Help me give my students 3 different high engaging novels that relate to the real world and will build their vocabulary, analysis, and discussion skills. All 3 novels link back to today's world and their lives.
We are a rural school district in Northwest Iowa that serves Pre-K through 12th grade in one building. Most of the 700 people that live in our community are lower to the middle class, with 75% of our students receiving free or reduced lunch. Even with those statistics, we are above the proficient line in state testing, but our main focus for the school year will be challenging the top half of our population in advanced reading and math courses.
I have an energetic group of boys (only 2 females will be in this class of 12) that will be conquering their last English class before graduation.
This group of students consists of rural farm kids who excel at hands-on activities and love reading and learning about agriculture, history, current events, sports, and would much rather be outside. For the past 3 years, they have been dominated by a rather large class of independent females. None of the boys have taken initiative to discuss, analyze, or even get a chance to debate issues we read about. I would like to take their last year of English and be able to put some engaging literature and non-fiction in their hands.
My Project
At the end of the 2018-19 school year, I surveyed the students who would be enrolled in my English 12 course for 2019-20. With a large male population, all of the students asked for more real-world literature and non-fiction novels. The students and I listed out the standards and chose 3 high engaging novels that would pique their interest and merge with their lives. One novel is about a shooting that occurs in a mall (similar to Mall of America), a Stephen King novel that starts in modern day but travels back to solve Kennedy's assassination, and the last novel is a nonfiction Odyssey of a man that gives up everything to travel to Alaska and live on nothing. All 3 novels draw each of my students into the story and help them to understand the standards of analyzing, discussing, and meeting the 12th-grade reading standards all the while being drawn into books they will connect with and love reading!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Kirk and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.