a good kind of trouble essay

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October 17, 2021

15 Fun Ways to Teach A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee

What It’s About? Click HERE for the full lesson

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee is an  inspiring book about personal empowerment, racism, police brutality and activism. Shayla is struggling with the issues of middle school with the additional layer of dealing with learning about racism. It’s a beautiful coming of age novel about a young woman trying to find her place in the world.

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee: How to Teach It! Vocabulary

I start by passing out a vocabulary sheet in which students have the page number and the vocabulary word. Students are to write a simple synonym for the definition. I like to keep definitions as simple as possible because when you use long definitions there is a low chance of student retention.

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee. How to Teach It! Journal Responses

Second, I have multiple journal responses that I use throughout the unit that are engaging and assess student comprehension.

• Some of the examples are to write a letter to a character. Tell them how you are similar or different. Tell them something you admire about them and why. This puts the students through the thought process of what empathy is like.
• Another journal response can be to Create a mock interview between yourself and a character. Create interview questions, practice and be prepared to present in front of the class.
• Students can Predict what will happen in the next chapter and craft a chapter from a character’s perspective in first person point of view. Be prepared to share the chapter with your classmates.
• Or, choose a significant incident in the book and write a journal entry from a character’s point-of-view
• You can ask them If you were given the opportunity to ask the author 5 questions what would they be? Write the questions below and explain why you want the answers to these questions.
• To assess setting students can create the setting in a drawing below. Be specific with details.
• Lastly draw a primary character and at least one secondary character in the box below. Be accurate in your drawing.

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee: How to Teach It!: Reading Comprehension

• Visualize-I ask students to draw a symbol that best represents the book.
• Summarize-Students will summarize the book, a chapter, or a section of the book.
• Clarify-Students are to analyze where they lack an understanding of the book. They are to ask themselves, what do I need to re-read in order to fully comprehend the material?
• Connect-students ask themselves how the material connects to other material in the book and to other texts they have read.
• Respond-Students analyze how the author uses literary devices in the work and why.
• Question-Students are to make a list of questions they have for the author for further understanding.
• : Costa’s Question Cues

Next I have students create a list of high order thinking questions using Costa’s question cues. Some of Costa’s question stems begin with the following:

• Compare/contrast

You can collect these questions and answers and use them for a Socratic Seminar or a Four Corner Discussion. Pass out a list of the questions for students to work on at home. Have students return with their questions and answers. Elect two leaders to lead the discussion. Remain as an observer and allow for a meaningful discussion about the book.

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee: Connections

I like to take connections with the book a step deeper because of the importance of engaging the students by connecting them with the material. I have students look up quotes of things that happen in the book that remind them of something from their own lives. They write the quote and begin a connection with something like, “This reminds me of a time that….” Students catalogue the quotes and connections as they read through the book.

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee: Purpose of Reading

It is important to note the purpose of reading a text. Students are always asking “what is the point of this?” and there is only a positive outcome if a teacher takes the time to answer this question. Some purpose of reading questions can be:

• What are the characters’ motives or goals?
• What is the conflict?
• What am I visualizing?
• What is the message the author is trying to convey?
• What mood is the author creating?
• What problem is the character facing?
• How is the plot developing the story?
• Why did the author write this story?
• What themes are addressed in this text?
• What is your emotional response to the text?

Through analyzing and discussing the answers to these questions, you can come to a consensus as to what the purpose is of reading a text-even if it’s just for fun! In the case of A Good Kind of Trouble it brings awareness of the adversities of growing up as a young African American woman.

A Good Kind of Trouble: Sentence Starters

The next assignment I have students complete throughout the reading are sentence starters. Sentence starters help students to analyze their own thinking and wonderment. Some examples of sentence starters are:

• I wonder…
• I was surprised that…
• I don’t really understand…
• I was reminded that…

A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee: Exposition Writing

Some practice with writing an exposition can be done by simply using a statement and backing it up with evidence. For example, if we are to look at the statement “Racism is traumatizing” then the evidence to back it up.

