6th-8th Grade Texts

And Reading/Writing Strategies

Concept: Convention
Category
Poetry

Title
1. From the
Journals of
the Frog
Prince

Author/Year
Susan Mitchell
(2005)

Description
Summary: The narrator has left their likely
metaphorical frog skin behind for the sake of
the woman they loved, but they find that they
cannot keep up the charade, that it tears
them away from their partner and that
everything from their past life calls to them.
The narrator originally forfeited their natural
form to conform to the conventions
necessary to fit into the womans life.
Instructional Use/Writing: Freewritefollowing journal prompt: What is your skin
made of? What are the characteristics you
have that youve discarded for the sake of
meeting someone elses expectations or needs?

2. The Voice

3.
Tranquillity

* (changing yourself for someone else)

Shel Silverstein Summary: The Voice speaks about a voice
(1996)
inside each of us who makes the best decision
for us and concludes by insisting that this
voice is the most important to listen to and to
trust. It is more important to do this then to
conform to the will of others.

Edward
Rowland Sill
(published
1903)

Instructional Use/Writing: Ask students to

draw pictures of themselves and then draw
speech bubbles that show what their voice
is telling them.
Summary: In this poem, the narrator
describes the everyday routine and urban life
as dreadful, but then offers hope, saying that
there is a place (nature) that frees your spirit
and gives you peace. In that way, the
narrator suggests that the conventions of
everyday life are destructive.
Instructional Use/Writing: Use the
following free-writing journal prompt: What
is your tranquil place, you vaster place with
no room for care, or woe? Make sure that you
use vivid imagery, then, in 2-3 sentences,

explain what makes this place different from

others.
*(Transcendentalism)
Short
Story

1. Living Like
Weasels

2. Mother
and
Daughter

Annie Dillard
(1982)

Gary Soto

Summary: Annie Dillards short story

revolves around leaving the conformed life/
following the unspoken and voiced rules of
society and living like a weasel, wild and
dirty, but free.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students write a
list entitled Reasons to Be a Weasel of
conventions that would encourage them to go
off and live like a weasel.
*(Transcendentalism)
Summary: In this short story, the main
character is embarrassed by her overweight
mother and she goes down a path of denying
her before realizing that her Mama is the
most important person in her life. The main
character is embarrassed, because her
mother doesnt conform to what she believes
mothers should be.
Instructional Use/Writing: Writing Prompt:
Write a short story in which the main
character has a friend or family member with
an embarrassing trait, but overcomes their
embarrassment, realizing that it doesnt
matter what the rest of the world thinks.

3. The
Lottery

*(beauty conformity)
Shirley Jackson Summary: The townspeople prepare for
(1948)
lottery day, with foreshowing that eventually
leads to the unfortunate truth of this day in
which towns members are stones to death if
their name is drawn. It brings to question
what sort of awful things communities
conform to and whether its human nature to
follow the conventions of the majority.
Instructional Use/Writing: Why Do
_______________ Behave That Way?: Students
will examine the actions of characters in The
Lottery in order to answer the question

Novel

1. Breaking
Stalins Nose

Why does one of the characters behave this

way? which, for this activity will be altered
to Why do the characters in The Lottery
accept the lottery system? (Gallagher, 2011,
165-167). Students will write lists of possible
reasons for their behavior.
Eugene Yelchin Summary: A young Russian boy, Sasha, is
(2013)
faced with a deep challenge when his father
is taken away and he begins to see flaws in
the Russian Revolution and the rise to
communism. Sasha calls out wrongs within
his societys conventions including
ethnocentrism, bullying, and unfair
hierarchies.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students would
maintain journals in which they complete
many activities, one of them being listing the
conventions and rules that they note in the
text.

2. Wonder

RJ Palacio
(2013)

Summary: Augustus is a middle schooler

with a facial abnormality that separates him
from his peers. Soon, it becomes
commonplace for other students to bully
Augustus, but his best friend stands by him,
fighting these unfair conventions and
eventually, others begin to follow suit.
Instructional Use/Writing: In Wonder there
are various flashbacks to Augustus
childhood. In order to better understand
these flashbacks, students will fold a sheet of
paper in half complete the following
assignment: Write a summary of the memory
moment.
1. Right after reading the moment youve
chosen, answer the question "Why
might this memory be important?".
Write your answer on the front of
your folder sheet
2. As you continue to read the text,
return to the folded sheet to document
times in the text where knowing this

character memory helped you

understand. Write these times in the
left inner side of the folder paper.
3. After reading the entire novel, return
to each of these folds. Did the
memories they describe foreshadow
other events? Document your answer
in the right inner side of the folder
paper.
Visual explanation of assignment (crafted by
me):
http://literatureartists.weebly.com/memorymoment.html
( R Long. ,2012, July 5) ( Beers, K., & Probst,
R., 2013)
3. The Secret
of Platform 13

