This article summarizes and explicates research on 272 twelfth-grade students' reading autobiographies. Cope quotes from some noteworthy comments and makes some suggestions on how teachers and schools might do a better job of teaching literature.
Beyond Voices of Readers: Students on School's Effects on Reading
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Writing with Voice
5 - 9
Professional Library
| Journal
Tom Romano leads students to allow themselves creative freedom while developing the patience to hone that first rush into a tight and effective piece of writing with voice.
Grades
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Pamphlets: An Introduction to Research Techniques
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Journal
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.
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Research Matters: What Kinds of Classroom Discussion Promote Reading Comprehension?
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Journal
"Research Matters" provides teachers with review and application of research that illuminates the daily concerns and activities of English language arts teachers and classrooms.
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Building Community through Poetry: A Role for Imagination in the Classroom
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Journal
Methods such as the circle poem, the "poetic interview," the found poem, and the poetic field trip are just some used by the author to create an atmosphere of mutual support and enable students to initiate "imaginative possibilities."
Grades
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Using Short Story Collections to Enrich the English Classroom
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Journal
Describes ways short story collections can be integrated into the English curriculum, including a short story fair, a short story hunt, using single short stories to extend a unit, using a short story by itself, using a collection as a whole, and using short stories as part of a focus on writing. Offers a list of short story resources.
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Menu Magic!
5 - 9
Professional Library
| Journal
This article helps eighth graders review the power of adjectives. Students eat up this project that promises to deliver the opportunity to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate while giving students the chance to work in cooperative groups. All in all, it's an appetizing way to get kids focused on descriptive writing.
Grades
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Expanding Vision: Teaching Haiku
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Journal
Despite common misconceptions about haiku, there is a lively and vibrant haiku community throughout the United States and many other countries. Read this article for further discussion on the use of haiku in your own classroom.
Grades
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Using Children's Literature to Spark Learning
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Journal
Presents two brief articles--the first discusses purposes for using children's picture books in a secondary classroom, activities for children's literature, and integrating children's books into the classroom curriculum; and the second discusses using folktales in the classroom to engage reluctant readers and writers, suggests ideas/topics for folktale writing projects, lists writing prompts, and recommends folktales.
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Undoing the Great Grammatical Scam
5 - 9
Professional Library
| Journal
Grammar should be taught in the context of students' own writing: "we learn what we actually have the opportunity to practice and do in the real world."
Grades
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To Grammar or Not to Grammar: That Is Not the Question!
5 - 9
Professional Library
| Journal
Argues that, taught in the context of writing, grammar can enhance and improve students' writing. Offers classroom examples showing how: good preparation for writing fosters good grammar and detail; students can use grammatical and syntactic constructions used by professional authors as models for their own writing; and how to help students learn revision strategies at the sentence and paragraph level.
Grades
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How Comic Books Can Change the Way Our Students See Literature: One Teacher's Perspective
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Journal
In this article, Versaci details the many merits of using comics and graphic novels in the classroom, suggests how they can be integrated into historical and social issues units, and recommends several titles.