A Good Kind of Trouble: Compare/Contrast Characters

Another assignment worthy of a teacher’s attention is to compare contrast characters physical and emotional descriptions. You can utilize a graphic organizer to effectively list information.

A Good Kind of Trouble: Close Reading Questions

It is highly effective to take a close reading passage from the book and have students analyze it by answering a list of carefully crafted sentences. A list of close reading sentences can look like this:

• What does this passage mean to you?
• Why do you think it is important to the text as a whole?
• What confuses you about the passage?
• Why is understanding this passage important to your response to the book as a whole?
• How does the passage connect to other ideas in the book?
• How does the author feeling about the ideas, characters or events they are presenting?
• Do the characters remind you of anyone else in fiction, history, or anyone else in your life?
• What is revealed about the characters you have read in this passage?

A Good Kind of Trouble: Have Fun With Learning! Roll the Dice Activity

It is crucial that students have some fun while learning. A simple way to create some fun is by creating a “roll the dice” activity sheet. On a sheet of paper create the following activities:

• Paraphrase learned information in one sentence.
• Create a bookmark for today’s learning.
• Write original lyrics to a song that relates to today’s topic.
• Write four what if questions about the topic
• Create vocabulary cards for the five most essential terms
• Write an acrostic poem about the topic
• Write a letter to a family member or friend about the topic
• Create an analogy for today’s topic and an image
• Create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast information
• Summarize what you learned today to three classmates

Have students role dye and whichever number they land on they will complete as a group. If you only have once set of dye, you can roll for the whole class.

A One-Pager Assignment Project

The purpose of the one-pager assignment is to take a close look at the novel and analyze its themes, characters, quotes, etc.

The top half should focus on symbolism and themes using words and images. The bottom half should focus on key characters from the text and how they develop.

You may also use other symbols, drawings and words as you wish.

The border is themes. Students can get creative and maximize their efforts with a one-pager assessment.

Create a Plot Structure Diagram

Create a plot structure diagram using the mountain analogy with the following:

• Rising action
• Falling action

6-Panel StoryBoard

Students can get a little creative and create a six-panel storyboard where they illustrate and write about a scene. They can also do an extension of a paragraph or the book.

Philosophical Chairs Discussion

Philosophical chair discussions are important in that they not only teach students to take a critical look at a topic but they learn how to express their opinions and evidence about the topic effectively. A great philosophical chairs discussion topic for this book is whether or not black people have equal rights and opportunities today. Have students choose a side, write about their opinions using evidence from the text and share their work in an articulate manner.

A thorough final assessment can be the essay. For this particular book I would do a literary analysis or if you want to extend the philosophical chairs discussion, you can use the same topic from the philosophical chairs discussion.

However you teach “A Good Kind of Trouble” you are doing your students a service as it is a book worthy of attention and analysis. Get this full lesson in my TpT. Click HERE for the full lesson. To Read a blog post on March click HERE

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July 5, 2019 by Betsy Bird

Review of the Day: A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée

July 5, 2019 by Betsy Bird   Leave a Comment

CLICK IMAGES TO SEE LARGER VERSION (WHEN AVAILABLE)

Filed under:

• A Good Kind of Trouble
• By Lisa Moore Ramée
• Balzer & Bray (an imprint of Harper Collins)
• ISBN: 978-0-06-283668-7
• On shelves now

