December 2015 – Page 2 – Unleashing Readers

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 12/21/15

December 25, 2015December 21, 2015 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!

Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Last Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Introduction to Text Sets for Teachers Series

Wednesday: Text Sets for Teachers: Growing Pains: Looking at the Subject of Coming of Age

Thursday: Text Sets for Teachers: What is a Hero?: Exploring the Concept of a Hero

Friday: Text Sets for Teachers: Prejudice: Is It Something We Can Control?

Sunday: Text Sets for Teachers: The Power of Words: Witnessing the Impact of Words

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: So…. this wasn’t as good of a reading week. My life was PACKED this week with holiday parties, Christmas programs, Disney trips, and visiting family, so I just didn’t get as much reading in as I wanted. This week I finished nothing; however, I had a lot of fun with my family 🙂

Ricki: I finished listening to The Martian by Andy Weir. It was okay. I found it to be suspenseful and interesting, but I didn’t love the writing. I think the author is incredibly intelligent, but language isn’t his strongest skill. Overall, I was engaged from the beginning until the end, so I can’t complain. I also finished Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. The topic will connect with many teens, and I felt Simon’s sense of loneliness. I wanted to give him a warm hug. Henry and I read two Candlewick picture books by Bob Graham: A Bus Called Heaven and Let’s Get a Pup! Both were fun, and Henry enjoyed the illustrations. I liked the sense of advocacy in A Bus Called Heaven.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I have a pile of graphic novels and picture books that I got from the library based off of recommendations on IMWAYR posts. I cannot wait to tackle the pile during break. My 2nd period and I have a competition going about who can read more–me or one of them, so we’ll see how it goes! I also plan to read The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart, when Michele tells me to :), Alistair Grim’s Odditorium by Gregory Funaro, and a few other books for review.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday if you celebrate, and I hope all my teacher friends enjoy the first week of their break!

Ricki: I am reading Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polansky and really enjoying it. It is on my #mustreadin2015 list.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Finding the Line: What is “Good?”

Wednesday: Good vs. Evil: Exploring Morality Through the Holocaust

Thursday: Gender’s Lens: Society’s Views and Expressions of Gender

Friday: Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

So, what are you reading?

Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

and

Text Sets for Teachers: The Power of Words: Witnessing the Impact of Words

December 20, 2015December 20, 2015 by Kellee

The Power of Words: Witnessing the Impact of Words
Text Set for The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
created by Kelly Markle

I chose this theme because I think that it is very important in The Book Thief and also important for confronting large events that based on control, such as the Holocaust. This theme could be used with almost any Holocaust text to highlight the psychological side of such a horrific time. The idea of “the power of words” is also something that would be very beneficial to talk about inside of a middle or high school classroom because it touches on issues that are extremely relevant to the students’ personal lives. This is a time of many insecurities and judgments, so it is a good way to explore this reality through other sources and texts. When designing the text set, I wanted to have a solid combination of historical and new sources that were relevant to what the students already know. I included musical sources, using a well-known song along with less popular songs that they may not know. I also did this by having a speech from Obama along with a speech by Hitler to highlight the fact that they are both very well spoken people and that they both have power in their words, but those words can be used to influence people differently.

When creating the set, I tried to start by thinking of activities that can be done based on this theme inside of the classroom. Then, I found sources to support those ideas, so that they were not thrown into a list that was nonsensical. This is important to my text set because many of the sources are videos and it is important to remember that there will be follow up activities that ask the students to write, respond, or participate in an activity based on what they are seeing so that it does not feel like they are only getting visual experiences. I also plan to print copies of lyrics to songs and speeches so that my students could read along and reference as the unit develops. I think that this theme lends itself to many different situations so that the discussions differ. There are also many levels of the influence words from a personal to a national level, which is something that is important to show students because one leads to another. This theme is relevant to the subject of English in general because if words did not have power, literature would not exist, and that could be used to help students realize the importance of the class and why books, poems, words endure.

