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I love this exercise because it is totally creative and this medium allows students to write to tone. They have to create a story that goes with the tone of the song they are hearing, and if the tone shifts, so does the story. It is quick and informal and fun, and the short stories it produces (which they then edit through the writing process) are so unique! One of my favorites to use is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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The Magic Flute: Overture - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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I use these as a way of analyzing and encouraging public speaking or speech writing. While I do not use anything happening at the time (sadly), I do use more recent ex-presidents such as Barack Obama, who is an exceptional speaker. We also analyze speakers who do not do as well outside of their preferred medium (Ted Talk from Kid Cudi). They notice how as a rapper, Kid Cudi is exceptionally gifted. As a speaker... not so much. This allows them to feel more comfortable trying new things and writing in new styles because if Kid Cudi can fail in one area but succeed in another, so can they.

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Kid Cudi: Kid Cudi goes back to high school - and shares what he's learned

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"Music was my Plan G," says Scott Mescudi, actor and the Grammy-winning rapper known as Kid Cudi. "It wasn't like I didn't try everything else. I tried everything else." Returning to his high school, he explains how he found success as an artist through a combination of hard work, determination and blocking out the haters.

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I love using song lyrics, especially from artists like Tupac or Taylor Swift (she's my favorite). This allows students to write poetry without feeling the pressure that, for some reason, poetry tends to give. For something with "no rules" we have sure associated poetry with rules and restrictions and expectations. I love throwing all of those out the window every now and then and just letting kids write.

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"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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I use this book for writing because it is from a different perspective than one would think.  The narrator, Nick, is very outside-looking-in and he writes from a place of hindsight.  It is also, in my opinion, one of the most misunderstood texts in American literature. It is also vibrant in its use of imagery and symbolism, something I encourage in my 11th grade students when I have them do creative writing.

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Assorted Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe

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Assorted Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe

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Speaking of creative writing, I have students mimic Poe’s use of the horror genre and fictional short stories after doing a unit on his short stories. This allows them to have goals with their creativity while using Poe as a sort of surrogate creative writing coach.

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This may surprise some, but this is one of my favorite books of all time. While I have used pieces of it, I have never taught it. However, I intend to use it this year as a sort of reading experiment with my lower achieving classes. We will use it to analyze tone and character, but also to study the genre of dystopian fiction. It also has a lot of political lessons within it which I think my students will enjoy discovering as they read a book that is modern and they will actually like (no offense to the classics, of course). I think it can be extremely beneficial as writing students to observe that people use fiction to convey messages to masses. It is also written through the voice of a teenager who challenges the government’s systematic oppression to eventually lead to freedom.

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"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry

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"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry

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This book is crucial to my classroom because I reference it in all four of the different courses I teach. It is rather interesting from a writing standpoint because it was inspired by a very short poem, Harlem by Langston Hughes. It shows how different writers with different gifts can draw off the ideas and heart behind other artists’ works to establish their own voice in history.  It allows and encourages students to write theatrically and to be inspired by the world around them. It was also the first African American play to ever be featured on Broadway, which is another reason the writing style Hansberry uses is worth analyzing and appreciating.

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This is crucial to all writers. Since they are in high school they use MLA. I want them to have a resource to support their writing and research efforts. They need to know how to cite and that citing is not an optional aspect for writing.

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Before you dismiss this book... don't. This book is vital to my classroom, especially my 11th grade classroom, because it does actually have a lot of classic works in it which we analyze for writing style and argumentative tactics through our studies of rhetoric. It includes short stories such as "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner and "Civil Disobedience," by Henry David Thoreau.

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"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis

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"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis

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This book is what began my love for writing and story telling, as well as the fantasy genre (and fiction in general). The way C.S. Lewis depicts his characters to symbolize his beliefs and biblical illusions is astounding. This book also has picture book versions, as well as a movie series and Netflix is coming out with a series as well based on the books, making it a very multimodal option for secondary learners.

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This is something that is interesting to me as a literacy professional because on one hand, I love Instagram poetry. On the other hand, I think a lot of it are pretty quotes that are spaced out interestingly.  One account I use during a poetry unit is @atticusxo. Many students follow accounts like this, so I try to incorporate it into learning.

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International Literacy Association (ILA) journals and reports

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International Literacy Association (ILA) journals and reports

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While it is not a book, since joining ILA I have found myself feeling very supported. Anytime I have a question or I am interested in a topic regarding education or literacy, I am able to look it up and I instantly have answers, even if those answers lead me to more questions. It has so much information that it is becoming key in my practice.

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"The Writer’s World: Paragraphs and Essays" by Lynne Gaetz and Suneeti Phadke (Instructor’s Edition)

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"The Writer’s World: Paragraphs and Essays" by Lynne Gaetz and Suneeti Phadke (Instructor’s Edition)

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Another gift from the retired reading teacher, this book gives exercises and lessons to implement into your classroom for the instruction of writing when it comes to paragraph writing and essay writing. Since this is most of what I teach for students in my 11th grade class, when I am stuck it is a fantastic place to turn.

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"Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice" by Kylene Beers, Robert E. Probst, and Linda Rief

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"Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice" by Kylene Beers, Robert E. Probst, and Linda Rief

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This book from 2007 was given to me by a reading teacher in my school who retired last year. I saw it as she was cleaning out her classroom and she gave it to me. I have used it multiple times since then. It is a compiled work of wisdom and lessons teachers from all over the country regarding literacy for students in the secondary school setting. It is basically like sitting down to dinner with a bunch of people who know far more about the area of education which I am most passionate about.  One of my favorites is about writing and it is called “Teach Writing Your Way” by Donald M. Murray (2007, p 179), a Pulitzer Prize winning author.