The good thing about serving on a book committee is that it helps you to read outside of your comfort zone. The bad thing about serving on a book committee is that it makes you read outside of your comfort zone. It’s funny, but as someone who reads a lot of children’s novels, my instinct is to revert back to my 12-year-old self. A steady diet of fantasy, punctuated by the occasional mystery, and I’d be good to go. But being a grown-up means trying different things all the time. Because wouldn’t you know it, a lot of the time you end up liking the things you try. Take realistic contemporary fiction. I often do read it as part of my day-to-day job, but it isn’t something I’d instinctively select were it not for the recommendations of review journals and trusted fellow librarians. When Lisa Moore Ramée’s A Good Kind of Trouble started raking in the starred professional reviews, I was intrigued. I knew very little about it, but why not give it a go? The description of the book wasn’t doing it any favors, though, saying it would “capture your heart” and was “incredibly special”. There are better, more accurate, ways of putting those terms, even if they’re entirely true. Ms. Ramée has penned a young woman’s social justice awakening. That moment when you cross over from childhood to something that isn’t quite adulthood, but is on the right path. And if along the way the author is able to lead young readers down that same path, all the better.

Shayla doesn’t get into trouble. She pretty much keeps her head down and her lips zipped. And until this year, that was fine for her. She has her two best friends, her family, her good grades, etc. And yeah, her sister Hana is all about protests and Black Lives Matter but that’s just a Hana thing, right? Yet when a public trial of a policeman comes up with a not guilty verdict and Shayla sees a protest firsthand, she starts thinking of ways that she can make a difference. Small ways, naturally, but sometimes something that seems small can make a huge difference.

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For good or for ill, this book is already being compared to Jerry Craft’s New Kid , a comic that covers a lot of the same territory, if in a different format. The difference, however, was pretty clear to me from the get-go. Craft’s book is about the self and how it reacts in a world filled with microaggressions. Ramée’s is far more about the world outside of the self. How you have a hard time seeing outside of your own lens and then suddenly it’s like you can’t unsee anything anymore. Shayla’s certainly concerned about school, her friends, her crushes, sports, etc. but there’s this sneaky secondary plot as well involving her older sister and what’s happening in the wider world. When Shayla marches in a protest for the first time, she physically separates herself from a lot of other middle grade heroes and heroines that talk the talk but refuse to walk the walk. The end result is a book that simultaneously separates itself from the pack.

Children’s books have so many jobs to do that saying “they should all do this” or “they should all do that” is ludicrous. Better to just zero in on what a particular book does particularly well. Take Ms. Ramée’s for example. Her book has the unenviable job of making complex social issues, issues that a fair number of adults have been known to scratch their heads over, comprehensible, even self-evident, to kids. For example, there is Shayla and her friends. One friend is Latinx and one is Asian American. Shayla gets a little grief from her sister and some of the girls at school for not hanging out with black friends instead. Now her reaction to this is exactly what you’d expect to find in a middle grade novel. She defends her choices, points out that diversity in friendship is a good thing, and even calls her little group the United Nations. And in most books that would be the end of that little discussion, but if there’s one thing you’ll learn from A Good Kind of Trouble it’s that difficult conversations don’t get dropped simply because they’ve grown inconvenient. There comes a time in this novel when Shayla’s mother talks to her and gives her some advice on why she might want to have some black friends too. She says, “You may find as you get older that there’s something … comfortable, or I don’t know, comforting, in having friends who can relate to things you might be going through.” The talk makes it clear that her mother is happy for Shayla to keep her friends, but also that she should leave herself open to other possibilities as well. And, later, Shayla herself realizes that it would be nice to have, “A friend who knew being black meant all sorts of things.” That’s the kind of nuance you only get in the best books for kids.

Did I mention at any point here that the book’s fun? And weirdly satisfying in all sorts of ways? There is a moment late in the game when Shayla’s mother gives one of the book’s antagonists a tongue lashing that you just want to read and reread a couple times for the sheer pleasure of witnessing JUSTICE. And when Shayla is then made to apologize to her oppressor she remembers a bit of advice from her father that is one of the wisest lines I’ve read in a while. “Don’t ever leave your enemies empty-handed. Give them a bone to gnaw on or they will keep on trying to bite you.” This is all followed not long thereafter by a pretty darn satisfying ending. The kind where things aren’t perfect but they’re better and our heroine has certainly learned a fair amount about herself, on top of the world around her.

