Middle School Resources

Use this forum item to share your best resources--unit plans, lesson plans, writing invitations, or other ideas that have worked for you in a middle school setting.

Just reply to this discussion item with a brief description of your resource (e.g., Hatchet Unit Plan) and then attach any files that go along with it. Ideally, we'll have a rich archive for new and veteran teachers alike. Be sure to include your name, and be sure to credit any resources you use from this site.

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Permalink Reply by Julia Holdsworth on April 21, 2011 at 4:31pm

Hey guys!

My name is Julia Holdsworth and I just recently created a unit plan compressed into two weeks. My unit plan is based around the book The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I created this unit for a seventh grade classroom and think it would fit well within it. I imagined my classroom to be that of mostly Hispanic ethnicity in the Miami area of Florida. The main focus of my unit plan is based around the connection and relatability for students. I feel students are growing up through puberty as Esperanza is in this novel. I think students could connect and love this book forever. I also based many of my lessons around the structure of this novel--how it is written, the style, etc. Overall, I think students will take a lot from this novel and hopefully from my unit plan.

Enjoy! :)

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Permalink Reply by Cami DenHartigh on April 21, 2011 at 9:36pm
Hey guys, I'm Cami DenHartigh and I wanted to do my Conceptual Unit on a Young Adult novel that middle school students would enjoy, relate to, and learn from so I chose to do a 10 day unit plan based on Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a book about a middle school boy who becomes legally blind after an accident he had as a younger boy. He doesn't remember what happened and his parents and brother never tell him the truth until the end of the book. Throughout the book he encounters many other obsticles that kids his age could relate to. That appealed to me because while teaching the basic literature concepts my students would be able to have fun reading and learn to compare/contrast, pick out the main themes and develop critical thinking.
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Permalink Reply by Katlin Freiberg on April 25, 2011 at 9:41am

Hello! This is a conceptual unit for the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.  It is intended for an eighth grade English class.  The students will be involved in the text through several opportunities to respond to discussion questions and be involved in activities related to the text. 

 

The main focus of the text is for the students to address conformity and find commonalities amongst their classmates.  I think the reading materials offers many opportunities for the students to think beyond the text and address issues in their own life.  

 

If you have any questions about the unit, feel free to contact me! Enjoy.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Simmons on April 17, 2012 at 2:59pm

My conceptual unit plan consists of ten lesson plans that will cover two weeks of classes for an 8th grade English class. This unit covers the horror genre of literature and will expose students to the essential elements of the genre such as creating an effective atmosphere and inducing fear and terror within the reader/audience. Students will discover the works of horror pioneers such as Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King. Students will also examine a horror-themed poem, and write their own horror-themed piece of poetry. The final project for this unit will incorporate technology by having students record, edit, and upload their own video of a horror scene they have written and created with a small group. This two week unit consists of ten lesson plans, a rubric for the final assignment, mentor texts, and activity sheets. Throughout the unit, group discussions will be held as well as individual journaling. This is a perfect unit for Halloween season.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa VanZee on April 19, 2012 at 6:31am

This is an uploaded pedagogy project for an ENG 311 class at Grand Valley State University. It is meant for an eighth grade class learning about the Holocaust. It incorporates both the book and film version of "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas".

I want to be a teacher who gets students to really love reading, and encourages them to learn through what the text can teach, not what we can squeeze out of a text. So my unit may seem like a bunch of different ideas rolled into one, because it is! I think that novels do not teach just one element of reading or writing and you (and the students) can miss many important teachings if it is not done this way, especially for this book and the subject matter it covers.

Have questions? Ask away! 

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Permalink Reply by Andria Barberi on April 19, 2012 at 11:41am

Hi,

My name is Andria Barberi, and you can find my conceptual unit on mythology using The Lightning Thief here.

 

The role of mythology in American culture is prominent not only through words and symbols, but in current popular art, such as television shows, movies and video games.  Taking advantage of mythology’s current popularity, Rick Riordan has written a wonderful young adult novel that mingles Greek mythology with a coming of age tale that resonates with middle school students.  The lesson plan I’ve created is meant to utilize Riordan’s book to teach mythology while integrating themes that are important to middle school students and the technology that has become a part of their everyday lives.

 

This plan includes activities for the students to gauge the power hierarchy within the major Greek gods, a wiki project where students apply to Camp Half-Blood, and a trading card activity based on the characters of the novel.

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