May 2026 - Margin Notes

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: TEEN REFLECTIONS AS MENTOR TEXTS

New York Times Learning Network posted What Teenagers Are Saying About How They Grew and Changed This School Year which, as the title suggests, shares short student reflections on how students changed over the school year. Students write about growth, challenges, friendships, and shifting mindsets.

Use these as mentor texts before asking students to write their own reflections.

Read Mentor Texts

Select 4–6 short excerpts from the article with a range of themes (academic growth, friendships, challenges, confidence).

As students read, ask:

What stands out?
What changed for the writer?
What feels specific or honest?

Mini-Lesson:

Model one excerpt with annotation to highlight:

summary + reflection (what happened + what it meant/what changed)
Transition phrases that signal change
Details as evidence of change

Show students how many writers use transition language to signal the change, such as:

“I used to…, but now…”
“At first…, however…”
“I not only…, but also…”
“Even though…, I realized…”
“Before…, now…”

Ask students to notice, across a few more mentor texts:

Where does the writer show change?
What words signal that shift?
What details show evidence of change?

Discuss to Generate Ideas

In pairs or groups:

Which reflection feels most relatable?
What patterns show up across responses?
What experiences could you write about?

Students list possible writing topics.

Write Own Reflection

Prompt:

How have you changed this school year?

What did you learn about yourself?
What shifted in your thinking or behavior?
What do you understand differently now?

Students write more effectively when they first read models of real student reflection, talk about them, and identify possible ideas before drafting. Try this tomorrow or add it to your repertoire of ideas from last week’s post on 10 Ideas for Reflecting at the End of a School Year.

FAKE SKATING BY LYNN PAINTER

May

Some books are just so fun to read. The kind you pick up thinking you will read a chapter or two, and suddenly you are halfway through and fully invested in the characters’ lives. Fake Skating by Lynn Painter is exactly that kind of read.

At its core, this is a classic fake dating story with a hockey twist. Dani moves back to Minnesota after her parents’ divorce and reconnects with her childhood best friend, Alec, now known as “Zeus,” the town’s hockey star. When some not so great photos threaten his reputation, he convinces Dani to pretend to be his girlfriend to clean up his image. You can probably guess where it goes from there.

And yes, on paper, it sounds familiar. But somehow, it just works.

What makes this story stand out is the emotional layering beneath the trope. Dani’s past, constantly moving and dealing with bullying, shapes how she navigates relationships and trust. Alec is more than the confident hockey player. He is carrying his own weight with a father whose life changed after a devastating accident. These details give the story more depth than you might expect and make the characters feel real in a way that sticks.

There is also something really appealing about the world Painter builds. The hockey culture, the team dynamics, Dani’s grumpy but lovable grandfather, a former NHL player, and even the inclusion of a shared soundtrack all add to the experience. It feels warm, familiar, and just a little nostalgic.

This would be a great addition to a high school classroom library, especially for readers who gravitate toward romance or sports stories. It is accessible, engaging, and offers plenty to talk about, including identity, reputation, loyalty, and the choices people make to protect the people they care about. It could also open up conversations about how quickly narratives can shift, both online and in real life.

I will be honest. This is not a book that tries to reinvent the genre. But it does not need to. It gives readers exactly what they are hoping for in a way that feels genuine and satisfying.

And sometimes, that is exactly the kind of book students need

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: TEN IDEAS FOR REFLECTING AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

May

In “10 Ideas for Reflecting at the End of the School Year,” the New York Times Learning Network shares reflection ideas that move beyond simple end of year responses. Students are invited to consider creative ways to reflect, from creating playlists that capture memories from the year to reflecting on moments of struggle.

What makes this collection so impressive is its variety. Some invitations are deeply personal, some creative, some analytical, and some highly social. There are opportunities for writing, drawing, discussion, multimodal composition, and inquiry. The range of approaches allows students to reflect in ways that feel authentic to who they are as learners and how they make sense of their experiences.

As the school year winds down, this teaching resource might spark entirely new possibilities for reflection in your classroom.

