Many teens enjoy reading up—choosing books where the main character is just a few years older than they are, and then reading in order to imagine what their life might become. Together the titles in this episode show teens the range of paths to adulthood and the struggles that are a natural part of the process.
Life After High School
Grades
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Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, was integrated in 1957.
9 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Historical Figure & Event
After viewing some footage from the actual event, students jot down thoughts and feelings of the Little Rock Nine. Students then write a bio-poem that might have been written by one of these students on this historic day.
Grades
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Teaching Poetry in High School
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Albert Somers offers teachers a vast compendium of resources for teaching poetry in a highly accessible format.
Grades
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Highlighting Out-of-School Language Expertise with Pop Culture Dictionaries
6 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students compose dictionary entries for words and phrases from pop culture texts (e.g., television shows, movies, lyrics, YouTube videos), connecting their definitions to their personal use of the terms.
Grades
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The Middle School High Five: Strategies Can Triumph
5 - 8
Professional Library
| Journal
A literacy support teacher leads a district-wide initiative to organize content-area teachers in an effort to help their students become better readers by offering instruction and practice in five reading strategies across the curriculum.
Grades
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Risking Intensity: Reading and Writing Poetry with High School Students
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Judith Michaels approaches the subject of the self at both the personal and practical levels, opening the world of poetry to her classes through carefully planned strategies.
Grades
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Writing at the Threshold: Featuring 56 Ways to Prepare High School and College Students to Think and Write at the College Level
11 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
This book offers both an eloquent philosophy of composition instruction and a useful set of classroom-tested teaching ideas distilled from the author's 28 years of teaching writing.
Grades
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Langston Hughes in the Classroom: "Do Nothin' till You Hear from Me"
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Carmaletta M. Williams provides high school teachers with background on Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance as well as help in teaching Hughes's poetry, short stories, novels, and autobiography.
Grades
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Authentic Assessments for the English Classroom
6 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
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.
Grades
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For Argument's Sake: Playing "Devil's Advocate" with Nonfiction Texts
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students learn how to play "devil's advocate" by evaluating sports reforms, reading an engaging non-fiction article, and participating in a town hall meeting in which they represent the interests of various stakeholders to generate debate and develop critical thinking skills.
Grades
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The Great Gatsby in the Classroom: Searching for the American Dream
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
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.
Grades
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What Is "College-Level" Writing? Volume 2: Assignments, Readings, and Student Writing Samples
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Edited by Patrick Sullivan, Howard Tinberg, and Sheridan Blau, this sequel to What Is "College-Level" Writing? (2006) highlights the practical aspects of teaching writing.
Grades
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Sherman Alexie was born in 1966.
3 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
Students imagine they have been asked to participate in a museum exhibit, take photos/videos of a significant location, and write or record reflections. Students can also create an exhibit from something they have read.
Grades
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Raymond Carver in the Classroom: "A Small, Good Thing"
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
Rubenstein offers specific, classroom-tested strategies for teaching Raymond Carver's short stories and poems in the high school English classroom.
Grades
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Talking in Class: Using Discussion to Enhance Teaching and Learning
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
The authors guide high school teachers in developing skills in promoting and facilitating authentic discussion in the English language arts classroom.
Grades
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Preventing Plagiarism: Tips and Techniques
9 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
DeSena offers a practical guide on how high school and college teachers can structure assignments and guide students so that students don't plagiarize.
Grades
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Avi was born in 1937.
5 - 12
Calendar Activity
| Author & Text
After reading Nothing But the Truth, students explore a current event topic and write their own short work of fiction in a similar multigenre format.
Grades
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Wordplaygrounds: Reading, Writing, and Performing Poetry in the English Classroom
7 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
O'Connor offers new approaches to teaching poetry in middle and high school with more than 25 writing activities that can constitute an entire course or work as individual lessons.
Grades
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Lesson Plans for Teaching Writing
8 - 12
Professional Library
| Book
This collection of lesson plans will help prepare high school and college students for college-level writing.
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.