The only part of the book that didn’t gel for me was the subplot with Tyler. He’s a boy in Shayla’s class that has a crush on her, a feeling that is not reciprocated in the least. As a reader, you’re supposed to come to the realization that Shayla’s being unfair to the kid and should be nicer to him. But we’re coming out with this in a post #MeToo era and Tyler seriously steps over some major boundaries in this book. Even before he kisses her (something she confronts him about in time, which is good) he’s physically getting all up in her space. So when Yolanda tells Shayla she should be nicer to him, I wanted someone to back Shayla up, pointing out that the guy has to learn about personal space and pronto. I had visions of older Tyler stalking some girl saying, “Hey! I’m a nice guy!” echoing Yolanda’s statement, but in a twisted way.

I wonder what percentage of kids today has been to protests at some point in their young lives? Certainly it must be higher than I was a child. The idea of protesting something has long since lost its rarity, but I can understand how difficult it would be to work one naturally into a middle grade novel. Folks are sometimes referring to this book as a younger version of The Hate U Give . Maybe, but I worry that kind of designation doesn’t really give credit to what Ramée has put together here. She’s taken the complexity of the real world, with all its police shootings and racism and destructive tendencies and made it personal for young readers. I don’t care what kid you hand this book to. Every single one of them will understand what’s going on here and, maybe, what’s going on in the wider world. The new required reading.

On shelves now.

Source: Galley sent from publisher for review.

Notes on the Cover: I wish I knew who put this together. It’s exceedingly clever. It would be easy to miss the black armband and raised fist pin on her backpack. Once you see them, however, you don’t unsee them. The flowered pink of the backpack contrasted with the seriousness of the pin and armband is the kind of contrast that leaves you thinking long after you’ve put the book down.

Filed under: Best Books , Best Books of 2019 , Reviews , Reviews 2019

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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Study Guide: A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée (SuperSummary) Paperback – January 6, 2022

Analyzing literature can be hard — we make it easy! This in-depth study guide offers summaries & analyses for all 71 chapters of A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée. Get more out of your reading experience and build confidence with study guides proven to: raise students’ grades, save teachers time, and spark dynamic book discussions. SuperSummary Study Guides are written by experienced educators and literary scholars with advanced degrees in relevant fields. Here's what's inside:

• Chapter-by-chapter summaries — Refresh your memory of key events and big ideas
• Comprehensive literary analysis — Unlock underlying meaning
• Examination of key figures in the text — Follow character arcs from tragedy to triumph
• Discussion of themes, symbols & motifs — Connect the dots among recurring ideas
• Important quotes with explanations — Appreciate the meaning behind the words
• Essay & discussion topics — Discover writing prompts and conversation starters

Who uses SuperSummary Study Guides:

• Students: Boost critical thinking skills — and grade averages — while decreasing stress
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Why customers love SuperSummary Study Guides:

• 96% of students report earning a higher grade thanks to our study guides
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“I was taking a very fast paced class. I had to read 5 novels within 5 weeks so the chapter summaries really helped. I ended up getting an A-B on every paper I wrote! I recommend SuperSummary to all my college friends.” — Annabell C., College Student

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• Print length 69 pages
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09PMBKT82
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (January 6, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 69 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8796661178
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.16 x 9 inches
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A Good Kind of Trouble

85 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-10

Chapters 11-26

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Chapters 46-60

Chapters 61-71

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Further Reading & Resources

Shayla Willows

The first-person narrator and protagonist , Shayla Willows (“Shay”) is a studious and increasingly reflective seventh grader. She begins the novel as a rule-following, anxious, self-conscious student and ends as a non-conforming, brave, expressive activist. Because she likes having a sense of control, she refuses to play the Command game out of fear of losing that control and risking trouble. Shayla is Black, and her two best friends are Japanese American and Puerto Rican American, so they refer to themselves as the “United Nations.” At first, she believes “race doesn’t even matter” (48), but her perspective changes as she witnesses the acquittal of the clearly guilty police officer and when Principal Trask targets Black students for disciplinary action.

