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| Thanks to TWT for hosting this month's writing challenge! |
For the second half of this quarter, I've been focusing on teaching the skill of making inferences. I have enjoyed finding texts that are interesting to my students (and me!). When the rover, Perseverance, was sent to Mars, I found a pair of texts about rovers (nonfiction) and future life on Mars (graphic novel).
When I asked students what kinds of stories they enjoyed, many of them wanted stories with suspense. Many of them wanted spooky / creepy / horror stories. I obliged the 8th graders (since I only have one group of them) and bought each a copy of Don't Turn Out the Lights. I chose a few short tales to read with them, and I pointed out the more intense (spiders coming out of heads! plague turns neighbors into zombies!) selections to the students who wanted to read those.
In reading all these mysteries, I'm reminded of the stacks of books I would carry home from the library every other week. My goal was to read every Nancy Drew mystery (I think I did). Once I finished those and the Encyclopedia Brown series, I delved into Agatha Christie's books. Later I enjoyed books by Dean Koontz and earlier Stephen King novels.
As we read a short story today called "An Unexpected Visit," I wanted to point out ALL the clues in the text (because I knew the ending). Then I stopped myself. To truly enjoy a mystery, you need to have the satisfaction of figuring it out on your own.
Lucky students that have you to thank for adding a little suspense to their lives. Encyclopedia Brown was my favorite when I was a kid. It is so satisfying to figure them out.
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