Presents a literature cluster composed of stories about schools that are adaptable to readers' theater and appropriate for use with grades 3-6 students. Presents a synopsis of each text (a book of poetry, 2 nonfiction books, 6 novels and 2 picture books) along with suggestions for adapting and presenting them as readers' theater. Includes a brief…

Discouraged and dissatisfied with their students' responses to a compilation of Arthurian legends, two ninth-grade teachers developed an approach to teaching the legends that exposes students to numerous versions (including those written and illustrated for children) of the legends and allows them to pick their own Arthurian legend for reading and…

Provides a definition and description of the response process and a description of the teacher's role. Describes ERMAA (experiencing the literary work, responding, mapping and analyzing multiple responses, and affirming the inherent individuality of response), a one-week strategy designed to facilitate literary response in the classroom. (RS)

This thematic unit is all about what a classic novel about race relations in the 1930s American South, "To Kill a Mockingbird," and a frequently banned contemporary teen story about a candy sale, "The Chocolate War," have in common. The unit considers what people have in common, what it means to stand apart, and what…

This teacher's guide for public television's 6-part adaptation of George Eliot's "Middlemarch" provides information that will enrich students' viewing of the series. The guide includes a wide range of activities to help students further explore the novel's universal themes. The guide suggests that students read the informational…

Many high school students are on a quest to find out who they really are. Using the theme of "Searching for Identity" in both "A Fine White Dust" and "Great Expectations" will help students identify their feelings. Cynthia Rylant's "A Fine White Dust" has easier language than "Great Expectations,"…

This teacher's guide for public television's 3-part adaptation of Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist" provides information that will help enrich students' viewing of the series, whether or not they read the novel. The guide includes a wide range of discussion and activity ideas; there is also a series Web site and a list of Web resources.…

All people have to deal with feelings of loneliness, isolation, fear, and lack of acceptance, especially in the teenage years. Both of the novels "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes" and "Frankenstein" deal with these issues. By 10th grade, students are really searching for who they are and what they want out of life. It is…

Lois Lowry's award-winning novel, "The Giver," chronicles the strength of Jonas, an adolescent boy of 12 who lives in a utopian society. In the Community everyone is equal, and there is only a gray routine of existence. But Jonas is singled out by "The Giver," a wise old man who teaches Jonas the range of human emotions, and…

Developed in conjunction with a graduate course and used in classrooms with all types of learners, this paper presents a 6-week unit of study on slavery based on two adolescent novels--"NIGHTJOHN" by Gary Paulson and "My Name Is not Angelica" by Scott O'Dell. After a brief introduction to the unit, the paper presents the 14 activities of the unit:…

Both the adolescent novel "The Giver" (Lois Lowry) and the classic work "Animal Farm" (George Orwell) deal with the idea of a controlling society. "The Giver" gives the reader an understanding of what it is like to live in a society where every move and every decision is basically made for you, but the people living…

This unit intends for students to explore various literary devices such as theme, characterization, and vocabulary while they read Jack London's "The Call of the Wild." While reading this text, students will explore the relationship of these devices in connection to the unit's overall theme: survival. Students will be exposed to history,…

This thematic curriculum unit on the adolescent novel, "The Outsiders" (S.E. Hinton) discusses issues that are relevant to students' lives and important to their future decisions. In the unit, students will discuss issues relevant to the novel and will use the novel as a bridge to analyze their own lives. The unit, with an overall theme…

This book presents practical, theoretically sound guidance about using literature to develop literacy. The prologue to the book describes some aspects of whole language programs at work, relates research findings that underlie the whole language philosophy, and presents scenes of teachers actively using literature in their classrooms. The book is…

This book gives English teachers more than 75 reproducible literature selections with ready-to-use lessons based on a variety of multicultural fiction and non-fiction by authors of African, Asian, Latino, Native American, and European descent. The book is designed to expand the choice of multicultural literature beyond that found in the department…