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Five things John Lewis taught us about getting in “good trouble”

Subscribe to how we rise, rashawn ray rashawn ray senior fellow - governance studies.

July 23, 2020

“Get in good trouble , necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.” John Lewis made this statement on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 1, 2020 commemorating the tragic events of Bloody Sunday . Bloody Sunday occurred on March 7, 1965 as peaceful protesters were beaten by law enforcement officers for crossing the bridge. Lewis and others like Amelia Boynton Robinson were beaten so badly they were hospitalized.

The context behind the march is significant. The 600-person civil rights march was actually about police brutality. Jimmie Lee Jackson, a 26-year-old church deacon, was killed by James Bonard Fowler, a state trooper in Alabama. This march also occurred a year and a half after the infamous March on Washington highlighting that little had changed in the lives of Black people in America. Bloody Sunday was highlighted in Ava Duvernay’s Oscar-nominated best picture film Selma . Musicians John Legend and Common won an Oscar for the song “Glory.”

Bloody Sunday is often noted as a pinnacle of Lewis’ life. This defining moment encapsulates five things he taught us about getting in good trouble.

Vote, always

“ Your vote matters . If it didn’t, why would some people keep trying to take it away? #goodtrouble” Lewis sent this tweet on July 3, 2018. It highlights his life’s work—equitable voting. One major part of the Civil Rights Movement was Black people gaining the right to vote. This finally occurred with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But the Shelby v Holder Supreme Court decision in 2013 essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act and paved the way for widespread voter suppression and gerrymandering.

This is why it is imperative for Congress to act swiftly to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to ensure equitable access to the polls.  Lewis was an original Freedom Rider, participated in many sit-ins, and was arrested dozens of times for people to have the right to vote. “Some of us gave a little blood for the right to participate in the democratic process,” said Lewis. Now, Congress must honor Lewis’ legacy and ensure an equitable participation in the democratic process. As Lewis noted, “The vote is precious . It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.”

Never too young to make a difference

As a founder and leader of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Lewis was the youngest person to speak at the March on Washington. Elder civil rights leaders aimed to taper his words. Lewis was critical of the Kennedy administration and the slowness by which broad scale legislation change was occurring at the federal level. Lewis also critiqued civil rights legislation for not addressing police brutality against Black people. Imagine how this moment in the Movement for Black Lives may be different had elder Civil Rights leaders listened to Lewis. Lewis’ youth gave him a vision for a more transformative society that was mostly socialized out and, in some cases beaten out, of older leaders. Lewis teaches us that age is nothing but a number and young people have to be the change they want to see by pushing and forcing older people for equitable change. Older people are often socialized in the current arrangement of society and cannot fully envision a radically different world. Lewis stated, “I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.” Young people can and should push for transformative change and hold us accountable to it.   

Speak truth to power 

“Speak up, speak out , get in the way,” said Lewis. He taught us the importance of speaking up and speaking out. We have to be willing to speak up about injustice, always, no matter the costs. My grandfather who served in two wars earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star taught me from birth that my silence is my acceptance. Lewis stated, “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something .” This motto should apply in all aspects of our lives. Lewis epitomizes it and encourages us to not be silent. He was adamant about supporting free speech, but he was also adamant about condemning hate speech. “I believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe that we have an obligation to condemn speech that is racist , bigoted, anti-Semitic, or hateful.”

Become a racial equity broker

Lewis is the personification of transitioning from a political activist to a politician. I frame it as transitioning from a racial equity advocate to a racial equity broker . A racial equity advocate speaks up and speaks out, stands in the gap, and sits at the table to advocate for people who cannot advocate for themselves. There is a saying— “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu and someone is eating you for lunch.” Shirley Chisholm said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Lewis realized that to make transformative change, he had to be at the table and often bring his own chair. Once at the table, he realized that he needed to help draft the documents that got discussed at the table. This led him to becoming an elected official and a racial equity broker to alter, deconstruct, and restructure the laws, policies, procedures, and rules that inhibit racial equity.

