Discusses getting started, organizing a thematic unit, developing a unit around classroom concerns, and skills students need. Discusses creating a thematic unit in American literature focused on Henry David Thoreau. Presents a series of nine questions for teachers to ask themselves when selecting a novel for use in a thematic unit with middle or…

Discusses how to teach students the values of "understanding, tolerance, caring, and respect," and to help them understand and appreciate cultures other than their own. Focuses on five levels: building a classroom library of multicultural literature; using "lit sets" (multiple copies of the same book) to promote multicultural understanding; the…

Describes a seven-step process that uses young adult literature to help teenagers understand and deal with their troubles. Offers brief annotations of five young adult titles in each of nine areas: alienation and identity; divorce; dropouts, delinquency, and gangs; poverty; teenage pregnancy; abused children; alcohol and drugs; homosexuality; and…

Describes and discusses the term "reflective practice," discussing John Dewey's and Donald Schon's statements on the term and levels or stages of reflective practice as understood by M. Van Mannen and by P. King and K. Kitchener. Discusses a teacher's reflective practices. (SR)

Presents three articles that examine, through the classroom experiences of the authors, important issues of ownership, authorship, and privacy in process writing classrooms: (1) "Use of Students' Writing as Models in the Classroom" (Karyn E. Schweiker-Marra); (2) Privacy Issues Regarding Workshops" (Mary Broglie); and (3) "Problems of Privacy and…

Uses six students' writing to detail classroom revision techniques that have students write alternative sections of their essays, generate new aspects of their topics, and see other possibilities in their work. (SR)

Discusses how teachers can make a portfolio more than a static collection of papers. Describes the passive portfolio as well as the active portfolio, and discusses moving to the active portfolio (a working portfolio which enables students to see their learning processes and take responsibility for their own learning). (SR)

Describes ways to help students of all ages with writing apprehension, including write more; discourage appropriation of voice; listen to fearful writers; find patterns in students' errors; conference during drafting stages; coach peers for effective response; encourage positive self-talk; be aware of possible gender differences; vary writing…

Describes how students who are learning disabled can improve their writing skills through physical movement and manipulating visuals. Describes how movement draws on kinesthetic intelligence and manipulatives draw on spatial intelligence to help students understand language structures in nonverbal ways that may be more intuitive than verbal…

Describes a four- to six-week project for high school sophomores in which students create pamphlets and in the process learn basic research skills and practice several elements of the research paper. (SR)

Describes a two-week unit in a high school English class which teaches high school students how, why, and when to use professional study notes, such as "Cliffs Notes." Prepares students with the skills to research and write their own notes. (SR)

Relates the story of how the author connected for the first time, in the 11th grade, with writing, awakening in her something she did not know she had. (SR)

Explores the many reasons to read and teach multicultural literature, including to know oneself and others, and because people still lead largely segregated lives. Considers the impact of including and excluding lives and cultures. Responds to opposition to including these works, and details the power of multicultural literature to move students.…

Describes the creation and teaching of a high school elective course on American Indian literature, and discusses how a workshop on Native American literature challenged the teacher's beliefs and practices. Concludes that it is important to address the limitations non-Native readers bring to this literature but that those limitations need not…

Notes the presence of references to classical mythology throughout modern culture, and offers an annotated list of 43 works of contemporary fiction, poetry, and drama that use mythological sources and that can help close the gap between today's students and the gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters of long ago. (SR)