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Comment by Joan F. Kaywell on September 11, 2009 at 4:03pm

If you consider yourself an English langauge arts teacher (at any level), please post something you wrote TODAY in the gallery I'm curating: A (Fri)Day in the Life of an English Teacher
Description: Teachers write for a variety of purposes in the classroom. To give the general public an idea of the kinds of writing that teachers do on a daily basis, please submit anything you write in school on the day (Friday) of SEPTEMBER 11, 2009.

Only material written on the actual day of September 11, 2009, should be submitted. What you write might or might not have anything to do with 9/11. The purpose of this gallery is to give non-educators an idea of the kinds of writing that are required of teachers during a school day. Go to the following link and follow the directions to post.

http://galleryofwriting.org/galleries/98928

THANKS

Comment by Maggie Dorsey on April 23, 2009 at 9:16am

I use Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin and it's a perennial favorite.

Comment by Katrina Gonzales on April 23, 2009 at 8:09am

Two of my favorites to read aloud to sixth graders are The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 and Becoming Naomi Léon. At the eighth grade level, I reallly enjoy reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Boy Who Dared.

Comment by Mary Anna Kruch on April 22, 2009 at 2:46pm

I am compiling an annotated bibliography for our affiiate readers of students' favorite YA books for teachers to read aloud--and in doing so, I have been re-reading many of my students' favorite read-alouds. Would any group members honor me with your short list of student favorites? This originally began as part of a President's Update column I was writing for our affiate e-newsletter, the Michigan English Teacher or eMet, but I was thinking that this would be a great place to ask for folks' suggestions. I would be happy to send a link to the May newsletter with my article -- and the compiled list, which will likely appear in the June issue. You may list some suggestions here, or send your suggestions to me at mask92369@gmail.com. If you feel like adding a short summary or review, even better! Thanks! I am most appreciative! Here are the ones I have so far:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie
Deadline – Chris Crutcher
Whale Talk – Chris Crutcher
Dicey’s Song – Cynthia Voight
Homecoming – Cynthia Voight
Tears of a Tiger – Sharon Draper
The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place – e.l. konigsburg
Absolutely Normal Chaos – Sharon Creech
Ruby Holler – Sharon Creech
Pictures of Hollis Woods – Patricia Reilly Giff
Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson
Catalyst – Laurie Halse Anderson
The Wednesday Wars – Gary D. Schmidt

Mary Anna

Comment by Melissa Comer on February 24, 2009 at 7:56am

Hello one and all! If you teach a YAL course at the university or college level (either as a stand-alone course or in conjunction with other courses such as children's lit, secondary reading, etc.). Once I receive the responses, I will tabulate the results and compile a formal report and sumbit to ALAN.
Thanks so much. . . Melissa

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9qgysEEgKmfgW3XsU6bKdw_3d_3d

Comment by Denni Kay Scates on February 3, 2009 at 2:35pm

I am hearing a lot of people talking about Three cups of Tea as a summer read--both in high school and college (by Greg Mortenson)

Comment by Steve Bickmore on February 3, 2009 at 8:05am

My bad. YA lit could not hurt the cause. Sorry about that.

Comment by Steve Bickmore on February 3, 2009 at 8:04am

A friend asked for some advice for a novel to be used as a summer reading for a high school. They have used Crowe's Mississippi Trial and Fleischman's Whiriligig. It does have to be YA lit, but it could hurt the cause.

The school is in the suburban Salt Lake City area.

Any and all ideas welcome.

Comment by Alicia Monroe on January 2, 2009 at 1:49am

I finished Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series shortly before convention. While teaching my 8th-grade students Barry Lane's equation for building a scene (snapshot + thoughtshot + dialogue = scene), I found her work an excellent resource for sharing published examples. Meyers builds scenes beautifully, weaving rich character and setting details with internal monologues and dialogue.

Comment by Maggie Dorsey on December 8, 2008 at 4:42pm

I once had a student who drew a powerful parallel between Dr. Frankenstein's creation of a monster of which he was terrified, and of which he ultimately could not control, and the U.S. "creation" of Saddam Hussein's reign of terror in Iraq, which was ultimately uncontrollable. Since then, I have used his concept as a model--students in grades 9-12 have successfully drawn parallels between Frankenstein's monster and various "monsters" of our own creation. I would imagine this would work with any of Hopkins' books.

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