Calling all English teachers!

[closertofine]

I found out today that I am being given the Honors 9 class next year.  Very long story, but we hired and have dealt with an inept teacher for four years now, and our honors program has suffered heavily, so they are moving me in an attempt to get it back on track.  I taught Honors 9 for two years in 2009 and 2010.  Some time in the last eight years though, all of my materials, really good stuff, have disappeared.  No mystery though...inept teacher purged her entire classroom the day she started (without even attempting to see what might, you know, be useful). We attempted to rescue what we could, but the Honors 9 material wasn't a priority for me then as I hadn't taught it in four years at that point.  


I'm fairly certain she also got rid of textbooks, novels, vocab books, etc. but that's a separate issue.


So I am posting to ask if anything has anything really amazing for the following:


To Kill a Mockingbird

Of Mice and Men

Romeo and Juliet

Great Expectations

There were other longer texts, but the 10th grade Honors teacher absorbed them once we realized what was going on in Honors 9 and is unwilling now to give them up.  I am also interested in your recommendations for other novels, but ordering has already passed, so it is doubtful I will be able to get anything for next year at this point.  I will also be teaching Lord of the Flies and at least two other novels, but I have to start digging in cupboards and closets to see what my options are.

All of my personal notes on the novels, etc. gone.  *sob*

Thanks in advance!!

[closertofine]

Update

Another teacher actually saved a large portion of my stuff!! More than I ever hoped to see again. I opened her file cabinet and saw my handwriting and nearly cried.

I'm still interested in new ideas for the course though, so please share with me!

[sugarbear]

That's great!
I don't have anything great for any of those texts but I did just build an awesome hyperdoc for The Pearl, if you've got any flexibility.
Also, if you need a new vocab program and are willing to spend some money, I highly recommend Word Voyage. They will tailor word lists to your novels and will differentiate groups for you. You can also assess grammar within the vocab program.

[nsl]

My first thought is that the novel list is really heavy on dead white men.

My Honors 9 class includes lit circles (choice novels read in small groups), and it's much easier on my personal/department budget to buy handfuls of titles to rotate between groups than it is to buy 100+ copies of the same book that only lasts us for a single unit. I'd at least consider adding in some more diverse authors, and experimenting with a lit circle concept if money is a concern. You might want to consider The House on Mango Street, Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian (more complicated to teach now with the recent allegations against Sherman Alexie, but could be an entry point into inquiry about consent, power, etc...), A Raisin in the Sun, and March.

[closertofine]

May 20, 2018 7:31:58 GMT -5 nsl said:

My first thought is that the novel list is really heavy on dead white men.

My Honors 9 class includes lit circles (choice novels read in small groups), and it's much easier on my personal/department budget to buy handfuls of titles to rotate between groups than it is to buy 100+ copies of the same book that only lasts us for a single unit. I'd at least consider adding in some more diverse authors, and experimenting with a lit circle concept if money is a concern. You might want to consider The House on Mango Street, Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian (more complicated to teach now with the recent allegations against Sherman Alexie, but could be an entry point into inquiry about consent, power, etc...), A Raisin in the Sun, and March.

You're absolutely right. A Raisin in the Sun can and likely will be added as we do have some copies floating around. I've not read Absolutely...but it is on my niece's 9th grade honors list for the summer (at a different school), so I was interested in what she has to say in the fall about it. I will check it out regardless. House on Mango Street is taught in 10th grade.

[taratru]

I also realized this year that much of my 9th grade advanced stuff is dead white dudes, so I'm making some changes next year. Adding Brown Girl Dreaming, Cold Sassy Tree, and then a list of multi-cultural choices for book groups. I'm dumping Lord of the Flies and possibly Fahrenheit 451.

eta: I also just came back to the classroom after a 4-year admin stint and gave away all my stuff. Having to start over pretty much has been so good for me.  There are so many more things to do with technology now.   

[erbear]

May 20, 2018 7:31:58 GMT -5 nsl said:

My first thought is that the novel list is really heavy on dead white men.

My Honors 9 class includes lit circles (choice novels read in small groups), and it's much easier on my personal/department budget to buy handfuls of titles to rotate between groups than it is to buy 100+ copies of the same book that only lasts us for a single unit. I'd at least consider adding in some more diverse authors, and experimenting with a lit circle concept if money is a concern. You might want to consider The House on Mango Street, Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian (more complicated to teach now with the recent allegations against Sherman Alexie, but could be an entry point into inquiry about consent, power, etc...), A Raisin in the Sun, and March.

That was my thought too. I'd take the summer to design a better course with more diverse novels. The above are excellent selections. I'd add:
Toni Morrison (I like Beloved)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin)

[UMaineTeach]

www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/home/

I don’t know how many are HS level (I know a many are) or if they have the clips of people sharing opinions on their choice without watching the whole show, but there were some interesting diverse stories.

Maybe try a nonfiction or two as well. I don’t know how many books you can get into a year.

And one out there idea, consider the discussions you can have with picture books, even as a precursor to more on grade level texts. We read some interesting ones in summer school that I wonder about the level of thought that HS honors kids could bring vs struggling forth graders.
The Matchbox Diary (fiction immigration from Italy, could connect with current immigration)
Henry’s Freedom Box (been around, but a nonfiction that can lead to other books, the author seems to have some interesting ones that I haven’t read, like Freedom’s Children**(more on you kids reading level), maybe add a book about northern racism)
Malala, a Brave Girl from Pakistan/Iqbal, a Brave Boy from Pakistan: Two Stories of Bravery (nonfiction)
A boy and a jaguar ( nonfiction stuttering combined with fighting extinction)
In a beam of light (Einstein, good author’s note at the end)

**skim on google books, has racial slurs said by whites that are used by the black people who telling their own stories, so that would have to be a conversation about not reading it aloud/using it in discussion.