Describes an elective trimester course for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students designed to introduce Shakespeare using student-centered learning, films, music, art projects, reading, and writing. Students' evaluations of the course were unanimously positive. (NH)

Describes a project in which students at a school in Ghana develop an authentic but fictitious character who is captured and sold to the Europeans on the coast. Notes the stories are mailed to partner schools in the United States who write about what happens to these characters after becoming slaves. Notes students' intense interest and…

Describes how the author and her middle school students created the Writer's Club Web Site, a forum for information, creative expression, interaction about writing, and publication. Notes how writing, revising, editing, and publishing this web site promoted student ownership of information, collaboration, and audience awareness, and a genuine…

Offers three brief articles on three teacher-initiated programs that involve collaboration with colleagues and students: in music/arts production by fourth and fifth graders; an independent study program in which middle school students wrote grant proposals; and an activity in which seventh graders mapped a timeline of Earth history and geologic…

Reports the lessons a high school English teacher learned when she switched to teaching in a middle school. (JL)

Presents nine short pieces written by teachers describing how they relate the visual arts to language learning in their classrooms. (SR)

Describes how as part of a nine-week unit on tolerance and prejudice, the author's middle school students became immersed in Holocaust literature. Notes that the theme of bearing witness, of never forgetting, which runs through the literature, is the central driving force of work in the classroom. (SG)

Argues that the prevalence of print literacy has diminished the interest in and teaching of oral culture. Describes a storytelling experiences and illustrates the importance of considering oral narrative in the English classroom. Discusses the healing truth of stories, the mental health of adolescents, and the oral tradition and relational values.…

Describes how a teacher overcame her students' reluctance to write poetry by showing them slides of people, places, and things in their school. Describes how small groups of students brainstormed ideas and wrote simple poems. (RS)

Gives reasons for using writing projects rather than writing assignments. Offers the group project of writing pamphlets as an example of students applying knowledge from outside the classroom in developing writing and communication skills. (RL)

Discusses how to teach students the values of "understanding, tolerance, caring, and respect," and to help them understand and appreciate cultures other than their own. Focuses on five levels: building a classroom library of multicultural literature; using "lit sets" (multiple copies of the same book) to promote multicultural…

Describes redesigned thematic units used by a middle-school teacher to make social justice a year-long focus that unified all aspects of her class endeavors. Claims that opening the door to the tenets of social justice expanded the classroom community to include the insight of teachers in a neighboring city, the wisdom of a Holocaust survivor, and…

Describes the author's efforts in establishing writing groups in a middle school classroom. Discusses setting standards, teacher role, and common projects. Concludes that the development of a safe writing environment requires open discussion about the needs and ears of writers and a common objective or project for revision and response. (SR)

Claims that the novel "Strange Attractors" by William Sleator proves to be an effective and engaging reading selection for middle school readers. Suggests methods for using the novel in the classroom, and samples student response to the book. (HB)

Discusses how activities relating to dialect and nonstandard English are integrated into the curriculum in a middle school English class. Describes numerous class activities that result from reading aloud literary works in a wide array of dialects. Asserts the need for respect for linguistic variation in the classroom and in society. (PRA)