Anchor Texts (although other texts may be used!):
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Novels
brown girl dreaming (excerpt) by Jaqueline Woodson

The Diary of a Young Girl (excerpt) by Anne Frank

Videos/Clips
Kid President: 20 Things We Should Say More Often
Blind Man: The Power of Words
Hannah Brencher’s Ted Talk
Fight Song in Spanish
Why Sign

Speeches
Hitler Youth Speech
Obama Campaign Speech
Obama: “Don’t Tell Me Words Don’t Matter”
Miss Teen USA 2007- South Carolina
“I Have a Dream”

Songs
“Consequence of Sounds” – Regina Spektor
“Same Love” – Macklemore
“A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” – Bob Dylan
“It’s Alright Ma” – Bob Dylan
“Misheard Song Lyrics”

Poems
“Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carol
“Every Kid Needs a Champion” by Rita Pierson
“The Power of Words” by Letitia Landon

Timelines
Holocaust timeline to represent how quickly Adolf Hitler gained power over the people

Histories
Churchill: The Power of Words

Images

Short Stories
“The Children’s Story” by James Clavell
“The Pledge of Allegiance”

Activities (Some Are Teacher Created/Shared)
How words are added to the dictionary
Word poems
Favorite Song Activity
Mein Kampf– 4 Corners Activity
Word Play (laughter/slaughter)
Label Game: Each student is randomly assigned one word to define
Brenna’s lesson with quotes about technology
Andrew’s mismatch word activity

Guiding Questions

How many words does it take to make a difference?
What is the value in the words that are not said? Is tehre any? When should silence prevail?
Why do words hold such power?
Is this power a good thing or a bad thing? Does the good outweigh the bad, or vice versa?
Do words have the same impact no matter who says them? Does definition of a word matter, or the background and emotion behind them?

Writing Prompts

Have you ever experienced a time when you have been influenced by words in some way? Have you ever used words to influence others?
Create a poem, song, speech, or advertisement that confronts an issue that you find important and use it to convince the readers to feel the way that you do about it through words. Take a strong stance.
After reading The Book Thief and completing this unit, what have you realized about the power of words that you did not think about before?
Make a list of single words that you think have the most power and explain why.
Do you think that you were influenced by words growing up? Whose words? What affect did they have on you? Does this help or hurt society as a whole?

A special thanks to Kelly for this phenomenal text set! We think this text set would be useful for many anchor texts! What do you think?

and `1111`

Text Sets for Teachers: Prejudice: Is It Something We Can Control?

December 18, 2015 by Ricki

Prejudice: Is It Something We Can Control?
Text Set for Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
created by Brenna Conrad

I will be working with an 11A class studying British Literature. In class, we will be reading Frankenstein and Pride and Prejudice. At first, I had a lot of difficulty finding a theme that would be applicable not only to both texts but also to two sets of students who get to choose which book they want to read. I chose to focus my unit on the concept of prejudice and if it is something that we can control. In Frankenstein, prejudice is visible when everyone rejects the monster based on its appearance. In Pride and Prejudice, it is inherent in how the classes are divided and how characters treat one another. I chose this overarching theme because I think that this idea of prejudice is a very prominent issue in today’s society and should be considered and discussed in an educational setting. I want students to be able to not only get a more complex and complete understanding of what prejudice is and how it is prevalent in society but also to understand that there are many subtle ways it is incorporated into the media and texts. This is important for students to be aware of, especially as technology and media is becoming increasingly more influential as time progresses.

With this goal in mind, I constructed my text set with illustrating prejudices not only in as many forms of media as possible but in as many different time periods as possible. I want students to place these books among many other works that display the dangers and horrors of prejudice. Though I tried to incorporate multiple sources from different time periods to plot prejudice through time, I narrowed my focus to current media that my students have witnessed in their lifetime, allowing them to personally connect with these sources. Prejudice is one of the most prevalent issues in today’s society, and I think creating an awareness about how prejudice is incorporated into our society in multiple forms of media is very important for learners.

Anchor Texts (although other texts may be used!):
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Children’s Books
The Sneeches by Dr. Seuss (Also available on YouTube)

Young Adult Texts
This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (YA pairing to Frankenstein)

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg (YA pairing to Pride and Prejudice)

Films
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (with Kenneth Branagh and Robert Di Niro)
Pride & Prejudice (with Kiera Knightly)
Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth)
Cinderella

Plays
The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman
Othello by William Shakespeare

Images Used as Propaganda for Protest Movements
Gay Rights:
3.25.2015, Prior to WWI, June 2015 Gay Rights Movement, June 2015 Anti-Gay Rights Movement

