As a teacher, on the first day of school, I wanted my students to know that in my class we would read a lot and we'd read great literature, literature that would help us understand our world better, and ourselves. In the first weeks of school, I also needed to build community in my classroom, define routines and procedures, and particularly in middle school, get kids re-anchored in the purpose and pleasure of learning.
I used stories to accomplish all of these objectives and in doing so, I began to build a community of learners bound together around literature. The stories we read invited my middle schoolers to tell their stories; the writing assignments I gave allowed students to share their lives, experiences, thoughts and feelings with each other.
Here are a few of my favorites books that might be best used at the beginning of the year:
No comments:
Post a Comment