Many lessons ran through my mind while reading There There by Tommy Orange. We could talk about the parallel plot text structure; we could talk about the characterization of Native Americans; we could talk about mental health and addiction. So really, however you use this book with your students,...
The words are never right. The time is never perfect. And life keeps piling stress after stress onto the people we love. What do we say to someone who might be struggling with a mental illness? I usually ask if I can help in any way or send them their favorite junk food with a heart-felt note. But...
Being a teenager means a lot of things, but starting to date and get into romantic relationships or friendships sticks out as a huge milestone. The thing most teens need is guidance to make a healthy choice when choosing with whom to be friends or more than friends. Many students have seen toxic...
A bright part of every teacher’s day is getting to the class that your star student is in. You know the one. We see them reach for the sky every time we ask the class a question, they volunteer their personal time to help us staple packets, and they befriend the quiet kid during partner activities....
To be mentally healthy requires work, and many youth and their families turn to some kind of therapy, counseling, or inpatient program to aid in that work. Sometimes it’s just a friendly listening ear or an elder who might have been in their shoes once. Whatever the outlet or regimen recommended,...
Mental health is just as important as our physical health, and many educators understand this. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (51.5 million in 2019).” Depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, the list goes on and...
It’s not very often that TV shows or movies come before the book version, but it does happen sometimes! The art of writing is alive in visual media with scripts and screenplays, but turning those scenes, characters, and situations into chapters in a book sounds more difficult than turning a book...
Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ have taken over much of the television industry by taking popular and enticing books or comics and creating a TV series counterpart. This allows writers and directors to focus on details deeper than a single two-hour movie and create more complex character arches. The...
Code-switching is changing something about yourself to fit a certain situation or audience. The way you might talk to your friends versus talking to your parents by using two different tones of voice is an example of code-switching. People code-switch to make tone, wording, and appearance fit the...
In the majority of books, the narrator is human and alive, but in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the narrator is Death. Yes, Death with a capital D. As the story is told, the reader is immersed in a point of view that is unimaginable—the one who decides when everyone dies. Creepy, right?
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