Never give up

When Lewis was elected to Congress in 1986, one of his first bills was the creation of a national museum to chronicle the history, culture, and successes of Black Americans. The culmination of this bill was passed in 2003 and opened in 2016 as the National Museum of African American History and Culture . Lewis taught us persistence. He taught us that when a person has transformative ideas, they should not taper those ideas. Instead, they should push those ideas until others get on board. Simply because change is slow does not mean change agents have to move slowly towards it. Lewis was a lightning bolt for equity, social change, and social justice. We must continue his legacy, never forget history, pursue equity, and get in good trouble.

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A Good Kind of Trouble Lesson Plans for Teachers

Teaching A Good Kind of Trouble

The A Good Kind of Trouble lesson plan contains a variety of teaching materials that cater to all learning styles. Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions, 60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more. The lessons and activities will help students gain an intimate understanding of the text, while the tests and quizzes will help you evaluate how well the students have grasped the material. View a free sample

Target Grade: 7th-12th (Middle School and High School)

Length of Lesson Plan: Approximately 145 pages. Page count is estimated at 300 words per page. Length will vary depending on format viewed.

Browse The A Good Kind of Trouble Lesson Plan:

Full Lesson Plan Overview

Completely customizable.

The A Good Kind of Trouble lesson plan is downloadable in PDF and Word. The Word file is viewable with any PC or Mac and can be further adjusted if you want to mix questions around and/or add your own headers for things like "Name," "Period," and "Date." The Word file offers unlimited customizing options so that you can teach in the most efficient manner possible. Once you download the file, it is yours to keep and print for your classroom. View a FREE sample

Lesson Plan Calendars

The Lesson Plan Calendars provide daily suggestions about what to teach. They include detailed descriptions of when to assign reading, homework, in-class work, fun activities, quizzes, tests and more. Use the entire A Good Kind of Trouble calendar, or supplement it with your own curriculum ideas. Calendars cover one, two, four, and eight week units. Determine how long your A Good Kind of Trouble unit will be, then use one of the calendars provided to plan out your entire lesson.

Chapter Abstracts

Chapter abstracts are short descriptions of events that occur in each chapter of A Good Kind of Trouble . They highlight major plot events and detail the important relationships and characteristics of important characters. The Chapter Abstracts can be used to review what the students have read, or to prepare the students for what they will read. Hand the abstracts out in class as a study guide, or use them as a "key" for a class discussion. They are relatively brief, but can serve to be an excellent refresher of A Good Kind of Trouble for either a student or teacher.

Character and Object Descriptions

Character and Object Descriptions provide descriptions of the significant characters as well as objects and places in A Good Kind of Trouble . These can be printed out and used as an individual study guide for students, a "key" for leading a class discussion, a summary review prior to exams, or a refresher for an educator. The character and object descriptions are also used in some of the quizzes and tests in this lesson plan. The longest descriptions run about 200 words. They become shorter as the importance of the character or object declines.

Daily Lessons

This section of the lesson plan contains 30 Daily Lessons. Daily Lessons each have a specific objective and offer at least three (often more) ways to teach that objective. Lessons include classroom discussions, group and partner activities, in-class handouts, individual writing assignments, at least one homework assignment, class participation exercises and other ways to teach students about A Good Kind of Trouble in a classroom setting. You can combine daily lessons or use the ideas within them to create your own unique curriculum. They vary greatly from day to day and offer an array of creative ideas that provide many options for an educator.

