1) Kelly Gallagher's work. His books are geared for late middle/early high school. I think you would enjoy and utilize his work.
2) Recognize that selecting books for GT kids is an extra challenge.
My students are really intense readers and don't want other reading to get in the way of their reading choices. For the most part, I just let them read and select their own literature because they do well with that. Most of my kids will take one author and read every single book written by that author before moving on to repeat the cycle with a new one. My attempts at small group novels this year have felt like chores because of that. They so much want to continue with their selections, so this is what I had to do to make novel selections work:
~ Let students have some choices on what they might be reading in a small group or whole group. GT students are passionate about many things and will give 300% if they are interested. I worked with the librarian and took my class into the book room to make selections and find a group.
~ Slow the novel progress down enough so that it allows students to continue reading their "other" book. In fact, it can be part of the expectation that another book be read during that time. When I did this, I felt like a compromise was reached with my class.
And I have to agree that if I was in the middle of reading Life of Pi and the Hunger Games, I wouldn't want to mess with some book club either.
Finally, I build in the last 5-10 minutes of school to read a whole-class novel. I typically have it match something we are studying.
Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant for a writing unit
The Watson's Go to Birmingham by Paul Curtis for our S.S. standards (and theme and writing)
My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen for our current memoir unit
I hope that helps, and good luck with your new adventures in the GT world!
Hello!
I have two suggestions for you.
1) Kelly Gallagher's work. His books are geared for late middle/early high school. I think you would enjoy and utilize his work.
2) Recognize that selecting books for GT kids is an extra challenge.
My students are really intense readers and don't want other reading to get in the way of their reading choices. For the most part, I just let them read and select their own literature because they do well with that. Most of my kids will take one author and read every single book written by that author before moving on to repeat the cycle with a new one. My attempts at small group novels this year have felt like chores because of that. They so much want to continue with their selections, so this is what I had to do to make novel selections work:
~ Let students have some choices on what they might be reading in a small group or whole group. GT students are passionate about many things and will give 300% if they are interested. I worked with the librarian and took my class into the book room to make selections and find a group.
~ Slow the novel progress down enough so that it allows students to continue reading their "other" book. In fact, it can be part of the expectation that another book be read during that time. When I did this, I felt like a compromise was reached with my class.
And I have to agree that if I was in the middle of reading Life of Pi and the Hunger Games, I wouldn't want to mess with some book club either.
Finally, I build in the last 5-10 minutes of school to read a whole-class novel. I typically have it match something we are studying.
Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant for a writing unit
The Watson's Go to Birmingham by Paul Curtis for our S.S. standards (and theme and writing)
My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen for our current memoir unit
I hope that helps, and good luck with your new adventures in the GT world!
Angela