When Writing Teachers Teach Literature

In Art Young and Toby Fulwiler's collection of essays, twenty-three teachers of writing describe their experiences teaching literature, revealing some remarkable ideas and results.

How to Teach Literature: Introductory Course provides a detailed resource for homeschool or conventional teachers and administrators interested in an in-depth study of the subject. This fourth and final book in this series of teaching guides includes information not found in literature anthologies such as the following: suggestions for cultivating a love for literature, detailed analyses of each work, questions for review, test questions with suggested responses, essay topics, audio-visual aids, internet resource materials, classroom handouts, and recommended books that enhance teaching. The author emphasizes two basic reasons for teaching literature: It is instructional and delightful. This book provides a comprehensive methodology for teaching the subject that a teacher could apply to one year’s lesson plans without further investment in time. Other books in this series are entitled How to Teach World Literature, How to Teach American Literature, and How to Teach British Literature. www.teachclassiclit.com What do Truman Capote, O. Henry, and Homer have in common? They are all important writers happily included in Elizabeth Marlow’s How to Teach Literature: Introductory Course. Elizabeth lifts the reader to experience the beat in Poe’s writing, the stark descriptors in the work of Hemingway, the rhythm of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. She shows us that writing is not just a group of assembled words; it is a matrix of sound, color, meter, and imagery. For an English teacher, this is a helpful reminder and some fresh air. For a student, this is a gateway to the beauty and skill of great writing. To us all, this book is a way for the literature veteran to be challenged, and the newcomer to be lured into the wondrous world of literature. I wholeheartedly recommend this book. —John Baskam, middle school and high school English teacher at Covenant Christian Academy, Cumming, Georgia This is just the sort of guide I wish I’d had when I was homeschooling my children. Elizabeth Marlow addresses both the big picture, which is the main goal of fostering a lifelong love for classic literature in students, and everyday practical concerns. Parents and teachers will find her trustworthy in her mature spiritual grounding, her impeccable literary taste, and her wealth of experience gained from decades of teaching literature in a Christian school. The book is well organized and thorough, and her witty, down-to-earth writing style makes it a pleasure to read. —Marcelle Tuggle, veteran homeschool mom

This is an exciting, and unsettling, time to be teaching world literature, writes David Damrosch. Because the range of works taught in world literature courses has expanded enormously, both historically and geographically, the task of selection—and of teacher preparation—has grown more challenging. Teachers of this field must grapple with such issues as coverage, cultural difference, and the role of translation in the classroom. Should one emphasize masterpieces or traditions, concepts or themes? How does one avoid making a work bear the burden of representing an entire tradition? To what extent should anthologies be used? Can a course be global in scope and yet focus on a few works, authors, moments? This collection of thirty-two essays in the MLA series Options for Teaching offers an array of solutions to these challenges, reflecting the wide variety of institutions, courses, and students described by the contributors. An annotated bibliography is provided, with a listing of useful Web sites.

This book examines nearly 30 years of research to identify how teachers can incorporate writing instruction that helps students master the course content and improve their overall achievement. Building on the recommendations of the National Commission on Writing, authors Vicki Urquhart and Monette McIver introduce four critical issues teachers should address when they include writing in their content courses: Creating a positive environment for the feedback and guidance students need at various stages, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing; Monitoring and assessing how much students are learning through their writing; Choosing computer programs that best enhance the writing process; Strengthening their knowledge of course content and their own writing skills.

In Teaching Literature scholars explain how they think about their everyday experience in the classroom, using the tools of their ongoing scholarly projects and engaging with current debates in literary studies. Until recently, teaching has played second fiddle to literary research as a mode of knowledge in academia, leaving new teachers with nowhere to turn for advice about teaching and no forum for discussion of the difficulties and opportunities they face in the classroom.

Veteran teacher and author Linda Rief has inspired thousands of practitioners across the nation to lead adolescent students on a journey to becoming lifelong readers and writers. In ReadWriteTeach, Linda offers the what, how, and why of a year's worth of reading and writing for middle and high school students with a framework that is as flexible as it is comprehensive. "...This book isn't a compilation of tear-out reproducibles designed to help us replicate Linda's practices," writes Maja Wilson in the foreword. "Instead, it's the most powerful gift that a master teacher can give us: the story of her thinking and feeling as she teaches." Linda's insights and beliefs are woven throughout a comprehensive overview of best literacy practices, which include: essentials in the reading-writing workshop grounding our choices in our beliefs getting to know ourselves and our students as readers and writers. Students' voices, through examples of their writing, drawing, and thinking, resonate throughout the book and characterize the thoughtful readers, writers, and citizens of the world that they become under Linda's guidance. Online companion resources include all of the handouts that Linda uses in her own classroom. Download a free sample chapter!

The distinctive element of this book is that it offers ways to model for students some procedures for the reading of narratives and to design learning experiences that will allow learners to discover “rules” for reading complex works of literature.

Using picture books as models is a powerful way to teach key expository and narrative target skills. Step-by-step directions and charts, with quality children's literature used as models, help you set up and manage effective 45-minute long writing workshops. Also includes extensive lists of other children's literature with their recommended Target Skill application.Teach brainstorming, focus, organization, elaboration, and writing conventions using literature as models. Primary and intermediate-level lessons for each of 20 models allow you to customize your writing workshops to the needs and abilities of your K-5 students.