Eva Ibbotson
(1994)

Summary: A gaggle of mythical creatures do

their best to blend into a modern London to
retrieve the missing prince of their
homeland. They find that the boy they believe
to be their prince has been spoiled by the fast
pace consumeristic conventions of the
western world, but all is made better in the
end when the real prince is revealed to be a
lovely, hardworking boy.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
draw their own mythical creatures, then
describe the lengths that such a creature
would have to go to in order to blend into
their own middle school without standing
out. What would it take for them to conform?

4. Yaqui
Delgado
Wants to Kick
Your Ass

Meg Medina
(2014)

Summary: Piddy Sanchez moves and must go

to a new school. She tries desperately to fit in
and struggles to present her Latina heritage
with her white-passing form. She doesnt
really fall into the conventions of either role
and she falls prey to the unwritten rules of
her school.
Instructional Use/Writing: After being
show a list of unwritten rules from Sherman

Alexies Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time

Indian, students will compile a list of
unwritten rules in Piddys life (Gallagher,
2011, p. 75-77)
5. The Giver

Lois Lowry
(1994)

*(duality- not fitting into boxes)

Summary: In The Giver the main character,
Jonah, is shown the flaws in his dystopian
society by The Giver and granted access to
the memories of humanity, something his fell
citizens are denied.
Instructional Use/Writing: While reading
The Giver, students will keep a detailed
journal in which they record details that they
believe are foreshadowing and record what
they may foreshadow. After reading the text,
students will be asked to write a letter to the
author, Lois Lowry, about the ways that The
Giver reminds them or relates to the
conventions in their own lives in middle
school.

Drama

1. As You Like
It

John Minnigan
(2016)

*Pair with The Lottery and An Extended

Moment, a Slightly Displaced Presence
Summary: In this middle-school appropriate
adaptation of Shakespeares famous play, the
conventions of society aim to keep Orlando
and Rosalind apart. Along the way, Rosalind
breaks convention by dressing as a man.
Instructional Use/Writing Activity: AHA!
Moments: While reading, students will use
this four column chart:
What words
told you that
this was going
to be an Aha
Moment?

Pg #

What
realization
came to the
characters
mind?

How is this
realization
likely to be
important in
the story?

Aha Moments are time in the text in which

characters come to important realizations.
After completing the chart, students will
write on the following prompt:

Choose one Aha Moment from the text and

answer the following questions: Which
moment did you choose? Where is it in the text
(ie what happened right before it or what
triggered it)? What makes this moment a
significant Aha Moment? What happens
afterwards because of this Aha Moment?
2. Los
Vendidos

Luis Valdez
(1967)

( Beers, K., & Probst, R., 2013)

Summary: A family goes to a store in
California to purchase a Mexican/MexicanAmerican robot that will listen to their every
command. They explore the pros and cons of
each robot because choosing on that speaks
English and reminds them most of
themselves. In the very end, all of the robots
begin a revolution.
Instructional Use/ Writing Activity:
Students will fill a three column chart
comparing three of the robots that the
Californian white-American family considers
purchasing. They will then select one of the
robots from their chart and write on the
following prompt:
Why would you choose this robot? How does
the robot conform to your life and needs? How
does the robot fail to conform?

3. Animal
Farm
(animated
film)

John Halas, Jor

Bachelor, and
George Orwell
(1954)

Summary: Old major, a pig, convinces his

fellow animals that the humans are their
enemies. They rebel against the humans and
win, but in the end, the other animals realize
that the pigs are now no different from the
humans. This speaks to the establishment of
unfair conventions and the ability of power
and greed to corrupt societies.
Instructional Use/ Writing Activity: After
an in-class discussion about unfair power
dynamic, students will complete sentence
starters like these to help them apply the
story to their own lives:

Childrens 1. Strange
Lit
Like Me

2. The Lumber
Janes: Beware
the Kitten
Holy

Rebecca
Martin (2015)

Noelle
Stevenson &
Grace Ellis

Unfair rules in my life include__________.

