What if the literacy and social justice work educators are trying to do via literature is being foiled by its often tragic seriousness? What if the emotion work students are being asked to do when engaging with such literature is debilitating for some of them? One might argue that many students' reluctance to read and their lack of success at…

Explicit instruction helps students gain declarative knowledge as well as literacy strategies that support them in becoming competent readers. To facilitate this shift in reading so that teacher candidates might be more explicit in their instruction, the authors created a graphic organizer they call Reading for Teaching (RfT). They designed the…

YouTube, the video sharing website that allows viewers to upload video content ranging from cute dog tricks to rare rock videos, also supports a lively community devoted to the performance of Shakespeare and Shakespearean adaptations. YouTube is also a popular site for student producers of Shakespeare performances, parodies, and other artistic…

Junior high school teacher Mary Rice designs a consumer research unit that cultivates students' critical reading and thinking skills. As students learn how to develop and revise criteria for evaluating the reliability of online information, they read customer reviews, research products, and present their findings orally.

Examines patterns of instruction in literature, particularly the transactional strategy proposed by Louise Rosenblatt, that emphasize the reader's immediate experience with the text. Illustrates the effective application of response-based teaching of literature. (RL)

Suggests that teachers have students apply a three-stage approach to the study of short stories. Notes that having students define the subject, specific theme, and larger theme of a literary work will develop their critical reading skills. (RL)

Discusses two research questions that literature teachers must continually answer--their students' reading interests and how well their students read a text. Shows how research has both complicated and clarified these questions. (RL)

Presents activities dealing with components of literature, literary devices, and persuasive material. (DD)

Considers how new technologies might serve to help educators to teach in ways that were not possible without them. Considers "the unspoken responsibilities English teachers are asked to assume" as students pursue their desire to become "technologically literate." Describes an activity in which the World Wide Web is used to…

Gathers some of the ways the authors used online resources to teach the Declaration of Independence. Discusses critically reading historical documents online and approaching the Declaration through an analysis of genre. Notes that the techniques can be modified for a range of grades and a variety of topics. (SR)