In this article, the authors explore multimodal literacies and how they use literacy contracts and quadrants to help students to examine their identities via writing and the creative arts. A notable outcome of their joint efforts is that when teachers and students transacted with multimodal literacies, they showed value for their personal and…

Secondary English teachers are charged with helping all students to read, write, and understand English in its many forms and functions. However, students' language can be as diverse as the literature teachers bring to the classroom. Not all students come to the classroom with the skills to write standardized English; even fewer students come with…

Drawing on published scholarship and her own high school teaching, the author describes how works by Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman can be used to integrate GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) issues into English classes. The author can't imagine a single high school that doesn't include Whitman and Dickinson at some point in its…

Summer is a time for teachers to recharge their pedagogical batteries. Here, three veteran English teachers write about professional development programs that energized them and their teaching.

"Authenticity," "intrinsic motivation," "confidence," and "student choice." More than just jargon, these ideas are essential for student achievement. Facing the pressures of mandated standards and assessments, teachers often replace activities that allow for student choice and multiple outcomes with…

High school teacher John Golden provides a variety of literature, film scenes, and classroom activities to introduce literary, cinematic, and theatrical elements. He shows students how to move beyond basic comparisons as students learn to analyze the techniques and changes film directors choose when translating literature to the screen. (Contains…

The ways in which the teachers take the rejection of their favorite work of literature personally are mentioned. A high school teacher relates what happened when she taught the novel she credits with turning her into an English teacher.

A fifth-year high school teacher recounts her experiences with her students and her sense of loss after their graduation. She describes her initial apprehensions about getting along with the new group and the way she accepted the new seniors without comparing them with her previous batch.

Presents the results of a national survey of materials and activities used by high school English teachers. (DD)