These rules affect me negatively
because___________.
If these rules were not in place I
would________.

(Gallagher, 2011)
Summary: In this childrens story, a young
Latina girl is weary and self-conscious of her
thick, connected eyebrows. She begs her
mother to let her do lazer hair removal so she
can meet conventional beauty standards, but
instead, her mother shows her a role model,
Frida Kahlo, queen of wing-like brows and in
the end, the little girl feels proud of her
unique feature.
Instructional Use: Have students construct
five-square comic strips showing an
experience theyve had that helped they
accept something about themselves.
*connect with Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair
Summary: Six young women go on an
outdoor adventure and show themselves to
be capable and strong enough to face all of
the challenges when they begin to encounter
unexpected mystical challengers. Here, these
women break convention by taking on roles
of adventurers that are traditionally played
by men.
Instructional Use/Writing: Double Entry
Journal: Students will be fill out a twocolumn chart, recording ways that the main
characters conform to female gender roles
(conventions) in one column and ways that
they defy them in another (Beers, 2003, p.
127-129).

3. A Sweet
Smell of Roses

Angela
Johnson
(2007)

Summary: This childrens book shows two

African American girls sneaking out of their
houses to witness Martin Luther King Jr.s
march against the institutions/conventions of
racism and segregation.

Instructional Use/Writing: Free writing:

What is one event from modern day that you
would have thought worthy of sneaking out of
your home to visit? First, lay out the potential
consequences of sneaking out. Then, explain
why the event is so important that its worth
the risking the consequences.
Non
Fiction

1. Tomboy

Liz Prince
(2014)

2. The New
Marjabelle
Etiquette: Real Young Steward
Manners for
(1987)
Real People in
Real
Situations- An
A-to-Z Guide

Summary: Liz Princes Tomboy illustrates

her childhood. She grew up playing with toys
and wearing clothes that were traditionally
for boys and not everyone approved of her
stray from gender conventions. However,
Prince remains true to herself and in an
update regarding her current self, she says
she doesnt regret her choices and shes
happy her parents didnt push her to make
changes.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
then do an activity thats a twist on
Gallaghers What My Childhood Tastes Like
and instead they will make a list of What My
Childhood Play Was Like, listing things like
dress up as firemen and Legos. They will
then write a story that is attached to that
childhood game or toy. (Gallagher, 2011, p.
44-45)
*(gender conformity)
Summary: Stewarts book explains how to
react properly in a medley of situations, from
planning dinner parties to asking
neighborhood children to stay off the lawn.
Her encyclopedia is an explanation and guide
to conventions.
Instructional Use/Writing: Keeping in mind
The New Ettiquette, students will write three
entries for a decorum encyclopedia using
conventions from their own lives. Here is a
list of possible situations for them to
describe:
Eating dinner at your home
Sitting in this class
Texting your best friend

 Taking selfies with your friends

(Gallagher, 2011, p. 27-29)
3. Asch
Experiment

S.A. McLeod
(2008)

Summary: McLeods middle-school level

summary of the Asch Experiment highlights
an observation in which participants were
asked to select the longest line drawn on the
board. However, everyone but one
participant was told to choose the shorter
one, which often resulted in the singled out
participant choosing to conform and select
the wrong line, because they trusted the
group over themselves.
Instructional Use/Writing:
Before doing the reading, the instructor will
perform the experiment, having five students
step into the hall and then when they return,
they will be asked to choose the longest line.
Then students will write about why someone
might have chosen a short line just because
everyone else did.
After the reading, students will complete
Beers What We Know- What We Want to
Know activity (Beers, 2003, p. 80-85) by
creating questions the reading left them with
and then completing additional research to
find answers.

Art

1. Self-Portrait Frida Kahlo

with Cropped (1943)
Hair

Summary: This portrait shows Frida wearing

mens clothes and therefore breaking
conventions.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
draw their own self-portraits that show how
they defy the expectations of others. To
accompany this drawing, they will writing a
5-7 sentence explanation based off a model
by the instructor.

2. Wanderer

Casper David

*connect with Strange Like Me (beauty

conformity) and use to transition to gender
conformity/Tomboy
Summary: This painting shows a well-

Above the Sea

of Fog

Freidrich
(1818)

dressed hiker staring in the sea. This

illustrates a concept of Transcendentalism
which highlighted leaving the conventions of
urban life in favor of the authenticity of
nature.
Instructional Use/Writing: Considering
what theyve learned about the
transcendentalism movement, students will
complete a Words Across Context Template
by imagining what the figure on the painting
is thinking as he stands on the edge of a cliff
looking into the ocean:
Example:
What would the world authentic mean to
the figure?
a.
b.
c.
This activity will help them think about the
way that they can apply what they know in
order to make inferences.

