Most Recommended Content

James Kemple, William Corrin, Terry Salinger, Suzannah Herrmann

The Enhanced Reading Opportunities Study: Early Impact and Implementation Findings

While much has been learned about literacy in the elementary grades, less is known about programmatic approaches that help struggling adolescent readers acquire the skills they need to succeed in high school. The Enhanced Reading Opportunities Study tests the effectiveness of two supplemental literacy interventions targeted to ninth-grade readers with reading comprehension skills that are two to four years below grade level. The interventions studied are (1) Reading Apprenticeship for Academic Literacy from WestEd and (2) Xtreme Reading from the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning.

Colorín Colorado

Consejos para padres de adolescentes con dificultades para escribir

Al graduarse de la escuela preparatoria, se espera que los estudiantes estadounidenses hayan aprendido a escribir de manera eficaz para una variedad de propósitos, desde la redacción de cartas y cuentos hasta ensayos e informes de investigación. Sin embargo, a muchos estudiantes de la escuela media y la preparatoria no les gusta escribir, y los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como segunda lengua pueden tener especial dificultad para la escritura. En este artículo veremos algunos de los motivos por los que los estudiantes más grandes buscan evitar la escritura, así como algunas sugerencias para que usted pueda ayudar a su hijo adolescente a convertirse en un mejor escritor.
Two teen girls leaning into one another and smiling.

Text Set: Compassion

Compassion is often described as a virtue, but to many tweens and teens, moralistic goals seem lofty and unattainable. By tuning into and building off of students’ empathy, we offer a pathway to developing compassionate teens and better humans. That seems like a goal we can all aspire to!

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

About the Book

Ever since she called 911 from a teen party, Melinda has quieted her voice, literally and figuratively. She only finds it when its needed to prevent a reoccurrence of the same horror. This stunning look at sexual assault and peer pressure is presented in a highly readable form.

About the Author

Laurie Halse Anderson was born in Potsdam, a cold place in northern New York State where as a little girl, she pounded away at her father’s old typewriter for hours, writing newspaper columns, stories, and letters. She never intended to be an author. At Georgetown University, she majored in foreign languages and linguistics. Laurie hit the real world with no idea of what kind of work she wanted to do. She tried everything, including cleaning banks, milking cows, and working as a stockbroker. Being a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer was a slight improvement, but she eventually quit to write books. Her first novel, Speak, was a National Book Award Finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, a New York Times Bestseller, and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Laurie currently lives with her family in Mexico, New York. To find out more about Laurie, visit her website at www.writerlady.com.

Reprinted with permission from Penguin Books.

Discussion Questions

  • Discuss the title of the novel and its significance. What roles do silence and truth play in the story?
  • Is there a relationship between speaking and listening? Can one exist without the other?
  • What is friendship? Describe the important elements of Melinda’s relationships with Heather, Ivy, Nicole, and Rachel. Is she ever really friends with any of them? Can friendship mean something different to different people? Cite different passages in the novel as evidence of your opinion.
  • Melinda says: “It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.” Do you agree with her? Why or why not? Do the events in the novel support or negate her statement? Does her outlook change at any point in the novel? How so?
  • What keeps Melinda silent? What is she afraid of?
  • Why does Melinda isolate herself from her friends? Is she justified in doing so?
  • Why do you think Melinda refers to Andy Evans as “it” in the beginning of the novel? At what point does she start to call him by name? Why?
  • In what places is Melinda able to find sanctuary at school? How do the characteristics of these places provide a window into her character?
  • How does David Petrakis contribute to Melinda’s quest to find her voice? How does Mr. Freeman influence her? What role do her parents and the other adults in the novel play in Melinda’s journey?
  • Is it possible to speak without spoken words? Why or why not? Identify passages in the novel to support your position.
  • What finally allows Melinda to speak?
Speak

Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson
Age Level:
YA
Genre:
Fiction
Published:
1999
Graphic of a book that is opening like a door and letting light out

Blog: Opening a Door to the Past

Fostering a Love of History

Why is it important that we continue to build students’ curiosity about their own history as well as others’ experiences? David Bruce Smith discusses the importance of understanding the past in order to grow into a thoughtful and engaged citizen.

