For example, lesson
ten - It Gives Me... ask the students what gives them hope, joy, pride and last
pause in their lives. Some students responded deeply saying it gives me pause
to think about the universe and my place in it. Others said it gives me pause
when I lose my homework. One of the hope ones really touched me, the student
said it gives me hope when my mom says "see you later."
A second example is
lesson eight: A Pyramid of Personal Qualities. Students here had to examine
their self and translate that to what they want to later become. The authors
say in their notes: "This activity is not meant to focus on any specific
goal or goals of students, but rather on their goals in general - the person
they want to become.
A third example is
lesson twenty-two, I Got the English Class Blues. Hooking the students with a
blues song remade by Beyonce' the web is set. Students then paired up to look
up music like John Lee Hooker, Jelly Roll, and Robert Johnson and figure out
what the songs mean. The next day students are reading poetry from Langston
Hughes like The Weary Blues. Afterwards students are to write their own blues
poem serious or whimsical. They are giving titles they can choose from like The
Intolerance Blues, or The No Allowance this Week Blues. One of the student
examples I really liked was Best Friend Blues starts out "My Best Friend
has replaced me with someone I know." Last, I liked the extended lesson
for this that invited kids to record and add music to their poem.
Basically all of the twenty-four lessons in this book
invite students to self-examine, some less, and some more. I tried to include
the ones that really probed at the heart of what this book was about -
self-examination with core standards.
Building Strong
Writers in Middle School is loaded with creative, self-examining lessons to get
the student to write better, grander, and more precisely. One of my favorite
lessons, lesson eleven happened to be lesson eleven's extension. First lesson
eleven invited students to tell their story of someone who was only in their
life for a short time but impacted them greatly. This lesson provides a great
example of a young boy named Roger who gets a big brother named Jim for about
six months. Jim gives Roger the encouragement he needs at a time he really
needs it. This lesson is a lot of writing, so the extension exercise pulls only
parts of the student essays that are written well and post them under a topic
titled: Yes, Middle School Students Write Well.
Some of these
pulled-out sentences were beautifully, and thoughtfully written, and together
made a huge impact.
These were some of
them:
• I never told
anyone the following story, except God in my good-night prayers.
• The turn, the evil
turn i had been anticipating, had arrived.
And last, my
favorite:
• I will never
return to my old, gray, lethargic lifestyle because I have gained so much by
living a life filled with color.
First, that last one
is so not J. Alfred Prufrock, and second, a middle school student knowing the
word lethargic, and using it correctly. And last, the beautiful contrast in a
perfect parallel of adjectives. This is amazing! This book made me want to
listen to the words and voices of students. Reading student examples was my
favorite part of reading this book.
Another student
example that amazed me wasn't because it was fabulously well-written, but
because of the distinct beat of a heart-felt response. It was from lesson thirteen:
Help, Hope, Hurray. This student was one of hope where he wrote to someone with
Asperger's.
"Dear Nick,
We'd like to thank
you very much for speaking to our class last Wednesday. For that 30-minute
period, you brought us into your life and taught us about Asperger's Syndrome
in a way no textbook or teacher could ever do. You brought upon us a new wave
of understanding, and we thank you."
In short, there were other great student examples, but
these were some of my favorites.
