Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
1 The Teacher, the Student, the School 1
Beginnings 1
Teacher, Student, School: The Dance of the Three 9
The Teacher/Learner 12
The Student/Learner 20
The School 28
References 45
2 What It's Like to Be a Teacher 48
From Expert Learner to Novice Teacher 48
What a Teacher Needs to Do 53
Beginning Your Life in the Classroom 57
The Politics of School 58
Discipline 59
Classroom Environment, Room Arrangement, Creature Comforts, Food 63
A Few Other Things: Getting Started, Openings, Voice, Body, Touch, Dress 70
Teaching as Failing 77
References 84
3 Planning for Your Teaching 86
Adopting a Teaching Model 87
Five Models of Teaching 90
Teaching Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Five Models 96
It Didn't Work 99
Creating Activities 104
The House on Mango Street: From Chapter to Plan to Class 107
"I'm Nobody! Who are you?" From Poem to Plan to Class 111
A Brief Word on Creating Tests and Test Items 116
The Place of Standards in Your Planning 118
A Final Caution About Planning 124
References 126
4 Those Whom We Teach 128
What Is Adolescence? 129
No One Ever Said It Was Going to Be Easy 132
The Tough Times of Teaching 133
Two Researchers on Students: William Glasser and Linda M. McNeil 135
The Alienated Student: Not Always Who You Think 137
Alienated Students: Stories from Our Classrooms 145
The Place of the School Counselor, the Parents, the Administration 153
The Average Student: Lost in the Middle 160
The Gifted Student: Burdens and Responsibilities 161
The Delicate Contract with Students 162
References 168
5 The World of Literature: Teaching and Selecting 170
The Fear of Not Knowing Enough 170
Literature: The Heart of Language Arts 172
Reading with Different Lenses 173
Transactional Theory and Reader Response 176
Organizing Literature 186
Teaching and Selecting Novels and Short Stories 189
Teaching and Selecting Poetry 192
Teaching and Selecting Plays 195
Teaching and Selecting the Plays of Shakespeare 197
Teaching and Selecting Young Adult Literature 202
New Kid on the Block: The Graphic Novel 206
The Specter of Censorship 208
Using Literature: Some Teaching Tips 210
A Final Note on Choosing Literature 220
References 223
Literature Cited 224
6 Nonfiction and Informational Texts 228
Harnessing the Power of Information 229
Nonfiction Text Types 231
Reading Informational Texts for Authentic Purposes 234
Approaching Informational Texts 235
Activities with Nonfiction 236
Augmenting Fiction with Informational Texts 237
Logic and Logical Fallacies 239
Studying Technical Writing Through Informational Texts 240
Disinformation, or Should We Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus? 242
Big Data, Visual Rhetoric, and Data Visualization 243
More Ideas and Resources for Teaching Nonfiction and Informational Texts 245
Understanding Information 247
References 248
Literature Cited 249
7 Words, Words, Words 252
"Just Give Us the Right Answer, Already!" 253
Prescriptive Versus Descriptive: The World of Linguistics 253
The Place of Standards in Language Instruction 259
Usage 261
Spelling 262
Vocabulary 264
Grammar 266
What Else About Language Should We Teach? 271
Activities for Teaching Language 273
Code-Switching and Code-Meshing 278
English Language Learners 282
The Language of Hate 285
The Glory and Richness of English Language 286
References 289
8 Writing, Revising, and Publishing 293
Teaching Writing 293
A Contemporary Model of Teaching Writing: Writing Process and POWER-P 295
Teaching with Authentic Writing 298
Traditional Writing Instruction Versus Authentic Writing Instruction 299
Helping Students Get Writing Ideas: Structuring Choice 300
But What About Timed Writing on Standardized Tests? 303
Peer-Response Groups: Questions, Answers, and Reasons 306
Conferencing with Students 313
The Place of Correctness and Grammar in Its Place 314
Now They've Written It-What Do You Do with It? Responding to Student Writing 317
Creating and Using Rubrics 319
Other Forms of Teacher and Student Response 324
The Journal or Writer's Notebook 325
The Research Paper and Encouraging Academic Honesty 326
What We Are About as Teachers of Writing 330
References 332
9 The Craft of Questioning 334
The Power of Talk 334
Why Do We Ask Questions? 336
Questions That Teachers Ask 337
The Questioning Circle 341
Beyond Hierarchies: Questions You Don't Want to Ask 344
Questioning Behaviors 347
When Questions Don't Work 351
Questions That Students Ask 353
Teacher Questioning and Student Teacher Assessment: edTPA and Other Tasks 354
Becoming Mrs. Ramsey 355
References 356
10 Teaching Today: Ethics, Social Justice, and the Challenges of the Times 358
English Class as Ethics Arena 359
Ethical Issues for the Classroom Teacher 361
Breaking the Rules 370
Being and Becoming an Ethical Teacher 375
The Challenges of the Times 375
Staying in the Classroom 383
Making the Journey 388
References 389
Index 393