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HEART CHECK BY EMILY CHARLOTTE

May

Sports romance books are taking over the shelves. In Heart Check, readers meet Luke Dawson and Harper Braedon who, despite working in the same small diner, seem determined to misunderstand each other. Luke, a star hockey player under immense pressure to earn a scholarship, is convinced Harper hates hockey and everything it represents. Harper believes hockey players are selfish, soaking up school funding while other clubs and causes are ignored. When Luke’s hockey coach is fired for embezzlement and the school rumor mill falsely blames Harper, her jewelry-making business takes the hit. Both teens are forced to confront their assumptions in a rivals-to-romance storyline.

One detail from the author biography that stood out is that Emily Charlotte is an English teacher who actually asked her students to help research what feels authentic when writing about teenagers. That real-life teen feedback shows in the dual‑POV narration, which lets readers experience the story through both Luke’s and Harper’s perspectives. Both characters slowly realize their assumptions about each other were wrong. Beneath the slow-burn romance, this book also offers perspective on challenging stereotypes and checking our own assumptions.

While the book touches on teenage drinking, some cursing, and a more intense romantic scene, these elements are handled in a way that will feel appropriate for many older YA readers. Teacher judgment will vary by classroom, but for students who enjoy sports romance, Heart Check is a perfect recommendation.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: 5 QUESTIONS FOR ANY TEXT

May

If you’re looking for a teaching and thinking routine that works with any text and any grade level, this is it. You know we love one routine that can be used multiple times.

The Five Questions for Any Text, developed by Marilyn Pryle, offers a framework for teaching students how to read critically. I love this approach because it works just as well with a poem or short story as it does with a news article, Instagram post, video clip, or podcast.

The questions center around the idea that texts don’t just exist. Someone made them. On purpose. This understanding can help students think about who made the text, what the message is meant to be and how it was crafted with that intent. Pryle’s five questions give students an easy way into this thinking.

You can find the first chapter of the text here which includes these questions.

The 5 Questions

1. What am I reading?
What kind of text is this? Where did it come from? Who made it? Who is it for?
Opens conversations about purpose, bias, and agenda.

2. What is it showing me?
What ideas or assumptions are coming through? What does the text suggest about people or the world?

3. What is it hiding?
What’s left out? Whose voices are missing? What would complicate the message if included?

4. How am I reacting?
What stood out? What bothered you? What stuck with you?
Focus is on noticing and examining reactions beyond simply liking or disliking.

5. How does it work?
How is the text built? What choices are made with structure, language, visuals, or tone?
Connects directly to writing.

Over time, these questions become habits and students can transfer them to all texts.

Try This Tomorrow

Choose one question as an entry point.
Model a quick response using the sub-questions and your own noticings.
Let students talk or write for a few minutes.

All credit to Marilyn Pryle, author of 5 Questions for Any Text.

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BETH IS DEAD BY KATIE BERNET

May

It is wildly brave to reimagine Little Women for a debut novel, and Katie Bernet does just that.

Published in 1868, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and the four sisters it chronicles are characters that settle into readers and then never really leave. They are characters we feel we know, and almost like we have some claim to them. So, to take that story and reshape it for a modern audience is an undertaking that comes with a built-in audience and built-in expectations.

In Beth Is Dead, the story centers on the March sisters as they try to make sense of Beth’s death. As the investigation unfolds, each sister’s motives come under scrutiny, and the story begins to surface the kinds of secrets that can fracture even the closest relationships. The novel moves between a Then and Now structure, shifting from past perspectives, including Beth’s, to the present-day investigation, slowly building a fuller picture of what happened.

Before reading Beth Is Dead, I did something I rarely do. I read comments on Goodreads, watched reactions on TikTok, and went down a few Reddit rabbit holes, and found no real consensus. Some readers approached the book like a kind of collective Easter egg hunt, searching for connections to the original. There are many, and they are fascinating, but they are also full of spoilers, so I will leave those for you to discover. Others were far less enthusiastic, with a wave of purist frustration running through their responses. It is rare to see a debut novel take hold in so many different spaces at once, and for completely different reasons. It made me want to read it even more.

