Book Trailer #16: My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights

It's totally obvious Brooks Benjamin is a teacher. Why? He's done your work for you. Do you need to include the Common Core State Standards in your lesson plans? No worries. Brooks Benjamin has them all below. If you want more Common Core activities to go along with his novel, be sure to check out his website www.brooksbenjamin.com/

Activity Name: PRE-READING ACTIVITIES

Activity Description:
Discuss different types of dance students are familiar with and whether they associate those styles with boys or girls and why they make those connections. Have them write down any myths or misconceptions they have experienced or know about regarding gender stereotypes (“what boys do” and “what girls do”). Then have them research important figures who have defied traditional gender stereotypes and discuss how these figures have demonstrated that gender roles are limiting.

★ Correlates with: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3-5.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Have students read the NewsELA article located at
https://newsela.com/articles/girls-brilliance/id/26309/ and discuss the gender stereotypes outlined in the article. Have them consider this article as they write a short narrative about a kid choosing to pursue a hobby or interest not considered “typical” for their gender.

★ Correlates with CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3-5.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Activity Name:
VOCABULARY/USE OF LANGUAGE

Activity Description:
Students may find unfamiliar reading or dance-related vocabulary in the novel. Using either context clues or traditional dictionaries, have students define new words. Some examples are roundoff (p.6), hermit (p. 24), choreography (p.46), développé (p. 62), plié (p.62), jeté (p. 177).

★ Correlates with CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3-5.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Internet Resources:
http://cbtdance.org/about/glossary-of-ballet-terms/
This website defines traditional ballet vocabulary in descriptive, easy-to-understand terms.

http://boysdancing.org
This is a British website covering the activities of a project dedicated to encouraging interested boys to dance. It is a fabulous resource for videos, pictures, and articles about boys in dance.

Teacher's Guide:

my_seventh_grade_life_in_tights.pdf
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