Welcome to Teaching The Outsiders. This is yet another attempt at blogging; the last couple have sort of petered out, and there were some administrative “issues” as well, and…well…anyway. This one will follow me and my seventh graders through the process of reading S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. That’s the plan anyway. I have said for years that The Outsiders is the best way to make junior high, sorry, middle school kids like to read. To make them “get it” about literature having something to say about life. To make them understand what writers and readers do. To understand that it’s characters that make the story. And on and on. It’s my favorite thing we do in my class. So mostly, I guess this is for those middle school teachers out there who want to see what it looks like in someone else’s room when they “cover” or “read” or “study” a novel. Stay tuned. Meanwhile: Check out SeventhGradeEnglish.com for stuff to tide you through until September.
Middle school teaching: Five shows a day, 180 days a year.
That reminds me of those great SNL skits about the Sofa King. You know, how the prices are "Sofa King" low, the deals are "Sofa King" great, etc. (You obviously have to say those phrases out loud to get the joke.)