In this article, the authors share five practical teaching activities for introducing disability into the secondary English curriculum that also address NCTE/IRA objectives for the English language arts. They have used these lessons to help students better analyze the language/rhetoric of disability, understand how disability is represented in…

The nation's focus on the literacy skills of students--especially boys--has produced many notions of reform. School districts reorganized and changed curricula to meet the needs of struggling readers and writers. In New York City, where this author was teaching, "Balanced Literacy" (a reading and writing workshop) had been implemented in…

Students in Deanna L. Nelson's high school classroom study vocabulary gradually over a period of time. Students begin by collecting words from readings and listing them on a designated whiteboard. They prepare practice quizzes to exchange with peers and engage in frequent vocabulary discussions that emphasize recognition of context clues and other…

Recommends having students keep a reading journal on reading assignments as a way of getting them involved in reading, thinking, and discussion. (EL)

Compares the difficulties students face in the junior high years to the obstacles of Odysseus. Notes hierarchical skill levels needed to understand and interpret literature; suggests using different print and nonprint media to improve interest in stories; recommends doing more writing and talking about fewer works. (JG)

Outlines a student-conducted literature course that uses several classic novels ("My Antonia,""The Pearl," etc.) as the basis for group discussion, writing, and oral performance activities--all directed toward extracting "meaning" from the books selected. (NKA)

A middle school English teacher who frequently observes student teachers notes some of the basic truths of the classroom usually encountered by new instructors. Discusses ways that teacher deportment affects student attitude, the importance of teaching by example, the value of reading aloud, and more. (JG)