"Teaching Literacy Online (TLO)" is a practical guide for secondary and college teachers of English in digital and online environments. Like other practical, "how to teach online" books, "TLO" includes an overview of good practices and guidelines for teaching in digital environments and provides detailed suggestions…

While "arts-based" has received increased attention in recent years as a research methodology rooted in an aesthetic framework, less attention has been paid to conceptualizing what arts-based means in the context of particular disciplines of K-12 teaching and learning. This qualitative study recognizes a need to examine sustained and…

In this article Deidre Faughey shares an experimental classroom project that she developed with a diverse group of students in three ninth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) classes. Podcasts provide a unique opportunity for students to embrace experimentation and to take risks with their own voices, explore the school building and community, and…

Describes her experiences with an innovative approach to the teaching of poetry to five ninth grade English classes. (RB)

This article discusses an instructional development system called "holistic" approach, a strategy to improve high school education in Chicago. The initiative includes new curriculum materials, aligned to district standards, as well as assessments and ongoing teacher coaching and training that are designed for the curriculum. The design…

Designed to demonstrate a variety of ways in which listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities can be built around the study of biographies, this collection of materials, lessons, and activities deals with some of the most frequently taught biographical works in New York City ninth-grade classrooms. The document begins with a general…

Concerned with the study of lexical changes, this unit for grade 9 is intended to develop the student's understanding of several specific ways in which the meanings of words change, of the interpersonal relationships and the social values which cause such change, and of general concepts related to language change. Discussion questions, lectures,…

Designed to demonstrate a variety of ways in which listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities can be built around the study of short stories, the works dealt with in this collection of materials, lessons, and activities include some of the most frequently taught short stories in New York City ninth-grade classrooms. The document begins…

Maintains that the literature curriculum should reflect our pluralist society, not a canonical tradition. Suggests pairing canonical works with works instantiating pluralism. Describes a unit on the novel for a ninth grade honors class and the use of an "adolescent problem novel" in a sophomore intermediate class. (SR)

Designed to demonstrate a variety of ways in which listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities can be built around the study of poetry, this collection of materials, lessons, and activities covers some of the most frequently taught poems in New York City ninth-grade classrooms. The document begins with a general introduction to teaching…

This introduction to the historical study of language is designed to give ninth-grade students contact with the methods of historical linguistics in a relatively limited area--the study of the lexicon. The unit begins with a consideration of recent changes in the lexicon, especially those due to technological advances which have caused the use of…

A practicum was developed which used improvisation and mapping strategies in the teaching of Shakespearean drama to increase comprehension and to develop a more positive attitude toward Shakespeare and drama in general. Subjects were a target group of 15 students enrolled in a ninth grade English class at a preparatory institution. Subjects, who…

Designed to demonstrate a variety of ways in which listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities can be built around the study of the drama in the classroom, this collection of materials, lessons, and activities deals with one of the plays most frequently taught in New York City ninth-grade classrooms. The document begins with a general…

This unit is intended to give ninth-grade students a brief survey of the changes in the study of language from the time of the Greeks to the present. Organized to proceed from the teacher's introduction of a subject to class examination and discussion of an excerpt from a grammarian's work, the unit focuses on the belief that a grammarian's…

Intended for teachers of high school honors English courses, this guide developed by the Escambia County School District (Florida) provides two differentiated curricula appropriate to the unique learning styles of the gifted language arts student. The ninth grade design features six units tied to the theme of individuality, while the tenth grade…