This article looks closely at one instantiation of a poetry-centered practice as supported by June Jordan's Poetry for the People, specifically in the context of an inaugural poetry contest. It builds on an earlier empirical study, which investigated the partnership between Poetry for the People and one East Bay Area high school and the rich…

The experiences of a literature teacher in an inner-city high school in Houston (Texas) give a portrait of the urban classroom and the successes and failures of the everyday life of the urban teacher. The school, in a poor neighborhood, is unremarkable, unstimulating, and ill-equipped for serious learning. The students, who are almost entirely…

This paper identifies conditions in the lives of poor urban high school students that may cause classroom management problems. Urban student teachers are urged to look at these conditions from a humanistic perspective to help them understand their students and deal effectively with those problems. Specific urban secondary classroom management…

This report describes the role of a mentor of young people and a summer program providing mentors for high school students. For two summers, with the help of the Commonwealth Fund, several hundred young New Yorkers were chosen from among high school juniors with little hope of finding a summer job to enroll in a program sponsored by Hunter College…

A teacher's journal reflects her experience of designing and teaching writing courses at a Massachusetts alternative high school for high-risk students, her experience of using writing for personal healing, and the resistance she encountered when encouraging students to use writing as a means for personal growth and overcoming trauma. (LP)

The crisis of dropping out among Latino high school students points directly to the important role that teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, and community groups can play in creating for each student a vision of the future that includes postsecondary education. The Five Cities High School Dropout Study, which documents the effect of key…