Wurth’s debut as an author was a tough read for me.  It was tough not because of the story, but because of the story…   I can see many of my female students living a life just like Margaritte (I am sure that some do with minor changes here or there).  I am at…Read more Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend: Erica Wurth

Marilyn Nelson may be my new hero.  She knocked it out of the park with the heroic crown of sonnets in A Wreath for Emmett Till, but How I Discovered Poetry This video is an outstanding recitation and response to the title poem. is an amazing book of poems as well.  The poems tell the autobiographical story…Read more Marilyn Nelson: How I Discovered Poetry

Some books you read and question the criticism about them.  They are either good when critics say they are bad, or they are bad when critics say they are great.  Inside Out & Back Again has received a National Book Award, is a Newberry Honor Book and a New York Times Best Seller.  This book deserves…Read more Thanhha Lai: Inside Out & Back Again

It is hard to imagine delving into the teaching world without ever having read the words and advice of some masterful teachers like Nancie Atwell or Penny Kittle and my heart yearns for a first year Do-Over.  After only a few chapters of Kittle’s Book Love, I have found several reasons to change the way I…Read more Book Love: Chapter 1-2

I must first admit, “I am not a basketball fan,” but after reading Sherman Alexie, and understanding the importance of the game to my students, I figured I’d tackle some of the basketball books for the course.  As my kids say, “Ball is life!” Anyhow, as I am not a fan, my jargon for the…Read more Kwame Alexander: The Crossover

Of all of the books that I have read so far for this course, Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian makes me want to run to my administration and demand that they allow me to use this book as required reading.  I understand that required reading is not preferable to all students, but this…Read more Sherman Alexie: Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Cousins Julian and Mariko Tamaki have teamed up to write and illustrate a compelling graphic novel about two preteen girls encountering several events of adult life during a summer vacation at Awago Beach.  This is an outstanding graphic novel that would require parental consent as it deal with topic from sex, graphic language, suicide and…Read more Julian & Mariko Tamaki: This One Sumer

I have read a wide range of poems in my life.  Many poems hold special meaning for me and hold a special place in my heart like Birches  by Frost, The Raven by Poe, or To This Day   by Koyczan.  Marilyn Nelson’s A Wreath for Emmett Till has become one of my favorites — in a…Read more Marilyn Nelson: A Wreath for Emmett Till

Not many people realize how difficult life can be.  Our society claims to make an effort to help children avoid the trauma and difficulties suffered by Yummy yet many young ones fall through the cracks of the system — a system that is very much broke at times.  Greg Neri seems to understand the struggles…Read more G. Neri: Yummy

I think what I may have found most intriguing thing about the book, Monster, were the formats used by Walter Dean Meyers.  The first of which was the personal journal/notes of the main character Steve.  Steve accounts the horrors of his time in jail takes notes while in court (though it seems all he wrote down…Read more Walter Dean Meyers: Monster

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a futuristic twist on the story of Cinderella.  In this story, Cinder is a cyborg, Lunar.  In the future, Earth is racially inclusive, yet, there are an outsider, subcategory of humans that have cybernetic modifications.  These (cyborgs) are shunned by society and viewed as impure human beings.  Perhaps the only thing…Read more Marissa Meyer: Cinder

Teenagers rarely think about the consequences that can arise for the simplest actions.  A victory celebration with some beer and a car can end two teenage lives as in Tears of a Tiger, and attending a senior end of the year party prior to starting your ninth grade year can also destroy lives.  All it…Read more Laurie Anderson’s Speak

Andrew Jackson was not only the name of the seventh President of the United States, it was also the strong, universally accepted, name given to the young man, that is the main character of Tears of a Tiger.   Andrew’s name is one of many topics that can be discussed about the book, Tears of a…Read more Adolescent Literature: Tears of a Tiger

Angela Johnson’s The First Part Last is an excellent book that could be used to help teach many life lessons.  Perhaps the most import lesson for students would be; no one should judge a book by its cover.  Not literally, just that on one should believe in the typical stereotyping that is rampant in the media…Read more Adolescent Literature: The First Part Last

Crank is a fascinating story about a young lady, a junior in high school, that allows her own curiosity to get the better of her.  During a summer break spent at her father’s home, with little adult supervision, she allows herself to explore life as an alter ego transforming her from the innocence Kristina to…Read more Adolescent Literature: Crank

Not desiring to be a member elitist group of English educators I have grown to affectionately refer to as, the Grammar Nazis, I was hesitant in selecting a professional development book about teaching grammar to help me with a subject that I struggled with, and will continue to struggle with for the rest of my…Read more Methods Conclusion: Teaching Grammar in the Writer’s Workshop from Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson

While reading In the Middle I found myself inspired at times feeling that I had found the solution to all of my students’ writing needs, and I became flat out frustrated at other times wishing that I fully believed my own students could grow leaps and bounds via participation in a Writer’s Workshop. I very…Read more Methods #16: In the Middle B.A.S.E. Jumping

Though I agree with Nancie Atwell that students need to be provided time and that they must be expected to write daily I struggle with the concept in my own classroom where students are years behind in their writing abilities from what the standards demand of them. There are undoubtedly lengthy lists that I could…Read more Methods #15: Struggles Getting Behind the Writer’s Workshop

As my first year of teaching progresses to its conclusion in this my second semester, I find myself asking what have my students learned? What have they done that holds value for them? What can they share with others? What grades have they earned? Prior to reading the chapter titled “Valuing and Evaluating” I would…Read more Methods #14: Grading/ Evaluation

Perhaps the most important aspect of teaching that I have learned from reading In the Middle by Nancie Atwell is that all students need to write, and that writing needs to be based in content in a medium that is important to the student with real life application. Students are reluctant to tackle writing projects…Read more Methods #13: Meaning

Again, I find myself in agreement with a teaching great. There is very little I can even moderately shrug a shoulder at about what Nancie Atwell explains as the importance of the writing conference found in chapter 7 of In the Middle. Here she suggests that the teacher should make an effort to visit with…Read more Methods #12: The Conference