Hello All, I will be teaching the following novels next year to Jr. High students: - The Midwife's Apprentice - To Kill a Mockingbird - The Phantom Tollbooth I have found great resources on the internet, but would appreciate some any ideas you are willing to help. I am particularly looking for a breakdown/ layout of how long reading assignments took. TIA
I am surprised that you are teaching To Kill a Mockingbird in middle school. We teach it in 10th grade here just because the content is rather intense and the vocabulary is pretty advanced. It takes me about 4-5 weeks to teach it thoroughly.
We read To Kill a Mocking Bird when I was in middle school. I did not get it at that young of an age. Now, that I am older, I am a little shocked we read it that young.
We do the Midwife's Apprentice sometimes. It is very short and a little graphic for some kids. I always offer a second choice with it. I try to team its reading with my student's social studies teacher. They student the Middle Ages.
I have not ever taught those novels in middle school, so I have no idea what a pacing guide or ideas would look like. I did Phantom Toll Booth as a read-aloud with my fifth graders once, and they loved it. We had a panel discussion "words vs. numbers," and some silly games. All of the activities I have for the book are for 5th graders, though, and wouldn't be appropriate for middle schoolers. My kids loved watching the movie, though. Here To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic Freshman book, so I've never taught it. I haven't read The Midwife's Apprentice in several years, but I remember it being on my "For young teens nor mature tweens" list. I remember one character having an affair, and the main girl almost getting gang-raped, and some pretty graphic descriptions of births. I think that I decided not to do that one at school to avoid the many, many questions I knew my kids would have. I know none of this is what you are looking for, but I do think that you should consider what people are saying if no middle school teachers have teaching ideas or pacing guides because these books are commonly taught at other levels, or not commonly taught at all. I would at least stop and consider why.
I don't have any pacing guides, either, because we do Mockingbird in 10th grade, and aren't allowed to do Midwife's Apprentice (for reasons mentioned... i.e. small conservative school). I hope you find some good resources! I'm wondering, too, how much of Mockingbird kids that young would get and how much more in depth you could go if it were taught later. I know that doesn't help you, but just my two cents.
I understand what the previous posters are saying... I have spoken with my Principal and Assistant Principal and they are both OK with me teaching The Midwife's Apprentice and To Kill a Mockingbird. I know that should problems arise that I have their support on the subject. I would not be taking on either of these novels had I thought my kids could not handle the subject matter!
