Grounded in solid theory with new field-tested classroom activities, the fourth edition of "Critical Encounters in Secondary English" continues to help teachers integrate the lenses of contemporary literary theory into practices that have always defined good pedagogy. The most significant change for this edition is the addition of a full…

Virtually all national standards now require students and teachers to understand the particulars of disciplinary literacy. But recently emerging scholarship suggests that disciplinary literacy is, by itself, an incomplete and potentially problematic approach to secondary literacy instruction. By asking students to "think like" or even…

Learn how to develop and sustain multimodal, project-based learning (PBL) instruction in secondary English Language Arts classrooms. National standards encourage authentic forms of reading, writing, and communication that can support college and career readiness, and this book highlights PBL as a powerful way to harness students' interests and…

Great teaching is not just a matter of talent or creativity or passion. Teachers are made, not born, and great teachers know "why" they do what they do in their classrooms. They do it strategically and purposefully based on technique. "Teach on Purpose!" demonstrates a high-quality research-based and practical approach to…

Teaching Again exposes the very human core of the teaching experience. This book is not just about teaching English/language arts; it is about the heart and soul of the vocation that is teaching. It is also not just about Tom Poetter, the English teacher; it is about every individual who has ever tried to educate, whether that act has taken place…

This book offers integrated activities in which students explore words and, at the same time, develop their language arts and thinking skills. The book states that this way teachers can pay more attention to word study, without sacrificing other parts of the English curriculum and without resorting to word lists and memorization. In the first…

Intended to introduce students to the most dynamic aspects of language and to help them see the metaphors of poetry from a perspective beyond poetry, this book offers background information for class discussion on the pervasiveness of metaphors, giving examples of how metaphors underlie folk expressions, proverbs, riddles, cliches, and slang, and…

Success in literacy takes participation born of trust, a positive group dynamic built on sharing tasks, maintaining good working relationships, and examining group functioning. This book tells why and how a truly collaborative environment is at the heart of accomplishment in the secondary classroom. In the classroom profiled in the book, students…

This collection of essays offers a new approach to strengthening the development of students' civic identity through the teaching of reading, writing, speech, and literature. A foreword by Richard L. Larson and an introduction by Sandra Stotsky are followed by the following essays: (1) The Decline of a Civic Ethic" (Sandra Stotsky); (2) "Reading…

This is a book about "conscious learning," the kind of learning that enables students to assess the current level and quality of their language performance and then work to improve that performance deliberately, enthusiastically, and with commitment. The book takes complex, sophisticated understandings and reworks them into ready-to-use…

This book explores the subject of metaphor, using the imagery of cartography to set a course. It explores the creative aspects of thinking and learning through literature, writing, and word play, drawing connections between English and other content areas. Theory and practical applications meet in the book, linking activities and resources to…

This book illustrates the benefits of using real-life vignettes to highlight situations that allow undergraduate teacher candidates to learn to engage with English language arts issues within specific and authentic concepts. Pedagogical narratives written by secondary teachers, followed by thoughtful responses to these narratives by experienced…

The monograph is a complete outline for a program designed to help English departments institute logical and fair procedures for grading student essays. The contents in this monograph include "Factors in Judgments of Writing Ability,""The Effect of Bias,""Measuring Improvement in Writing,""Personal vs Staff Grading,""Standard Scores for Test…

This book focuses on how readers respond to the power of young adult literature--negating the assumption that because such literature appeals to adolescents it cannot possibly be worthy of a place in the language arts curriculum. The book serves two purposes: it describes and discusses the oral and written response of adolescents and adults to…

This book aims to reorient thinking about how younger adolescents and their teachers, talking together, compose shared understandings that contribute to individual students' learning. Presenting a new conceptual framework that was derived from a study, the book argues that people learn not merely by being spoken (or written) to, but by…