BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: Dystopian YA Novels

 

Dystopian novels are very popular with our pre-teen and teen readers. Here is a list of dystopian YA lit that my students always loved. Some will probably be very familiar to you, but hopefully you will find a few to add to your classroom library.

1. Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

2. Divergent series by Veronica Roth

3. Maze Runner series by James Dashner

4. Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld

5. The Selection series by Kiera Cass

6. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

7. The Giver series by Lois Lowry

8. Shadow Children by Margaret Peterson Haddix

9. Mortal Engines series by Philip Reeve

10. Delirium series by Lauren Oliver

EASY MEALS: Crockpot BBQ Chicken

 

3-4 chicken breasts

16 oz bottle barbeque sauce

1/2 cup Zesty Italian Dressing

1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients in bowl. Put chicken in crock pot. Pour mixture on top. Cook on low 4-5 hours. 

Then you have some options:

1. Shred with fork and put on hamburger buns for delicious chicken sandwiches.

2. Leave whole and serve with mashed potatoes and vegetable of choice.

Funny Teacher Story: I have to teach debate? Yikes!

 

So because I am an English teacher and can therefore teach anything with language 😜, I was assigned to teach our school's debate class. Now, I had never seen a debate, been in a debate, nor was I even remotely interested in debate. I begged my principal to give the class to someone else. He just patted my shoulder and said, "You can do it."  So of course I immediately went to the library and got a book on debate. It was like reading Greek. 😟

I did find a 9-week debate course workbook that I purchased. Unfortunately the class was 18 weeks. Oh well. At least I had the first nine weeks covered. (I'll think about that tomorrow-Scarlett O'Hara). 

The first day of class, I was so nervous and worried, figuring the students would know more than I knew. I was B*ll S*itting like nobody's business, pretending I knew what the h*ll I was doing. I was talking about possible topics and said, "For example, you might have to argue the pros and/or cons of a topic like Capital Punishment."

A student raised his hand and said, "Well, I personally think a parent should be able to spank his child whenever he wants to."

Okay. I think I got this. 😂😁😂

Tweeting a Theme

 

This is a fun and functional activity for students to practice writing theme statements. There is a definition of theme and guidelines for distinguishing between subjects and theme statements as well as a strategy for writing a theme statement from a subject. Students are then asked to write a theme statement for a text they are reading. They must be able to defend their theme statements with textual evidence.

After that, students take their theme statements and turn them into tweets of 140 characters or less.

Students can work individually or in small groups for this activity. You can find this product on my TPT store here.

BOOKS THAT HELP MAKE YOU A BETTER TEACHER: Reading Reminders by Jim Burke

BLURB:

Do you have a minute? That's how quickly this book will help you improve your students' reading skills. Designed to be read on the run and make every minute count in your classroom, Reading Reminders features Jim Burke's one hundred best techniques for teaching reading, complete with tools and tips on how to implement them.

Jim wrote this book to help teachers like himself whose often large and always diverse classrooms contain a wide range of reading abilities and needs. All of the strategies have been tested and tested again with his students, and each one has achieved significant gains in student performance, confidence, and engagement. Together, the reminders will challenge your best students and support struggling ones. This book will help you:

• teach students to read a variety of types of texts, including websites, tests, literature, and textbooks
• use a wide range of teaching and reading strategies based on current reading research
• anchor your teaching in state and national reading standards
• establish and maintain a comprehensive reading program that includes Sustained Silent Reading and direct instruction
• plan your lessons, select your texts, and assess students' learning with tools and techniques specifically designed for those purposes
• improve your students' ability to discuss and understand what they read
• develop a community of reflective readers within your classroom
• increase the amount of writing your students do.

I love this book. Heck, I love anything Jim Burke publishes. It's like having a great mentor teacher who is always available. 

This book is chock full of helpful ideas and techniques for teaching English Language Arts. Jim Burke is a legend in ELA circles, and if you haven't read any of his books, you're missing out on some amazing ideas.

Some of my students, even at the high school level, were seriously struggling readers. This book has lots of practical strategies for helping struggling readers and really all of your students with comprehending difficult texts. We're living in a day and time when there is a real focus on adopting reading goals for the high school classroom. Most ELA teachers are not equipped to teach reading. This book is just what you need if this is your goal. This book also has an appendix chock full of reading strategies, graphic organizers, student surveys, etc., that you will find helpful. Do yourself a favor, add this book to your personal library. You won't regret it.