Women’s Suffrage:
Anti-Suffrage, Pro-Suffrage, 2013

Civil Rights:
1960s, Anti-Civil Rights, Black Lives Matter Movement, Black Lives Matter Movement, Counter to Black Lives Matter Movement

News Articles
Transgender Student Seeks Acceptance as She Runs for Homecoming Queen
BBC News: The Girl Who Was Shot for Going to School
Girls who Code aim to Make Waves in a Man’s World
Seeking Self-Esteem Through Surgery

Poems
“I, Too” by Langston Hughes
“Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou
“Beautiful City” by Alfred Tennyson
“Discrimination” by Kenneth Rexroth
“Breaking Prejudice” by Daniel Tabone

Songs
“Teenage Frankenstein” by Alice Cooper
“Same Love” by Macklemore
“Blackbird” by The Beatles
“Chains” by Usher

Charts
Gap in Yearly Earnings
Race of Prisoners

Essays
Gilbert and Gubar: “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination”

TV Shows/YouTube Clips
Family Guy: African American Prejudice
Family Guy: Asian Prejudice
Family Guy: Mexican Prejudice
Family Guy: Italian Prejudice
Family Guy: Muslim Prejudice
Family Guy: Christian Prejudice
Social Mobility with Legos

Guiding Questions

What is prejudice?
How is prejudice seen in today’s society? Has this changed in comparison to the past?
How does society portray prejudice? How do we speak back to prejudice?
Are there prejudices that we are unaware of, but still possess? How do we know? What can we do about it?
Do people live in fear of prejudice? What do they do to avoid it?
Are prejudice and racism the same thing?
What different types of prejudice are there? Do some levels of prejudice feel stronger or more impactful than others? How might ranking levels of prejudice be problematic?
Can we eradicate prejudice or is it a reality of human nature?

Writing Prompts

How many different forms of prejudice are there? Are they all prejudice?
Make a list of things you’ve seen in the media that promote a prejudice society. Consider media such as television commercials, shows, movies, songs, magazines, or even comics. Pick 5 media that you believe are the most detrimental and briefly explain why.
After reading Frankenstein or Pride and Prejudice, has your concept of prejudice changed?
Choose a group that has been historically marginalized—either one that we talked about in class or a different group—and examine how the prejudice against this group has shifted across years.
Do you believe that it is human nature to be prejudice or that it is something society has taught. Write an argument for the side that you believe in. Be sure to include example from class and at least two credible outside sources.
In a journal entry, discuss prejudice in our society. Consider: Do people use prejudice in a way to benefit themselves? How do we as a society associate prejudice and humor? Is that ok? Are we making progress away from prejudice? Why or why not?

A special thanks to Brenna for this phenomenal text set! We think this text set would be useful for many anchor texts! What do you think?

and

Text Sets for Teachers: What is a Hero?: Exploring the Concept of a Hero

December 17, 2015 by Kellee

What is a Hero?: Exploring the Concept of a Hero
Text Set for The Odyseey by Homer
created by Lara Hawley

The theme of What is a Hero? can be explored from many different viewpoints. Students might look at how society portrays a hero and what expectations we, as members of this society, have. This can cause individuals to examine the ethnicity, gender, and culture of modern day heroes. Forcing them to decide whether or not society’s idea of a hero aligns with their own personal definitions of a hero. The question of What is a Hero?, allows students to make associations to their own lives. They can describe people they know and defend whether or not they fit these conceptions of heroes. It prompts the students to question their original impressions of a hero.

The unit and theme will be investigated through the lens of the novel The Odyssey. This text is complex and often difficult for young students to engage in. It incorporates challenging language, but my hope is that through this theme, students will become more interested in the characters and the storyline. The additional video clips, charts, and other resources will help the class make sense of the book.

As I was generating my Text Set, I tried to include resources that would spark interesting conversations in the classroom. For example, I included the “Pep Talk from Kid President” to force my students to look at themselves as heroes. I also incorporated the “7 Types of Heroes” so the students could broaden their idea of what a hero is and compare different types of heroes. I hope that students will rethink the characters of the Odyssey during this unit and decide whether or not they should be considered heroes.

