Finding Their Voices
ENGLISH IN GRADES 7–8
CULTIVATING CONFIDENCE AND CURIOSITY THROUGH LANGUAGE
In the seventh and eighth grade English classroom—led by Ms. Neves with one seventh grade section taught by Ms. Henshaw—learning is deliberate and demanding, deeply rooted in Ms. Neves’ belief in students’ ability to read complex texts, think critically, and express themselves with confidence. Students explore a wide variety of texts—novels, plays, poems, and nonfiction—focusing on themes such as identity, coming-of-age, justice, and gender.
When Ms. Neves meets parents at the start of the year, she doesn’t lead with unit lists or grading policies. Experience has taught her that families are asking a more fundamental question. As she explains, “Parents are really looking to know who this person is with their kid for two years…what’s their ‘why?’”
A Path to Teaching and to Middle School
Ms. Neves’ “why” wasn’t a straight line. Raised by parents who deeply valued education—and in a family of educators, including two grandmothers who were teachers and a grandfather who was a professor—she grew up surrounded by learning and ideas. Still, teaching itself wasn’t an obvious or immediate path.
After studying conflict and human rights and working at the United Nations, she realized she missed working directly with people. Substitute teaching at a middle school, in all its strange, formative intensity, won her over.
“I really liked it,” she says. “And I really like middle school kids. They’re changing so quickly.”
That possibility, to influence students at a moment when
confidence, identity, and curiosity are still taking shape, drives everything that happens in her classroom.
Teaching Students to Trust Themselves as Readers
The goal of seventh and eighth grade English is simple and ambitious: students should leave feeling like readers and writers. Not kids who simply completed assignments, but young people who believe they can make meaning from challenging texts and move others with their words.
To do that, Ms. Neves doesn’t shy away from difficulty. Students read Emily Dickinson. They wrestle with Edgar Allan Poe. These are texts that can intimidate many middle schoolers—and that’s precisely the point.
“We’ll figure it out,” she tells them. And together, they do.
At the same time, the curriculum makes space for contemporary voices and narratives where students can see themselves reflected. The balance is intentional: modern stories that resonate alongside classics that challenge.
A Thoughtful Progression from Seventh to Eighth Grade
The curriculum is intentionally sequenced, with seventh grade students focusing on research, source synthesis, and writing informative pieces. They practice close reading and analysis to prepare them for the deeper nuance of eighth grade.
By eighth grade, the questions no longer have easy answers. Students debate moral responsibility, argue multiple perspectives, and explore ambiguity. In one unit, they analyze whether a character’s life truly improves. In another, they write from both the oppressed and the oppressor’s points of view. The work demands empathy, critical thinking, and the ability to hold competing truths at once.
“I’m asking my students questions I genuinely don’t know the answer to,” she says. “And that’s where real thinking begins.”
The ultimate hope is that by the time students move on to high school, they have both the skills and the confidence to question, challenge, and articulate their own understanding in unfamiliar spaces.
Poetry and Voice
One of the most anticipated moments of the year comes during the eighth grade poetry unit. The unit is intentionally placed at the end of the year, culminating in an open mic. Every student stands up and reads an original poem aloud.
Students who struggle with traditional essays may shine here, freed from rigid structures. Others may be humbled. What emerges, again and again, is wisdom, vulnerability, and new insights.
“I’m always surprised by the depth of their work. The things that these kids are holding in their hearts,” she reflects, “there’s always at least one kid who stills the room.”
The Power of Words
Perhaps most striking is that Ms. Neves herself was not always a reader. “I hated reading,” she says plainly. It wasn’t until college that she encountered The Alchemist, a book she could not put down. It was a moment that transformed her relationship with stories.
That experience shapes her mission. She wants students to discover that reading can be meaningful, immersive, and personal. She listens carefully to their feedback, adjusting texts when necessary, always asking whether a book invites students in or pushes them away from reading.
At the heart of everything is a simple truth she returns to again and again: “Words have power. They can move people. They can challenge ideas. They can help students understand themselves and the world around them.” And if students leave her classroom believing, as she puts it, “I am a writer. I can do this”— then the work has been worthwhile.
