The Skin I'm In Blog Post

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I think that the “Skin I’m in” by Sharon Flake is a great relatable novel for adolescents to read in middle school. it deals with a lot of different problems that adolescents face in that stage of adolescents. Bullying, peer pressure, and self-identification is just some of the things that Maleeka faces in this novel. At the middle school age adolescents are stuck between wanting to be little kids and wanting to be treated like adults. So it is very important for us as teachers to pay very close attention to our students and that is exactly what Ms. Saunders did for Maleeka.
Ms. Saunders battled with accepting herself also and she saw the battles that Maleeka was facing and gave her different assignments to keep her on the right track and not fall to the bullying and peer pressure. Sometimes I think all we need is someone who actually cares about us. Someone who has out best interest in bringing out the best in us as people and that is exactly what Ms. Saunders did.

I would use this book in an adolescent classroom and focus on the three main topics above bullying, peer pressure, and self-identification. I could use this a spread it out over a two-week period of reading the book and discussing these topics with the class. This will give them awareness and knowledge about these topics and it also will give them a chance to put their self in the characters Maleeka shoes to see how she overcame them and possibly give them motivation to overcome whatever they are facing as adolescents. 

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