Table of Contents
Issue Theme: The School and the Community
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Academic Service Learning: More Than Just "Doing Time"
Rebecca Bowers Sipe
Abstract:
Discusses academic service learning, and the three key elements of such projects. Discusses the need for meaningful community service that meets needs, clear curriculum connections for students, and projects that incorporate ample time for both reflection and evaluation. Describespairing preservice secondary teachers with high school writers. Discusses needs assessment, representative goals, and benefits of service learning projects.
Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, School-Community Relation, Professional Development
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Bridging the Gap: Connecting School and Community with Service Learning
Sarah K. Edwards
Abstract:
Describes how the author's eighth-grade language arts inquiry-based instruction blossomed into student-based community learning, with students defining and seeking their own relevant goals, bringing the community to school with an art exhibit of tolerance, volunteering at a nearby elementary school, creating community gardens to fulfill a neighborhood need, and creating a new desert habitat community park bringing school and neighborhood together.
Keywords: Secondary
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Writing Workshops: Linking Schools and Families
Susan Connell Biggs
Abstract:
Describes family writing workshops as a way to share with the families how writing is used in high school classroom, as they brainstorm memories, do 20 minutes of free writing on a memory from their list, share their writing, and write closing letters. Discusses benefits and the impact of these workshops and offers guidelines.
Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, School-Community Relation, Writing
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Including Parents in the Fun: Sharing Literary Experiences
Holly Ciotti
Abstract:
Investigates whether parent participation could improve student achievement in one of the author's ninth-grade sheltered English classes. Describes how parents wrote essays with their children, participated in a goal-setting conference, and took part in a literary correspondence discussing "Romeo and Juliet." Discusses the benefits for the teacher, parents, and students of such parent participation in ninth-grade English.
Keywords: Secondary, Literacy, Pedagogy, Writing
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Publishing with a Purpose: Caring for Our Community
Colleen A. Ruggieri
Abstract:
Describes lessons and units that allow the author's high school English students to make important connections with members of their community, publish their efforts, and thus bridge the gap between young adults and their communities. Describes a "literary cookbook" (published and distributed in their community) in which each student wrote one informative piece and one creative piece.
Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, School-Community Relation
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Composition and a Prison Community of Writers
Gregory Shafer
Abstract:
Describes the author's experiences teaching composition to inmates at a women's minimum security prison. Describes how these students wrote with alacrity and passion, using writing as a tool to solve problems and enlighten. Discusses how mandated curriculum and assignment requirements were met, revisions made and issues of dialect discussed, while students used writing as a tool for exploration and empowerment.
Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, Writing
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A Tale of Two Cemeteries: Gravestones as Community Artifacts
Suzanne O. Mitoraj
Abstract:
Describes a unit for high school English students that makes the Colonial period in American literature come alive by studying eighteenth-century gravestone images and epitaphs. Describes how this study becomes a journey into their community, into local history, and ultimately into themselves.
Keywords: Secondary, Literature
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Designing a Town-Based Writing Project
Barbara Gilbert
Abstract:
Describes a range of community-based writing projects that the author used with her middle and high school students of all levels. Discusses how these projects (ranging from simple interviews, to short biographies to profiles published and distributed in the community) not only became part of students' home town, but also helped students distill valuable knowledge from their subjects.
Keywords: Middle, Secondary, Pedagogy, School-Community Relation, Writing
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Partners in Reading: A Community Reading/Writing Project
Pat Schnack
Abstract:
Pat Schnack's community reading—writing project began as a way for the community to appreciate the personalities and quirks of middle-schoolers, as well as to offer her 150 students the individual attention she alone could not provide. The project grew to encompass those goals and more.
Keywords: Middle, Secondary, Literacy, Literature, Pedagogy, Writing, Reading
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Authentic Writing Using Online Resources: Selling Our Words in the Community
Dawn Putnam
Abstract:
Describes two projects undertaken with the author's high school English classes in which students chose writing they wished to share with their own community, and then published it, in one case selling their class anthology to selected businesses around town. Describes the increase in enthusiasm for writing and care and professionalism caused by writing for a real audience.
Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, School-Community Relation
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Social Justice and the Class Community: Opening the Door to Possibilities
Donna Mahar
Abstract:
Describes redesigned thematic units used by a middle-school teacher to make social justice a year-long focus that unified all aspects of her class endeavors. Claims that opening the door to the tenets of social justice expanded the classroom community to include the insight of teachers in a neighboring city, the wisdom of a Holocaust survivor, and collaboration with an art teacher. This article available in print issue only.
Keywords: Elementary, Middle, Secondary, Pedagogy
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"Postcards from America": Linking Classroom and Community in an ESL Class
Eileen Landay with Mary Beth Meehan, A. Leonard Newman, Kurt Wootton, and Donald W. King
Abstract:
Describes the "Postcards from America" project carried out by a class of high school students, all recent immigrants to the United States with little or no prior English. Discusses two events (an exhibit of students' photographs and writing, and a multimedia performance of nine performance pieces portraying personal stories of the immigrant experience), both culminating activities of a semester-long project. This article available in print issue only.
Keywords: Secondary
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Letters to EJ
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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From the Editor
Virginia R. Monseau
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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Speaking My Mind: Dealing with “Senioritis”
Stephen B. Heller
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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From the Secondary Section: Service Learning Reinforces Language Arts Skills
Pat S. Graff
Abstract:
Discusses the many benefits of service learning, and offers examples from the author's high school students. Notes literacy and language arts service learning projects; the importance of integrating service learning into a regular program of instruction; programs and resource materials that support service learning at the K-12 level; and students' positive responses.
Keywords: Secondary
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INSIGHTS FOR INTERNS: Democracy in a Whole Language Classroom
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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TEACHER TO TEACHER: What Workshop or Inservice Activity Has Been Most Valuable to You in Your Teaching?
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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English in the News
Bobbi Ciriza Houtchens, editor
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY
TREVOR OWEN, EDITOR
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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MIDDLE TALK
Elizabeth Close and Katherine D. Ramsey, Co-authors
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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Poetry
William Greenway, Editor
Abstract:
Available in print version only.
Keywords: Secondary
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Professional Links: The Worlds of Writing: Stories from Inside and Outside of School
Connie S. Zitlow, editor
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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Talk About Books: Imaginative Landscapes: This World and Beyond
John Noell Moore, editor
Abstract:
Abstract for this article is currently not available.
Keywords: Secondary
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Young Adult Literature: Silverstein and Seuss to Shakespeare: What Is in Between? by Margie K. Brown
Chris Crowe, Editor
Abstract:
Points out the rich variety of poetry for teenagers available today, and suggests reasons why teenagers might have a difficult time finding it. Appends a list of more than 120 collections of poetry, arranged in categories.
Keywords: Secondary
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