Multicultural high school students in Real World History discussion on Selma

Real World History

Real World History: A DC public school invites students to develop their skills as historians as they study the Great Migration of African-Americans from the rural south to big cities.

Erin Entrada Kelly

Fiction

E. Lockhart

E. Lockhart is the author of the highly acclaimed New York Times bestseller We Were Liars and the Ruby Oliver quartet (The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book, The Treasure Map of Boys, and Real Live Boyfriends), as well as Fly on the Wall and Dramarama. Her novel The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book, a finalist for the National Book Award, and winner of a Cybils Award for Best Young Adult Novel.

Alice Thomas, Glenda Thorne

How to Increase Higher Order Thinking

Parents and teachers can do a lot to encourage higher order thinking. Here are some strategies to help foster children’s complex thinking.
Collage of portraits of top middle grade and YA authors

Author Study Toolkit

Author Study units give students the opportunity to explore an author’s life and works in depth. Key components include reading selected books, discussion, research, and a final project. Our Author Study Toolkit gives you the step-by-step to create a successful study unit with your students.

AdLit News Headlines

AdLit gathers interesting news headlines about literacy, middle grade and YA books, best practices in instruction, and other key topics related to middle school and high school teaching and learning.

Elaine K. McEwan

Expect Students to Activate, Connect and Summarize Daily

The activate, connect, and summarize daily routine can help struggling adolescent readers acquire new content. It consists of asking students to activate (what did we learn yesterday?), connect (draw a connection between your life and the topic that we’ll discuss today), and summarize (give me a keyword or phrase that describes today’s lesson) in the classroom everyday.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

About the Book

Coraline’s parents are too busy to play with her. She’s on her own, and when she goes exploring in her new apartment she unlocks a door that leads to a different world. At first it looks familiar, even intriguing, but Coraline quickly learns that evil lurks there. Soon, Coraline is caught in a life or death challenge — to save herself, her family, and three lost children. It is an experience that will forever change her.

About the Author

Neil Gaiman is the author of the New York Times best-selling children’s book Coraline and of the picture books The Day I Swapped My Dad for 2 Goldfish and The Wolves in the Walls. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning American Gods, Neverwhere, Stardust (winner of the ALA’s Alex Award as one of 2000’s top ten adult novels for young adults), and the short fiction collection Smoke and Mirrors. He is also the author of the Sandman series of graphic novels. Among his many awards are the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and the Bram Stoker Award.

About the Illustrator

Dave McKean has created illustrations and photographs for hundreds of CD, book, and comic covers as well as publishing projects with John Cale, Stephen King, and the Rolling Stones. He is probably best known for his graphic novels, including the best-selling Arkham Asylum and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. He also illustrated Gaimain’s children’s books Coraline, The Wolves in the Walls and The Day I Swapped My Dad for 2 Goldfish. He is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Cages which won the Alph-Art, Pantera, and Harvey Awards for best Graphic Novel, and Pictures That Tick, which recently won the V&A Museum Illustrated Book Awards Overall First Prize. He has written and directed several short films and has contributed production designs for the second and third Harry Potter films.

Guide provided by Harper Collins.

