The Graveyard Book: After a paideia seminar in my Methods class on this book, I would really like to incorporate this novel into my classroom. The Graveyard Book is a coming-of-age story of a boy, Bod, whose family is murdered when he’s just a toddler. The boy was to be killed as well, but he managed to escape by crawling into a graveyard. In this graveyard, the story of Bod’s life unfolds as he guarded and taught by a cast of dead people.

“The Necklace”: A short story which illuminates the literary device irony. I am currently working on a mini literature lesson for this story which uses the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morrisette to enforce the concept of irony.

Because I want students to be able to see “the big picture” I would tend to create thematic units. By creating lessons based on substantial themes, students can see how literature relates to the world around them.