Teaching Literature to Adolescents

Poets on Poets - Electronic Editions - Romantic Circles

Poets on Poets: Contemporary poets reading their favorite romantic poems.
Link: Poets on Poets - Electronic Editions - Romantic Circles.

Charger Guys Read

Guys Read is an initiative developed by Jon Scieszka, an author whose mission is to lead boys to books and authors they will love. His idea is that most guys will become avid readers if they are given chances to choose to read what interests them and have access to plenty of it.

Charger Guys Read has been started by Michelle Glatt, Librarian at Chiddix Junior High School in Normal, Illinois. The program targets 7th and 8th grade boys who attend study hall. Once a month, Guys Read guys will meet in the IMC to hear about new books and meet guest speaker “guys” We’ll feature new a new theme each month and let guys know in advance so they can sign up. In addition, the goal is to start a Guys Read podcast, created and produced by the guys themselves.

Link: Charger Guys Read.

YALSA - Blogs

Young Adult Library Services Assocation: lots of useful information and links for teaching young adult literature
Link: YALSA - Blogs.

Web search: Further reading

Last month's overview of websites that help you find new books to read prompted English teacher Denise Wahlin-Fiskum to offer one more suggestion for further reading: Review & React (www.reviewandreact.com).

Wahlin-Fiskum and her students at Buffalo High School in Buffalo, Minn., created the website as a place where young readers could post reviews and suggest books to their peers. As implied by its name, though, Review & React serves not only as a resource but as a forum for the students to talk about the books.

"Looking around on the Web, we realized that there are lots of sites that let readers post reviews," Wahlin-Fiskum said. "What was missing, however, was the back-and-forth conversation that is so important in getting others to read something you've liked. This dialogue between readers is what we have tried to create on this website."

Link: Web search: Further reading.

What You Dont Know About Teens and Reading | Education | Mpls.St.Paul Magazine mspmag.com

Link: What You Dont Know About Teens and Reading | Education | Mpls.St.Paul Magazine   mspmag.com.
Teens are reading; article suggests ways to foster teen reading.

Supporting Beginning English Teachers: Research and Implications for Teacher Induction

Link: Supporting Beginning English Teachers: Research and Implications for Teacher Induction.
See free excerpted chapter from this book about supporting beginning English teachers.

Online NewsHour: Conversation | Poet Discusses Age and Nature | October 16, 2006 | PBS

Link: Online NewsHour: Conversation | Poet Discusses Age and Nature | October 16, 2006 | PBS.

Poet Laureate Donald Hall Reflects on Age and Nature
New U.S. poet laureate Donald Hall gives a tour of his New Hampshire farm where he has written poetry for over 30 years. He also reads poems on nature, love and loss, suggests that poetry is becoming more popular and explores the art of saying the unsayable.

FEA / Forum on Educational Accountability

Link: FEA / Forum on Educational Accountability.
A large coalition of organizations recommends specific changes in NCLB.

An East Oakland Odyssey

Link: An East Oakland Odyssey.

The foundation for this website comes from three years of research on student attitudes towards reading.  This research was conducted between 2001—2004, at ASCEND, a new small, autonomous K-8 school in Oakland, CA.  During these years I taught history and language arts to the same group of students who started in 2001 in the 6th grade.  I was their humanities teacher until they graduated from our school in the 8th grade, affording me a rare and wonderful opportunity to follow student growth and development over three years. 

      

At the beginning of 6th grade, many of my students hated reading.  I became obsessed with changing their attitudes.  Very soon after I started teaching this group, I began to do formal inquiry in my classroom.  I was guided by an expert teacher and researcher, Liz Simons, from the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES).  I can no longer imagine teaching without using inquiry as I feel the process is responsible for the success I have had in my classroom.   

      

Some of the results of this three year study are reported on in the article featured on this website, “An East Oakland Odyssey:  Exploring the Love of Reading in a Small School.”  To supplement this article, I have compiled documents, photos, video, and other writings to further describe my research and the practices that I discovered were most effective in changing student attitudes. 

      

My objective for this site is to present a literacy program which centers around the enjoyment of reading, and to demonstrate the necessity for teachers to do inquiry in their classroom.   

   

Yvonne Hutchinson • Introducing Shakespeare

Link: Yvonne Hutchinson • Introducing Shakespeare.

Introducing Shakespeare

Yvonne Divans Hutchinson, King Drew High School
Los Angeles, CA