Triangle Fire forms the first literature unit for my 8th-graders’ human rights dissertations This week I’ve been writing about the unit on the Triangle Waist Co. fire that my 8th-graders start the year with. For them, the last few weeks of seventh grade was an introduction, a sort of “paving the way” for the moreContinue reading “The Triangle Fire and My Students’ Human Rights Dissertations”
Tag Archives: Writing
Past to Present: How Triangle Fire Connects to 9/11
History won’t be boring if we show how it affects students’ lives today Reading and writing about the Triangle Waist Co. factory fire allows middle school language arts students to make connections between events from more than one hundred years ago to more recent events. This is the unit my 8th-graders will be startingContinue reading “Past to Present: How Triangle Fire Connects to 9/11”
Back-to-School with 8th-graders: A Unit on Triangle Fire
Resources for teaching about the event that put a fire alarm in your classroom On August 15, my 8th-graders will pick up where we left off in May—with a prelude to our study of the 1911 Triangle Waist Co. factory fire and its societal effects. During the last few days of school, we watched aContinue reading “Back-to-School with 8th-graders: A Unit on Triangle Fire”
Better the second time around: Whippersnappers
We’re jumping into year two of this 7th-grade PBL project We’re doing it again! My seventh-graders will again this upcoming school year be writing the content for a newsletter for kids called Whippersnappers. It’s an activity my students produce in partnership with the White River Valley Historical Society, a regional organization based in Forsyth, Mo.Continue reading “Better the second time around: Whippersnappers”
Back-to-school poetry: The Sometimes Poem from YA author Kate Messner
A back-to-school poem perfect for the first day (updated 8/21) “The Sometimes Poem” was one of my favorite ways to go back to school with my middle schoolers. I used this project for two years with sixth-graders and loved it both times before I changed jobs to my current high school position. The Sometimes PoemContinue reading “Back-to-school poetry: The Sometimes Poem from YA author Kate Messner”
Follow me on Instagram!
Find me at elabraveandtrue I just returned from a professional development conference and the teachers I met there are like me: we’re gradually starting to make the mental shift in anticipation of in-service days and the first day of school, which in my district is August 16. So, as the summer winds down and schoolContinue reading “Follow me on Instagram!”
New BIPOC book for my classroom!
Flying Lessons & Other Stories | Edited by Ellen Oh Last week I ordered Flying Lessons & Other Stories from Amazon for my classroom library. I had learned about the book by visiting the American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL) blog a couple of weeks ago as I was researching and reading for two postsContinue reading “New BIPOC book for my classroom!”
When my class is your class’ punishment
Since when should writing be a form of punishment? This happens every so often: I’ll be talking to other teachers about some discipline issue they experienced during the day where they had to dole out some kind of punishment. More times than I want to remember, they’ll say something like, “So I made him writeContinue reading “When my class is your class’ punishment”
A Source for Native American Lit
Visit the “American Indians in Children’s Lit” blog A couple of days ago, I wrote a post called “Punishing Laura Ingalls Wilder.” This post was about the recent decision by the Association for Library Service to Children to change the name of its Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award. The nameContinue reading “A Source for Native American Lit”
Field trip idea: The Outsiders House Museum Opens Soon in Tulsa
Plus: 10 reasons teachers love this book I have a black-and-white poster of The Outsiders in my classroom. One year, I decided to photocopy my picture, cut off my head, and snuggle it in between Darry and Steve. And then I laminated it, so it’s never comin’ off! My students don’t always notice it rightContinue reading “Field trip idea: The Outsiders House Museum Opens Soon in Tulsa”