In this article, Kate Collins begins by explaining how she discovered that "Hamilton: An American Musical," a Broadway show that incorporates a mix of musical genres: hip-hop, jazz, classic show tunes, and show-stopper numbers based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, could be brought into her teaching as a rich resource for her high…

According to the author, as our abilities to combine image and text become more sophisticated and ubiquitous, digital storytelling is a powerful means for sharing those stories. Digital storytelling is a perfect way to remix stories. To present American literature as relevant to students' lives, the author rewrote their curriculum using backwards…

In this article, the author discusses how she developed an innovative, interdisciplinary unit in eighth-grade English that links with the history teacher's Civil War studies. When constructing lesson plans, the author needed to rely on her sympathetic connection with students. To determine the best way to help students learn, the author had to ask…

Deals with the complexity and moral ambiguity of the Vietnam War as reflected in American literature of that period, and with the use of that literature to help students undertand the conflict. Suggests three books: Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War," James Webb's "Field of Fire," and Michael Herr's "Dispatches" as…

Presents teacher commentary of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to help put today's teaching into a broader perspective. (MM)