Logo    ARTICLES, REVIEWS, ESSAYS, & PRESENTATIONS on TEACHING ENGLISH

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Book Reviews 
(click on the book to read the review or click here to view a page of book reviews)
Our book reviewers offer more than plot summaries.  We alert you to controversial aspects of a book, cite movie and music connections, and offer an unbiased assessment of a book's worthiness for the secondary classroom.

"After her overprotective grandmother has a stroke, Maya, an orphan, leaves her extremely restricted life in California to stay with her mother’s family on a remote Wyoming ranch, where she discovers a love of horses and encounters a wild mare that her mother once rode."

 

"He opens the door and sees a stone statue. There was a coin beside it so Sam put the coin in the slot of the statue ... Sam has just gone back in time." 

 

Click

"George 'Gee' Keane has passed away, but he has left behind a few autographed photos, a box of shells, many secrets, and many mysteries." 

 

 "These stories will keep you up in the late hours of the late night wanting to read  more, and too scared to go to sleep."


 

Books related to the Teaching of English
(Click here to see more reviews)

How to Teach so Students Remember by Marilee Sprenger. Reviewed by Todd Finley and Anthony Dralle.

Literacy and Imagination: A Teacher's Search for the Heart of Learning by Karen Gallas. Reviewed by Christopher Godish.

Couldn't Keep it to Myself by Wally Lamb. 
Reviewed by Frances Sawyer.

I am a Pencil by Sam Swope. 
Reviewed by Kimberly Popovich.

Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway. 
Reviewed by Brian Fogt.

The Teaching of High School English by J.N. Hook.  Reviewed by Della Warren.
The Tech-Savvy English Classroom by Sara Kajder.  Reviewed by Andrea Beatty.

Click on the title to see and hear the video poems.

Video poem: Outside


In Mother Nature's Sistine Chapel,
what I want is like Grandma's cookies--
an addictive, guilty pleasure,
a justified disposal of brain cells.

If already intoxicated,
like fresh spring water;
otherwise, like licking a car tire
after hitting a skunk.

But when the shadows dance in the courtyard,
I find stillness like a stone.
I empty my lungs,
scream,
breathe,
and
smile.

I push myself past the chaos,
past the bubblegum, the style without substance.
I let go.
There are a thousand worlds for me.

Even if all the books were gone,
I'd still find my exit.
Even if all the grass had been cut,
There would still be those places still and quiet.

by Adrian and Ryan.
Click here for the video (mp4).

Video poem: Traces 

Overwhelming dirty, will linger on my hands for hours.
Crisp Loss, stains on your feet.
Tinkling of water - welcoming, napping bench.
Clicking of pens.
Thoughtful and shiny with excitement.
Huddled with my favorite childhood books.
Morning hangover, painful disinterest.
Sparkling lights from the shade cast by large limbs, wind passing through the leaves.
Crisp Loss, stains on your feet.
Overwhelmingly dirty, will linger on my hands for hours.
A sturdy dock in the lake unaffected by the crashing waves.

By Shelly and Amanda
Click here for the video (mov)

Films With Class

Across the Universe

Across the Universe
by David Ferguson

Essays and Powerpoint Presentations

Click here to view essays, reviews of audiobooks, Dark Quilters, Heartland, Short Takes, and Powerpoint presentations.



About Secondary English

 Click here or on the handprint to learn about the website, to learn how to submit an article, or to learn how to become a reviewer of young adult literature. 

Articles
(click here to view more articles)

"Language as Power" curriculum guide (PDF)
Model lesson on comparison/contrast essay (PDF)
Model lesson Venn Diagram (PDF)
By Cathy Schaetzle
(with Barbara Israel & Lawrence Baines)

Literacy Infidels: My Introduction to Micro-blogging
By Todd Finley

Future

"The Future" by Architect John Russell Pope

Educating Today for Issues of Tomorrow
By Ed Farrell

 

Fashion Notes

Fashion Notes from Round Da Bronx

By Shamalee, Chelsea, & Sasha

 

Caged Bird

Artist: Wayne Beckner, Title:  Birds in Flight, Medium: acrylic on canvas


Helping Caged Birds Grow Up:
Teaching the Everyday Powers of Language
By Roy F. Fox
 The study of language—especially how it can influence students’ growth, identity, and  “language empowerment”—is too often overlooked in English/Language Arts classes.

Remote Controlled Discussion
By Eric Grossman
Enhancing classroom discussion through point and click technologies

Plop! Mashed Potatoes and Gravy:
Symbiosis of Words and Images
by Samuel Kramer
Building visual-verbal ability enables a student to work more effectively in any field.

Electrifying the Experience:
Using Technology to Create Digital Portfolios
by Matt Copeland
We’ve saved trees, expanded our learning, and created a final product that outshines the more traditional, hard copy predecessor. 
Identity and Conformity in Contemporary Young Adult Literature
By Deirdre Perlini
 Works mentioned include: Uglies, The Specials, Birdwing, The Six Swans, Montmorency, Stargirl, Bronx Masquerade, Born Confused, and the poem "Identity" by Julio Noboa Polanco.

Learning About Voice through Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire
by Edgar Herb Thompson
 By examining sense of self, sense of audience, and sense of place, students can learn about voice in a systematic way and begin to become conscious of voice in their own writing.

Jane Austen Lite:
Jane Austen as Great-Grandmother of Chick Lit
by Tonya K. Schauwecker
Works mentioned include: Sense and Sensibility; the Gossip Girl series; Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging; On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God; The Thin Pink Line; and Who Needs Boys?
An Experiment in the Use of Technology as a Means of Teaching Shakespearean Drama to High School Seniors
by Alan Perry
An experimental study using two different instructional strategies with surprising results.

Rhyming Across the Curriculum
by Greg Stanley
 Poetry in history class? Well, why not?


 

 

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