In this article, the author describes three strategies they have used to bolster interest and make use of popular culture to enhance readers' interactions with texts: pop culture pairings, musical connections, and multimodal projects. The author addresses the cultivation of pop culture awareness, the importance of multimodal pedagogy, the…

This personal reflection looks at the benefits of using performance pedagogy in the Shakespeare classroom, both in terms of a general understanding of the period and a student's personal connection to the text. Though the essay acknowledges our profession's ongoing dialogue in this area, it mostly seeks to look at how a student may change once she…

This teaching tip highlights a strategy that assists teachers in structuring classroom discussions about texts. Specifically, this conversational technique helps students think and talk about a text beyond its literal meaning. During classroom conversations that employ this strategy, teachers help students extend their overall understanding of a…

This article addresses approaches to differentiating instruction to meet the needs of students whose literacy needs, interests, and strengths vary widely. This article was designed to support classroom teachers who understand the importance of differentiating instruction, but are unsure of how best to design and implement differentiation within…

When students create personal connections with literature during whole-class discussion, they make sense both of text and of their life experiences. In this article, the author shares tips that help students make text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections. She offers classroom examples to illustrate how conversations that encourage…

After teaching in rural North Carolina for about six years, the author was on the verge of giving up on teaching Shakespeare to her students. Although they seemed to enjoy the action and the drama of Shakespeare's plays, the lack of connection between the students and the language and culture of the plays interfered with her ability to generate a…

Extensive research over the years indicates that there are at least five essential components teachers can include in their classroom to help their students comprehend and learn. These features include: (1) giving background and connecting to students' prior knowledge; (2) providing a strong vocabulary program; (3) setting aside ample opportunity…

Four first-grade teachers used discussion prompts to encourage thinking about and responding to text in different ways. This article describes how the teachers introduced the prompts and provides examples of how the prompts were integrated into classroom activities. Teachers found that using the prompts was an effective way to initiate and…

Each year junior high students around the country read S. E. Hinton's 50-year-old tale, "The Outsiders," about life as an adolescent, and devour its universal message of acceptance and stereotype as told through the vision of a teenage author. "The Outsiders" is so effective as a young adult novel because students immediately see the connection S.…

Shows how some key postmodern ideas about texts forced a teacher and her students to rethink typical writing assignments and typical student responses. Describes the assignments and considers how they invite postmodern critique. Suggests giving up grandiose, romantic notions that Freshman Composition can fix students either personally or…

Suggesting that the common classroom practice of literature instruction is antitheoretical and counterproductive, this paper elaborates theories of reading processes, discusses children's responses to literature, and proposes suggestions for classroom use. The first section of the paper outlines what literature instruction is expected to…

Historically, and continuing to the present, children in the primary grades receive the lion's share of attention and resources in learning to read. This makes sense: Young, early readers have a head start in achieving well not only in literacy skills, but in school in general. However, as inner-city, middle-grade teachers will readily attest,…

Presents sample questions for use as a guide for teachers to question students about literature and to model effective questioning techniques for them. Details topics, including literary characteristics; setting; vocabulary; general questions; characters; author; plot, theme, mood, and moral; and illustrations-pictures. (KDFB)

Discusses ways in which a teacher new to teaching ninth-grade English and new to the school district lured her "reluctant" readers into a true community of readers. Describes a trip to a local bookstore, building the reading community, writing in response to reading, graphic responses to reading, and oral responses to reading. (RS)

Provides a definition and description of the response process and a description of the teacher's role. Describes ERMAA (experiencing the literary work, responding, mapping and analyzing multiple responses, and affirming the inherent individuality of response), a one-week strategy designed to facilitate literary response in the classroom. (RS)