Fun Classroom Activities

Fun Classroom Activities differ from Daily Lessons because they make "fun" a priority. The 20 enjoyable, interactive classroom activities that are included will help students understand A Good Kind of Trouble in fun and entertaining ways. Fun Classroom Activities include group projects, games, critical thinking activities, brainstorming sessions, writing poems, drawing or sketching, and countless other creative exercises. Many of the activities encourage students to interact with each other, be creative and think "outside of the box," and ultimately grasp key concepts from the text by "doing" rather than simply studying. Fun activities are a great way to keep students interested and engaged while still providing a deeper understanding of A Good Kind of Trouble and its themes.

Essay Questions/Writing Assignments

These 20 Essay Questions/Writing Assignments can be used as essay questions on a test, or as stand-alone essay topics for a take-home or in-class writing assignment on A Good Kind of Trouble . Students should have a full understanding of the unit material in order to answer these questions. They often include multiple parts of the work and ask for a thorough analysis of the overall text. They nearly always require a substantial response. Essay responses are typically expected to be one (or more) page(s) and consist of multiple paragraphs, although it is possible to write answers more briefly. These essays are designed to challenge a student's understanding of the broad points in a work, interactions among the characters, and main points and themes of the text. But, they also cover many of the other issues specific to the work and to the world today.

Short Essay Questions

The 60 Short Essay Questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of A Good Kind of Trouble by describing what they've read, rather than just recalling it. The short essay questions evaluate not only whether students have read the material, but also how well they understand and can apply it. They require more thought than multiple choice questions, but are shorter than the essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

The 180 Multiple Choice Questions in this lesson plan will test a student's recall and understanding of A Good Kind of Trouble . Use these questions for quizzes, homework assignments or tests. The questions are broken out into sections, so they focus on specific chapters within A Good Kind of Trouble . This allows you to test and review the book as you proceed through the unit. Typically, there are 5-15 questions per chapter, act or section.

Evaluation Forms

Use the Oral Reading Evaluation Form when students are reading aloud in class. Pass the forms out before you assign reading, so students will know what to expect. You can use the forms to provide general feedback on audibility, pronunciation, articulation, expression and rate of speech. You can use this form to grade students, or simply comment on their progress.

Use the Writing Evaluation Form when you're grading student essays. This will help you establish uniform criteria for grading essays even though students may be writing about different aspects of the material. By following this form you will be able to evaluate the thesis, organization, supporting arguments, paragraph transitions, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. of each student's essay.

Quizzes/Homework Assignments

The Quizzes/Homework Assignments are worksheets that can be used in a variety of ways. They pull questions from the multiple choice and short essay sections, the character and object descriptions, and the chapter abstracts to create worksheets that can be used for pop quizzes, in-class assignments and homework. Periodic homework assignments and quizzes are a great way to encourage students to stay on top of their assigned reading. They can also help you determine which concepts and ideas your class grasps and which they need more guidance on. By pulling from the different sections of the lesson plan, quizzes and homework assignments offer a comprehensive review of A Good Kind of Trouble in manageable increments that are less substantial than a full blown test.

Use the Test Summary page to determine which pre-made test is most relevant to your students' learning styles. This lesson plan provides both full unit tests and mid-unit tests. You can choose from several tests that include differing combinations of multiple choice questions, short answer questions, short essay questions, full essay questions, character and object matching, etc. Some of the tests are designed to be more difficult than others. Some have essay questions, while others are limited to short-response questions, like multiple choice, matching and short answer questions. If you don't find the combination of questions that best suits your class, you can also create your own test on A Good Kind of Trouble .

Create Your Own Quiz or Test

You have the option to Create Your Own Quiz or Test. If you want to integrate questions you've developed for your curriculum with the questions in this lesson plan, or you simply want to create a unique test or quiz from the questions this lesson plan offers, it's easy to do. Cut and paste the information from the Create Your Own Quiz or Test page into a Word document to get started. Scroll through the sections of the lesson plan that most interest you and cut and paste the exact questions you want to use into your new, personalized A Good Kind of Trouble lesson plan.

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