This paper addresses my experience with a group of 11th grade students and their reading of The Grapes of Wrath (1939, 2002) by John Steinbeck. I questioned how the application of visual arts integration strategies, specifically the use of spontaneously created paintings, might influence the reader responses of my high school junior-level…

As a teacher with more than 30 years experience at the middle school, secondary, and college level, primarily in English studies, Patterson (the first author) decided a few years ago to reexamine his practices and instructional methods. He wondered what would be the effects on him and his students when he would begin to utilize ideas emanating…

Discusses 10 reasons to end the senior year of high school with Bernard Malamud's novel "The Natural." (RS)

To help improve students' ability to interpret and write about literature, teachers should get rid of old habits. The old habits include giving quizzes to make sure students read assignments, and assigning readings just because particular works are part the literary canon. Once a teacher assigns a novel and gives a quiz, everything the teacher and…

Argues that Christa Wolf's novel "Patterns of Childhood" provides opportunities for students to consider the adolescent dilemmas of the protagonist Nelly and to reflect on how they themselves are coming to terms with the world. Notes that the novel forces students to see Nazi Germany with new eyes. (RS)

Chinua Achebe is one of Africa's best-known and most influential contemporary writers. His first novel, "Things Fall Apart," is a narrative about the European colonization of Africa told from the viewpoint of the colonized people. Published in 1958, the novel recounts the life of the warrior and village hero Okonkwo and describes the…

Describes an individualized instructional unit on Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" that focused on students' responses to the novel's plot, character, theme, and structure. Reports that students wrote good quality essays, performed well on a test of the novel, and engaged in serious discussion of the novel during student…

Chinua Achebe is one of Africa's best-known contemporary writers. His first novel, "Things Fall Apart," deals with the clash of cultures and the violent transitions in life and values brought about by the onset of British colonialism in Nigeria at the end of the 19th century. Published in 1958, just before Nigerian independence, the…

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,"…

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…

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…

A study explored whether high school readers respond significantly differently to African novels in which unfamiliar cultural elements are presented "aggressively" than to those with an "assimilative" presentation of unfamiliar cultural elements. The three novels are set in Africa: Nancy Farmer's "A Girl Named…

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…

The Literature Project is a literature-based reading program designed to meet the needs of adolescent females with behavioral/emotional disorders, adolescent female offenders, and adolescent females at risk. The project uses novels and short stories written by and for women as basic reading material. Literary selections with heroines who are…