Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders

by Staff Writer, Wicked Local 2018

We've identified these texts as great options for text pairings based on similar themes, literary devices, topic, or writing style. Supplement your lesson with one or more of these options and challenge students to compare and contrast the texts. To assign a paired text, click on the text to go to its page and click the "Assign Text" button there.

How to teach a young introvert

Kate Torgovnick May

In "How to teach a young introvert," author Susan Cain describes how schools can make learning environments more comfortable for introverted students.

Pair “How to teach a young introvert” with “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders” and ask students to compare the challenges that the two texts discuss. What is the educational challenge Kate Torgovnik writes about in “How to teach a young introvert”? What is the educational challenge the author writes about in “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders”? How is the challenge in “How to teach a young introvert” different from the challenge in “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders”? How do you think Susan Cain from “How to teach a young introvert” would respond to Medway Public Schools’ decision to add recess in “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders”? Why?

7th Grade Interview 1010L

Middle School

Ira Glass

In "Middle School," Ira Glass interviews real-life middle school students about the realities of their emotions, thoughts, and struggles.

Pair “Middle School” with “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders” and ask students to compare the purpose of the two texts. What do you think the producers of This American Life wanted to achieve by sharing the first-person stories of middle schoolers in “Middle School”? What do you think the writer of “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders” wanted to achieve by writing a news story about this topic? How are these two texts about middle school similar and how are they different?

7th Grade Interview 740L

Recess for Everyone

Kaylen Oliver

In "Recess for Everyone," former teachers share their advice on how to make recess work for middle school students.

Pair “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders” with “Recess for Everyone” and ask students to compare the way information is structured in the two texts. Which paragraph best summarizes the central idea of “Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders”? Which paragraph best summarizes the central idea of “Recess for Everyone”? How do the authors of these texts develop the central idea in different ways?

8th Grade Informational Text

Paired Texts > Middle school adds recess for 7th and 8th graders