Some of the reaction comes from the decision to frame the story as a murder mystery, with the sisters drawn in ways that feel darker than readers might expect. For me, though, the March sisters arrived in 2026 exactly as they would. Jo’s nineteenth century ambition becomes the relentless drive of a modern influencer. Meg’s desire for pretty things sharpens into a more complicated relationship with image and materialism. Amy’s artistic ego takes on a harder edge, shaped by reputation and the need to be taken seriously. And Beth sits at the center of it all. In a world that expects her to be gentle and selfless, her murder on New Year’s Day becomes the moment that forces the remaining sisters to stop performing and start paying attention.

One of the most striking choices in the novel is the reimagining of Mr. March. In this version, the original Little Women exists as a memoir written by Rob March, one that has since been called into question. Bernet uses our familiarity with the classic and asks us to reconsider it. We think we know the sisters because we have read the book, but Bernet asks us to look again, this time with a more critical eye, and to consider who they might be beyond the version that was first given to us.

I walked into this story with a real attachment to the March sisters. Any opportunity to spend more time with them, and to see who they might be when shaped by a different world, is one I am always going to take. Unlike some other readers, it was my love of the original that made me curious about how they would be reimagined in 2026. If you are willing to read it on those terms, there is a lot here to think about.

If you do pick it up a copy of Beth Is Dead, there are small details that readers of Little Women will recognize. These are nowhere near the most important ones (avoiding any spoilers), but they give you a sense of what to look for.

Laurie’s WiFi password is “Castles1868,” a quiet nod to the sisters’ “castles in the air” and the year the original was published.
Amy stress eats lime Jolly Ranchers, a modern echo of the pickled limes that once got her into trouble, now used as a tell when she is hiding something.
And a small one I loved, a character works at Lottie’s Diner, a reference to Louisa May Alcott herself.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: TYPOS ARE HEROES

May

Article: I’m a Typo, and in This Age of AI, I’m the Real Hero by Julie Vick

*preview for language

Using AI in writing is a topic that is on the rise in education communities. It seems like everyone is using AI and students notice and have opinions. This monologue by Julie Vick, written from the point of view of a typo, is a great text to open two classroom conversations: AI and writing voice, and how humor is a craft to be studied.

Using AI to Write:

The argument of this monologue is that AI is taking the life (human) out of writing. The point of Vick’s piece is that AI can produce technically flawless writing, but flawless doesn’t always mean human. Through humor, the typo reminds us that imperfections often signal personality, risk-taking, and authentic voice.

Potential Discussion Questions:

What does AI do well and what has it yet to perfect?
What do you think when you see typos?
Where do you notice people using AI for writing? What gives it away?
Would you rather read flawless writing or writing with a human voice?

Craft Study:

What makes this piece funny? Students may notice the exaggeration, comparisons, playful digs at AI, self-awareness etc.
What do you notice about the personification of the typo? What attitude or personality traits are shown? How?
How does the typo having a personality play into the message?
Which line shows the humor or personality the most? Why choose that line?

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HAPPY & SAD & EVERYTHING TRUE BY ALEX THAYER

May

Happy & Sad & Everything True brings the reader into the beginning of middle school alongside former best friends Dee and Juniper. They have been separated into different classes which highlights their fading connection. To avoid the loneliness of the cafeteria and the sting of seeing Juniper with a new group, Dee hides in the school bathroom, where she unexpectedly begins communicating with other struggling students through the ventilation grates. The story is full of the classic middle-grade woes of secret crushes, embarrassing parents, questionable influences and school pressures.

The writing style is slow and authentic to the day-to-day life of a middle schooler. Dee often gets lost in her own thoughts, misses parts of class explanations, and longs for friendship and connection. Through the bathroom conversations, she gradually begins to find her voice. This pacing demonstrates the reality that it can take young people time to recognize, process, and understand shifts in friendships. In the end, these changes and influences are clearly named and Dee emerges with a genuine sense of connection and a true friend.

This book is recommended for middle-grade readers, particularly those in sixth or seventh grade who are currently navigating the complexities of “friend breakups” and shifting social circles.

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