Anchor Texts (although other texts may be used!):
The Odyssey by Homer

Graphic Novel

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew

Books (Excerpts)
Be a Changemaker by Laurie Ann Thompson

Videos
“What is a Hero?”
Freedom Writers Clip (Everyone is a Hero)
“For the Heroes: A Pep Talk from Kid President”
Les Miserables Clip (Selfless/Forgiveness)
Caitlyn Jenner Speech

Movies
Star Wars
The Dark Knight Rises

Images

Poems
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
“A Hero” by Robert William

Short Stories”
“Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes
“Initiation” by Sylvia Plath
“Cranes” by Hwang Sunwon

Songs
“Kill Your Heroes” by AWOLNATION
“We Could Be Heroes” by Alesso

PowerPoint (Teacher Created/Shared)
“Superhero PowerPoint”

Internet Sources
The Hero’s Journey
Five Qualities of Incredibly Heroic Leaders
7 Types of Heroes
Anti-Hero
Dictionary Definition
Hero Quotes

News Articles
What is a Hero?
CNN Heroes

Guiding Questions

What is a hero?
What makes someone a hero?
Do you have to be perfect to be a hero or can heroes make mistakes?
Can you be a hero because of one heroic act?
Are there different types of heroes?
Is heroism an innate or learned quality?

Writing Prompts

How are you a hero?
Who is your hero and why?
Make a list of top ten qualities of a hero–from most important (1) to least important (10).
Which of the characters in the Odyssey is the most heroic?

A special thanks to Lara for this phenomenal text set! We think this text set would be useful for many anchor texts! What do you think?

and

Text Sets for Teachers: Growing Pains: Looking at the Subject of Coming of Age

December 16, 2015 by Ricki

Growing Pains: Looking at the Subject of Coming of Age
Text Set for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
created by Andrew Johnson

We must all grow up order to fully enter the world as an adult. In some cultures, growing up is a rite of passage. In others, it is a series of events—a gradual process. Everyone grows up in different ways and is influenced by the different circumstances and environments. There is no one singular point in people’s lives when they can decidedly say that they came of age. It simply just happens. It comes to pass through the experiences that change who they are and what they value as individuals. Growing up not only changes how we think about others, but it also changes how we think about our own identities and places in society.

With that said, this text set is immensely important for exposing students to how others manage to grow up and progress through their lives. Students in middle and high school want nothing more than to be older. They want to be grown, even though a part of them also wants to secretly stay young forever. They may have been told at some point in their lives by a parent, teacher, or other adult to “grow up,” but do they really know what this means? How do they know? This text set will take a multicultural, multi-faceted view on the process of growing up in a world that can be strange, harsh, and also very, very enjoyable.

Anchor Text (although other texts may be used!):
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Graphic Novel
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Other Texts
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (excerpts) by Stephen Chbosky

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (excerpts) by Mark Twain

The Body by Stephen King (novella)

Poems/Songs
“If” by Rudyard Kipling
“Lightspeed” by Grieves
“In My Life” by The Beatles
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost

Short Stories
“Lost in the Funhouse” by John Barth (excerpt)
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut

Essay
“Manhood for Amateurs” by Michael Chabon

Movies
Wizard of Oz (part of a prior unit)
Mean Girls
Rain Man (clips/part of introduction to ASD)
Stand By Me (adaptation of Stephen King’s The Body)

TV Shows
Boy Meets World (any and all applicable clips)
Girl Meets World (any and all applicable clips)

Articles/Internet Sources
The Teenage Brain by National Geographic
Should Growing Up in Compton be Considered a Disability – VICE
Kids are Growing up Way Too Fast – Manhattan Institute
The Definition of Disability by Deborah Kaplan
Talking About Disability – A Guide to Using Appropriate Language
13 Amazing Coming of Age Traditions from Around the World

Websites
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (in order to understand the anchor text better)
Autism Speaks (in order to understand the anchor text better)
Simply Psychology (Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development)

Guiding Questions

What does being a child mean? What does being an adult mean?
Why can the path between childhood and adulthood be confusing or challenging?
Do we ever stop “growing up”?
Does our environment affect how we “grow up”?
Is “growing up” always a good thing? What makes it desirable?
Who or what pressures us to “grow up”? Who or what pressures us to stay young?
Is maturity synonymous with age?

