Programming Spotlight: Patricia McCormick Returns to Belmont in the Dead of Winter

Since the start of the new year colleagues Mr. Villaronga and Ms. Nadel have been teaching Cut by Patricia McCormick to two groups of ELA students. On January 17th and January 30th students in those classes were graced with a chance to meet the author herself!  Rounding out the instructional efforts were myself, Mr. Morgan, Social Worker and Transition Specialist, and Ms. Bernard, Reading Specialist.  Mr. Morgan helped students prepare for the potentially challenging subject matter with a mini-lesson on triggers and coping, and a discussion of self-harm.  

Students were moved by the author's candid replies to the questions they had prepared and are writing thank you notes we will send out this weekend.  All participating students left the program with a short stack of McCormick's most popular titles which the author autographed to each young person. We are so grateful to the author for sharing so much of her genuine warmth and piles of cozy reading during these freezing weeks.  Special thanks to Literacy for Incarcerated Teens for the funding to host the event and provide the volumes.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber