Comments on: OH NOOOOOO! (Part I)

By: linda

linda — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:01:50 +0000

love this dialog… I am currently an elem school librarian but formerly an 8th grade English teacher…I taught the PIGMAN to my 8th graders ,20 years ago and they loved it (my dept head had serious reservations about it because of the bathroom “bomb” in the first chapter)
cam’t go wrong with anything by AVi. the best first sentence in just about any kids book is the one in TRUE CONFESSIONS of CHARLOTTE DOYLE

By: mrC

mrC — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:05:30 +0000

@ Mrs. M- My very first year here, I had three periods of eighth grade, and I pretty much stuck to the anthology, which had the play in it. I didn’t have time to read the diary, so I went with the notes in the TE. I think we also watched some of the old movie version.
@ Sara- That’s why Maus is so good. Somehow, those little pictures really help them “get it.” Luckily, I still have my class set from 6 years back, made by my student servant, standing in front of the copy machine for a week.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:28:23 +0000

While I understand why students should read Anne Frank, I have problems with it being done in 8th grade. Every year someone wants to compare the Confederates to the Nazis or ask when the Nazis entered the Civil War. It’s just my pet peeve, though. I know that covering Anne Frank makes 10th grade World History easier for the kids.

By: Mrs. M~

Mrs. M~ — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:26:31 +0000

If you do not like reading the full diary, you could try the play version of Anne Frank. I do it every year, and it is one of my students’ favorite units. The Prentice Hall textbook has a fantastic audio performance of the play, so we listen as we read along for the whole thing. When I first started teaching, I had the students read the play aloud, which was torture. Listening to it is much better. Even if you don’t have the PH anthology, the play is the same no matter where it is published, so you could order the PH audio and use it with whatever version you have. I highly recommend it. Maus is awesome too, of course–they would work together nicely.