The book "Please Stop Laughing At Me" by Jodee Blanco has been an amazing tool in some of my speech therapy sessions. The true story follows a young girl on her path through junior high and high school as an outcast. She is teased, bullied, abused, and ignored. The junior high students I work with find this story to be very engaging, and many of my students have been able to relate to Jodee's struggles. In addition to being a captivating story, it also introduces new vocabulary.
My students have been able to learn and use inferencing skills, context clues to identify & define unfamiliar vocabulary, decoding strategies, and problem solving skills. The student and myself take turns reading, and we keep a pencil nearby to underline unfamiliar vocabulary words. We also summarize & state the main idea of each chapter. The students are also asked to predict what will happen next.
Each of the students that use this book in therapy sessions show excitement to learn and find out what will happen to Jodee next. They are also learning important character education traits, such as respect and standing up for others.
I would highly recommend this book to teachers/students at the secondary level.
(Parent permission is suggested, as some of the topics address drugs/peer pressure, etc.)
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