3. An
Extended
Moment, a
Slightly
Displaced
Presence

Miwa
Ogsasawara
(2009)

(Beers, 2011, p. 324)

*(transcendentalism)
Summary: This painting captures a moment
in which a crowd is conformed. Every figure
is gray and standing in the same position.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
complete Kelly Gallaghers How Does ________
Influence Peoples Behavior? Activity using
something from the picture as the thing their
inspiration.
Example topics:
Dull colors
Listlessness
Sameness
They will then research their chosen topics to

make a bullet point list with full sentences.

(Gallagher, 2011, p. 129-130)
Media/
CE

1. The Power
of Categories:
Paiges Story

Invisibilia
A Podcast
produced and
presented by
Miller, L,
Rosin, H, &
Spiegel, H.
(2015)

Summary: This podcast documents the

plight of Paige, an individual struggling with
gender identity in a society conformed to a
gender binary. The podcast shows Paige
maneuvering a difficult life.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
complete Kelly Gallaghers What would have
happened if activity:
The sample prompt will be: What would have
happened if Paige was a student in our class?

2.
St. Vincent
Cheerleader (2012)
(song and
accompanying
music video)

However, students will be permitted to write

their own What would have happened if
questions so long as they pertain to the
podcast.
(Gallagher, 2011, p. 161-162)
Summary: Annie Clark describes her desire
to stop being a cheerleader for her
significant others, saying that she has to be
most supportive of herself and recognize that
its not her job to lift everyone else up.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
write a poem that mirrors St.Vincents
cheerleader, answering the following
questions: What do you not want to be
anymore? Who or what is pressuring you to be
that?

3. Wearing
Nothing New
(TED Talk)

Jessi Arrington
(2011)

Summary: Jessie Arrington talks about

wearing clothes that make you happy, saying
that if you feel good in them, you look good in
them, even if they defy the conventions of
contemporary fashion.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
answer the question, What is the perfect
outfit by writing 3-5 sentences that contain
aspects of the perfect outfit.

For example:
The perfect outfit is admirable by
others, comfortable, and chic
(Gallagher, 2011, p. 84-85)
4. Rivers and
Tides

Andrew
Goldsworth
(Documentary)
(2001)

Summary: In this documentary, Andrew

Goldsworthy makes art that is meant to be
deconstructed by natural forces. In this way,
his art doesnt follow the conventional idea
that art is meant to be witnessed by the
masses.
Instructional Use/Writing: Students will
make their own nature-based artwork and
leave it outside to be torn by the elements. In
a three-paragraph journal entry, students will
describe their art, its purpose, and how it
defies the normal conventions of art.
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog and an
instructor-sourced essay on the painting will
be used as models for conventional art and
an analysis of conventional art.

5. 2 Poor
Kids

Ruth B (2015)
(Song)

Summary: In her song, Ruth B described

overcoming the conventional expectation
that she wont succeed and that because she
lacks material possessions, she will be
unhappy.
Instructional Use/Writing:
Students will fill in blanks from Ruth Bs song
lyrics with things that are relevant to their
own lives.
I don't want (six syllables).
I'm okay with me and my (two syllables) and
(one syllable), and (one syllable).
(three syllables), that's what (four syllables).
I don't care as long as (five syllables)
To be just you and me, and free to be just you
and me.

They think (three syllables)

That the world will never know
(two syllables),
But I think that's okay,
'Cause (one syllable) gets ruined by (seven
syllables).

Works Consulted
Beers, K. (2003). When kids cant read: What teachers can do. Portsman, NH:
Heinemann.
Beers, K., & Probst, R.E. (2013). Notice and note: Strategies for close reading.
Portsman, NH: Heinemann.
Gallagher, K. (2011). Write like this: Teaching real-world writing through modeling
and mentor texts. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.
R Long. (2012, July 5). How to tell- Flashback or memory. Retrieved from
https://ramonadef.com/2012/07/05/how-to-tell-flashback-or-memory/
Spandel, V. (2013). Creating writers: 6 Traits, process, workshop, and literature.
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.