Writing Topics

Describe someone who you consider to be “grown up” or “mature”? List their attributes.
Which stage(s) of identity development would you consider yourself to be in?
Design one scenario/question to determine if someone is mature or not. What would you look for in the answer?
After reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Do you think that Christopher has “grown up”? What do you think he has learned?
Compare and contrast Christopher’s journey and possible “coming of age” with another character of your choosing (or maybe even you!).
What are we supposed to learn about ourselves after you’ve grown up? What do you hope to learn about yourself after you’ve grown up?

A special thanks to Andrew for this relevant, engaging text set! We think it would fit in with a variety of age levels and class texts. What do you think?

and

Text Sets for Teachers: 7 Days of Teachable Ideas!

December 25, 2015December 15, 2015 by Ricki

Over the course of the next seven days (excluding Saturday and Monday), we will be shaking things up at Unleashing Readers. We are excited to feature seven incredible text sets created by seven phenomenal pre-service teachers. These teachers are remarkably creative and clever, and their text sets were chosen to be featured on our site because we thought their ideas would be useful to you.

Each day we will feature a different theme with a different anchor text. We are hoping that you can either use their ideas or adjust the text set to fit your needs. The themes of these text sets apply to a wide variety of texts that teachers use each day in their classrooms. Additionally, the anchor texts are popular. We believe that an important part of teaching is sharing with others. We hope you enjoy their hard work!

The Text Sets

Wednesday, December 16
Growing Pains: Looking at the Subject of Coming of Age by Andrew Johnson
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Anchor Text)

Thursday, December 17
What is a Hero?: Exploring the Concept of the Hero by Lara Hawley
The Odyssey by Homer (Anchor Text)

Friday, December 18
Prejudice: Is It Something We Can Control? by Brenna Conrad
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Anchor Text)

Sunday, December 20
The Power of Words: Witnessing the Impact of Words by Kelly Markle
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Anchor Text)

Tuesday, December 22
Finding the Line: Defining What is “Good” by Alexandria Bottelsen
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Anchor Text)

Wednesday, December 23
Good vs. Evil: Exploring Morality Through the Holocaust by Kellie-Anne Crane
Night by Elie Wiesel (Anchor Text)

Thursday, December 24
Gender’s Lens: Society’s Views and Expressions of Gender by Jack Dunn
Everyday by David Levithan (Anchor Text)

and

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 12/14/15

December 14, 2015 by Kellee

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

Last Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read For The First Time In 2015

Wednesday: The Princess Games by Danai Kadzere

Thursday: Ricki and Henry’s Favorite Children’s Books (1-2 years)

Friday: A Carnival of Cats by Charles Ghign

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee: This week I finished two very different books! First, I finished How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon which was such a tough yet important and well done read. I think this is one of those books that everyone needs to read. I cannot wait to book talk it to my 8th grade class because I think that many of them will want to read Tariq’s story. Also, being so close to where the Trayvon Martin murder happened makes the story even more relevant. Then, a complete switch in type of novel, I read Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis based on the recommendation of Josh Funk. Man! Timmy Failure is such a silly book! I can see why my 7th grade student loves them so much, and now that I’ve read it, I cannot wait to share it because I think my Diary of a Wimpy Kid gang will really love Timmy.

Ricki: I read and absolutely loved Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom. The story is about a girl who is blind and a runner. How do you run if you are blind? I feel like I learned so much for this book about the physical and mental strength of this young girl. Frankly, I can’t quite find the words to express how much it taught me about life. The narrator is feisty, and I appreciated her candor about her disability. I highly recommend it.

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee: I’d planned on reading an Andrew Smith novel this week, but I got sick and needed something a bit lighter, so I started Camp Utopia and the Forgiveness Diet by Jenny Ruden, and it is seems like it is going to be a fun YA novel. I then plan on reading Alistair Grim’s Odditorium by Gregory Funaro then The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart with Michele Knott.

Ricki: I have two hours left of The Martian by Andy Weir. I will definitely finish it this week. I am also about halfway through Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, and I am really enjoying it.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

Tuesday: Introduction to Text Sets for Teachers Series

Wednesday: Text Sets for Teachers: Growing Pains: Looking at the Subject of Coming of Age

Thursday: Text Sets for Teachers: What is a Hero?: Exploring the Concept of a Hero

Friday: Text Sets for Teachers: Prejudice: Is It Something We Can Control?

Sunday: Text Sets for Teachers: The Power of Words: Witnessing the Impact of Words

So, what are you reading?

and