This text for pre-service and in-service English education courses presents current methods of teaching literature to middle and high school students. The methods are based on social constructivist/socio-cultural theories of literacy learning, and incorporate research on literary response conducted by the authors. "Teaching Literature to Adolescents"--a totally new text that draws on ideas from the best selling textbook. "Teaching Literature in the Secondary School," by Beach and Marshall--reflects and builds on recent key developments in theory and practice in the field, including: (1) the importance of providing students with a range of critical lenses for analyzing texts and interrogating the beliefs, attitudes, and ideological perspectives encountered in literature; (2) Organization of the literature curriculum around topics, themes, or issues; (3) Infusion of multicultural literature and emphasis on how writers portray race, class, and gender differences; (4) Use of drama as a tool for enhancing understanding of texts; (5) Employment of a range of different ways to write about literature; (6) Integration of critical analysis of film and media texts with the study of literature; (7) Blending of quality young adult literature into the curriculum; and (8) Attention to students who have difficulty succeeding in literature classes due to reading difficulties, disparities between school and home cultures, attitudes toward school/English, or lack of engagement with assigned texts or response activities. Following a preface, this book is divided into 13 chapters: (1) Goals for Teaching Literature: What Does It Mean to Teach Literature? (2) Understanding Students' Individual Differences: Who Are My Students? (3) Planning and Organizing Literature Instruction: How Do I Decide What to Teach? (4) Using Drama to Foster Interpretation: How Can I Help Students Read Better? (5) Leading Classroom Discussions of Literature: (6) How Do I Get Students to Talk about Literature? (7) Using Narratives in the Classroom for Both Teaching and Learning Literature: What's the Use of Story? (8) Teaching Text and Task-Specific Strategies: How Does the Shape of a Text Change the Shape of My Teaching? (9) Teaching the Classics: Do I Have to Teach the Canon, and If So, How Do I Do It? (10) Multiple Perspectives to Engage Students with Literature: What Are Different Ways of Seeing? (11) Teaching Media Literacy: What Else Is a Text and How Do I Teach It? (12) Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning: How Do I Know What Students Have Learned? and (13) Text Selection, Censorship, Creating an Ethical Classroom Environment, and Teacher Professionalism: How Do I Stay in Control, Out of Trouble, and Continue to Develop as a Teacher?