Noticing Sentences

This is a gorgeous book, told in prose and poetry, about Artemisia Gentileschi . Hers is an amazing and tragic story. Mentors/ Problems Father babbles out some useless nonsense when I tried to ask him how to fix the problem. I don't think he understood my question. If he cannot see the problem to begin with, how could he ever solve it? p26-27 Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough Secrets Writing Prompt?                                         I'll tell you another secret. What's that?                                        There's a lot you can get away with                                       when no one is watching. p48 Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough The world as...

FYI: Before we begin, I want to note that I have left all of the curse words in. You can decide what is right for your students and your situation. Personally, when I share quotes with students, I tend to put a solid box over the curses. #relateable  School, it turns out, is super easy once you remove all the other kids, asshole teachers, and disgusting shit that goes on. p 52 Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow How life changes... I was shoving my bare hands into Dumpsters, and then I was shoving cardboardy mac and cheese in my face with a spork, and now I'm shopping . p111 Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow Attitude She makes a growling sound. "You girls today. You make me so fucking sad. The world hurts enough. Why fucking chase it down?" p116 Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow Ariel says, "What you are thinking, Charlie? Speak. I always tell my students that whatever they feel about art, it is true, because it is true to their experience, not m...

Lists-- no commas I hate it when she does this, makes me feel young and obvious and stupid. p 40 All We Have Left by Wendy Mills Confidence/ Strength "Yes," she says. "What I wanted to say is this: you are stronger than you think you are. We all are." p76 All We Have Left by Wendy Mills "The more I discovered the more I want to know." p291 All We Have Left by Wendy Mills Religion/ Faith Eventually my father intervened, telling me gently that faith was a road map to happiness, God willing, not a roadblock to fun , and asked me to go to my room to calm down. p92 All We Have Left by Wendy Mills While I'm on this topic for a moment, I live in a rural area with not a lot of diversity of race, ethnicity, or religion. For my students, this book gives them one point of view that they can use to start opening up their minds to more than the very limited point of view they may witness in popular culture and news. I found the discussions of ...

An eye-opening book about cacao harvest. Your activist and agricultural students will enjoy this book. I didn't have as many quotes that I marked while reading this one, but here they are. I felt like they were the kind of sentences that state things that might make students think. Surprising statements or different ways of thinking. They could easily be applied to many different topics in the classroom. A different way of thinking-- how do students respond? Given her height, she's probably a little younger than me, maybe thirteen or fourteen, but she's not as skinny as most of the girls I knew at home. Maybe the drought is over if people have food to spare on girls. p 10 The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan "You're like the bosses?" he gasps. That had been my first thought too. " Ayi , Seydou," she says earnestly. "I just grew up in the same country as them, but that does not make me like them." p207   The Bitter Side of S...

This book is not YA, but some of your young adults may enjoy it. What I felt was most valuable about this book is the way it can open up discussion about discrimination and the way in which we ingrain it into society. It also, therefore, has a great discussion for a creative writing class on how real an author can make their world feel by truly fleshing out all the ways in which whatever change they've made from our world to their world affects so much. Discrimination “Here’s a hint,” I said. “One comes from a beloved android character from one of the most popular films of all time. The other describes the sound of broken machinery. Guess which one we like better. P 25 Lock in  by John Scalzi (Also a good example of allusion) “Are you saying I should just shut up every time someone says something stupid or factually wrong about Hadens?” I asked. “I just want to be clear what you’re asking.” “I’m saying pay attention to when it makes sense to say something,” Vann said. ...

Allusion This house is basically a Charles Dickens orphanage, except the kids are happy and the villain here is complete outnumbered. p 29 A List of Cages by Robin Roe Matt gasps. He knows that Order of the Phoenix is the longest and most potentially dangerous of all the Harry Potter books when used as a weapon. p75 A List of Cages by Robin Roe Quotes for Teachers This whole section where Adam tells the story of being Julian's reading buddy is something I'd love to get every reading teacher to read. He said his dad had gotten them [a stack of books] for him because he was a good reader now. He went back to being cheerful-humming-Julian till the end of the year, when our buddies had to write an actual book report. p 48  A List of Cages by Robin Roe Loss/ Grief/ Memories It's strange how many ways there are to miss someone. You miss the things they did and who they were, but you also miss who you were to them. The way everything you said and did was beautiful...