Although middle school has proved drastically different from my high school experience, I must say that I enjoy the in-your-face interaction that naturally accompanies this age group. They are an excitable bunch when you actually grab their attention. That is why I'm really looking forward to teaching my work sample. My unit is going to cover the genre of mystery and focus on the writing portion. First we are going to cover the various elements of a mystery and read a couple short stories and novels. Then we'll jump into writing. What I'm going to do is give them a list of characters necessary for a mystery. Then I will hand them a stack of newspapers and make them cut out pictures and names to fill the character slots. Beneath each picture, they will have to construct a short character profile (but not give away any guilt). Upon completion of this, they will get the opportunity to write their own short mystery. For the most part, my kids are good readers and I think they're going to enjoy the interactive nature (and the use of scissors and rubber cement) of this project.