This online tool enables students to learn about and write acrostic poems. Elements of the writing process are also included.
Acrostic Poems
Theme Poems
Formerly known as Shape Poems, this online tool allows elementary students to write poems in various shapes.
Alphabet Organizer
Students use this online tool to create an alphabet chart or pages for an alphabet book.
Persuasion Map
The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.
Eye on Idioms
The activity includes a series of exercises, in which students view the literal representations of idioms and then examine the metaphorical meanings of the idioms.
Timeline
Students generate descriptive timelines and can include images in the description.
Letter Generator
The Letter Generator is a useful tool for students to learn the parts of a business or friendly letter and then compose and print letters for both styles of correspondence.
Power of Picture Books, The: Using Content Area Literature in Middle School
Featuring descriptions and activities for fifty exceptional titles, Mary Jo Fresch and Peggy Harkins offer a wealth of ideas for harnessing the power of picture books to improve reading and writing in the content areas.
360 Degrees of Text: Using Poetry to Teach Close Reading and Powerful Writing
Through Eileen Murphy Buckley's 360-degree approach to teaching critical literacy, students investigate texts through a full spectrum of learning modalities, harnessing the excitement of performance, imitation, creative writing, and argument/debate activities to become more powerful thinkers, readers, and writers.
Beyond Standardized Truth: Improving Teaching and Learning through Inquiry-Based Reading Assessment
Scott Filkins brings us into his and colleagues' classrooms to demonstrate how high school teachers across the disciplines can engage in inquiry-based reading assessment to support student learning. This book is part of the NCTE Principles in Practice imprint.
Sharing Stories and Developing Multiple Perspectives in Post-9/11 Classrooms
Sensitive to the increased importance of valuing diversity and diverse points of view since 9/11, this article describes activities through which ESL students contribute new knowledge to their classes while simultaneously improving their English language skills.
I-Search in the Age of Information
Middle school teacher Huntington Lyman takes a fresh look at the I-Search research method and shows how it can be modified to provide an effective project for middle school students.
Ethics as a Form of Critical and Rhetorical Inquiry in the Writing Classroom
What can improve students' engagement in persuasive writing? A strong ethical dilemma and strategies for developing intelligent responses.
The Great Gatsby in the Classroom: Searching for the American Dream
Veteran high school English teacher David Dowling demonstrates how teachers can help students connect The Great Gatsby to the value systems of the twenty-first century, offering active reading and thinking strategies designed to enhance higher-level thinking and personal responses to fiction.
To Kill a Mockingbird in the Classroom: Walking in Someone Else's Shoes
This book examines ways of engaging students as they study Harper Lee's novel. Included are collaborative learning, discussion, writing, and inquiry-based projects as well as activities related to the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Writing about Literature, 2nd ed., Revised and Updated
This book is intended to help middle and secondary school English language arts teachers integrate literature study and composition instruction.
Authentic Assessments for the English Classroom
Joanna Dolgin, Kim Kelly, and Sarvenaz Zelkha offer real-world examples, sample student work, step-by-step instructions, and handouts to help teachers incorporate authentic forms of assessment into the middle and high school curriculum.
Adolescent Literacy and the Teaching of Reading: Lessons for Teachers of Literature
Deborah Appleman dismantles the traditional divide between secondary teachers of literature and teachers of reading and offers a variety of practical ways to teach reading within the context of literature classrooms.
Reading Shakespeare with Young Adults
Dakin explores different methods for getting students engaged--and excited--about Shakespeare's plays as they learn to construct meaning from the texts' sixteenth-century language and connect it to their twenty-first-century lives.
What Works in Writing Instruction: Research and Practices
Through teacher-friendly language and classroom examples, Deborah Dean takes a close look at effective, research-based practices for writing instruction.