Mrs. Tiffany Edwards’ seventh grade students at Sutton Middle School have been contributing to our blog! Their responses have added some sparks to our intensely profound conversations, and we are all beneficiaries of the collaboration. Thanks, Mrs. Edwards and class.

Literary connection: In her picture book The Very Best of Friends (1989), Margaret Wild suggest friendships can be fragile. Wild supports this suggestion when her character Jesse, a widow, and her late husband’s cat, William find themselves alone and trying to cope with James’ unexpected death. Wild’s purpose is to show that people and animals, […]

What does what we say and how we say it tell people about us? In other words, what might people assume about us based upon how we talk? Why is this important in literature and in life?

Although our interpretation of success may vary, everyone wants to acquire it – especially middle school students. Who is responsible for your success and what does success mean to you?

Annotating text is not a new strategy. However, the fusion of the Common Core and the Georgia Performance Standards has placed emphasis on annotating text in the middle grades. Briefly discuss what annotating is and why teachers are explicitly teaching students to annotate text.

Literary connection: Lois Lowry’s The Giver Simply stated, technology refers to the tools that we use to make our lives easier. Is is possible, however, that many of our technological innovations are having a negative impact? How might people and nature be at risk because of some of today’s technology?