Discussion Questions

  • Describe Coraline. What kind of a person is she? How does she like to spend her time?
  • How is Coraline treated by her parents? Who are the other adults in Coraline’s life and how do they treat her? What is the difference between how she is treated in the real world and the other world?
  • How does Coraline define bravery? In what ways does Coraline demonstrate bravery? What is your definition of bravery?
  • How is Coraline’s life with her other family different from life with her real family? What does Coraline find appealing about life in the other world? What family would you choose? Why?
  • Coraline’s other mother tells her that if she wants to stay in the other world there is one thing she must do. What is it? What effect will it have on her?
  • What challenge does Coraline present to her other mother? What will happen if she loses? What will happen if she wins? What makes her think winning is possible? Do you think this challenge is wise? Why or why not?
  • Do the mirrors Coraline encounters in the real world and the other world reflect reality or illusion? How do you know? What is the significance of mirrors in Coraline?
  • When Coraline finds her other father in the basement, he tells her to flee. When she refuses he turns on her, and tries to harm her. How does Coraline respond? What happens as a result?
  • On page 120, Coraline says, “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if we just got everything we wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?” Do you agree or disagree with her? How would you respond to her question?
  • How does Coraline’s life change when she returns to the real world with her parents? What does Coraline learn from the experience of being in the other world?
  • After Coraline returns to the real world she receives clues that the other mother’s work is not done. How does Coraline foil the other mother once and for all?
Coraline

Coraline

Neil Gaiman
Age Level:
Middle Grade
Genre:
Fantasy, Fiction
Published:
2006

Edwin S. Ellis

The Clarifying Routine: Elaborating Vocabulary Instruction

The more a new vocabulary word is associated with ideas from students’ own experience, the more likely the word will become well ‘networked’ and a permanent part of memory. Making these links involves elaborating definitions of new terms. This article offers teachers several ways to facilitate elaboration.

Colorín Colorado

Escritura basada en los estándares para estudiantes ELL

Escribir es comunicación, creatividad y colaboración. Escribir es un proceso social para los estudiantes ELL, igual que para cualquier otro escritor. Para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés lograr el equilibrio entre escribir bien y respetar los estándares depende de la calidad del proceso de enseñanza, la práctica y el entorno de la clase para aprender.

Higuera Bio Pic

Fiction and Fantasy

Donna Barba Higuera

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.”
― The Last Cuentista

Adi with a black leather jacket leaning on a white wall

Adi Alsaid

“Fleeing, leaving, moving. The world seemed to have very different reactions to each, somehow hating people more the less choice they had.” -Come On In

Q&A with Dr. Todd Cunningham

In this Q&A with Dr. Todd Cunningham, you’ll learn the basics about assistive technology (AT) and how AT tools can help students with language-based learning disabilities to reach their full potential in the classroom.

Craig Jerald

School Culture: The Hidden Curriculum

Walk into any truly excellent school and you can feel it almost immediately — a calm, orderly atmosphere that hums with an exciting, vibrant sense of purposefulness. This is a positive school culture, the kind that improves educational outcomes.
Tonya Bolden

Historial Fiction, Biography, Nonfiction

Tonya Bolden

Tonya Bolden is a researcher, writer, editor, and publisher with a passion for history and historymakers, and sharing the past with young people. Bolden has written more than 20 books for children and young adults, including biographies of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and George Washington Carver, Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl (winner of a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award), and How to Build a Museum — the story behind the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Bolden’s impeccable research enriches all of her books; she transforms facts into compelling stories that inspire and challenge her readers to learn more. As a child, Bolden thought that one day she would be a teacher, and now she is — teaching young people through her many books.

 

E. D. Hirsch, Jr.

What Do Reading Comprehension Tests Measure? Knowledge.

The federal No Child Left Behind law requires more testing of students, and has spurred some frantic and ineffectual test preparation in many schools, says the author, E. D. Hirsch, Jr. Reading tests must use unpredictable texts to be accurate measures of reading ability, but if you cannot predict the subject matter on a valid reading test, how can you prepare students? Hirsch says you can’t, and, therefore, you shouldn’t try. The only useful way to prepare for a reading test is indirectly by becoming a good reader of a broad range of texts, an ability that requires broad general knowledge.”

Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement

Summer Bridge Programs

More students fail ninth grade than any other grade and many of these students ultimately drop out. Can pre-emptive interventions lead to increased graduation rates? Emerging evidence suggests that eight-grade transition programs increase pass rates, boost enthusiasm for learning, improve academic skills, enhance self-esteem, and reduce discipline problems.