This course is all about contemporary middle school level literature! All stories were published in 2017 or later. This means that all stories we read together will be relatable for students! Each student will need a copy of the books "Flying Lessons and Other Stories" edited by Ellen Oh and "The Door of No Return" by Kwame Alexander.

We will have a very small group of students. We will meet twice per week for 30 minutes, and every student will have the opportunity to speak about what they've read. This is a fairly reading intensive course, so please make sure your student is ready to read. During each meeting, we will discuss the assigned reading and the accompanying reading questions. I will ask discussion questions, and students will have the opportunity to ask any questions they have. 

I will post vocabulary words, accompanying worksheets, and the title of the reading section on the first Saturday of class. After we meet on Tuesdays, I will post the necessary materials for reading and completion before Friday's meeting. After Friday's meeting, I will post the necessary materials for reading and completion before the next Tuesday's meeting. I will expect that students complete all readings and worksheets by the time we meet on Tuesdays and Fridays. I will also post optional vocabulary games.

Each section of reading will have accompanying vocabulary and reading comprehension questions. Each short story will have a specific focus in a middle school English standard. While reading chapters of "The Door of No Return," students will focus on figurative language and text analysis. 

Week 1: "How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium" by Matt De La Peña
- Focus on point of view and analyzing dialogue
"The Difficult Path" by Grace Lin
- Focus on the ways modern literature draws on themes, patterns of events, and character types from myths or traditional stories

Week 2: "Sol Painting, Inc." by Meg Medina
- Focus on identifying theme and central idea
 "Secret Samantha" by Tim Federle
- Focus on determining the meaning of words as phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings

Week 3: "The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn" by Kelly J. Baptist
- Focus on citing textual evidence that most strongly supports analysis of a text
"Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains" by Tim Tingle
- Focus on analyzing how different points of view create effects such as suspense or humor

Week 4: "Main Street" by Jacqueline Woodson
- Focus on analyzing how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text
"Flying Lessons" by Soman Chainani
- Focus on analyzing the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts

Week 5: "Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents" by Kwame Alexander
- Focus on analysis of the structure of texts
"Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push" by Walter Dean Myers
- Focus on assessing how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text

Week 6: "The Door of No Return" Chapters 1 and 2

Week 7: "The Door of No Return" Chapters 3 and 4

Week 8: "The Door of No Return" Chapters 5 and 6

Week 9: "The Door of No Return" Chapter 7

Week 10: Research and Essay Writing