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Quick Links: Elementary Resources  Middle Level Resources  High School Level Resources  College Resources   Teacher Educator Resources

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Elementary Resources

  Read more from Katie Wood Ray's article on Exploring Inquiry as a Teaching Stance in the Writing Workshop

  Explore the resources in the ReadWriteThink lesson Webcams in the Classroom: Animal Inquiry and Observation

  Find out how to enrich your classroom resources in Building Classroom Libraries with Shelf Life

 Students explore different versions of a well-known fairy tale and related informational texts in this ReadWriteThink lesson plan Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction with Little Red Riding Hood Text Sets.

 Learn more about providing students with culturally relevant books in this Talking Points article by Yvonne Freeman and David Freeman--

  NCTE's Elementary Section Homepage

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Middle Level Resources

  Harvey Daniels answers the question What’s the Next Big Thing with Literature Circles?

  Explore the resources in the ReadWriteThink lesson Picture Books as Framing Texts: Research Paper Strategies for Struggling Writers

  Find out how to incorporate graphic novels into your classes in  Expanding Literacies through Graphic Novels

  Students the difference between the global issues of revision and the local issues of editing in this ReadWriteThink lesson plan Once Upon a Fairy Tale: Teaching Revision as a Concept

  How does boys’ literacy differ from the traditional notions of school literacy—and what does it mean for your teaching?  Find the answer in Morphing Literacy: Boys Reshaping Their School-Based Literacy Practices

  NCTE's Middle Level Section Homepage

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High School Level Resources

  Get your students' attention with Analyzing Grammar Rants: An Alternative to Traditional Grammar Instruction

  Looking for an authentic audience for student writers? Explore the resources in the ReadWriteThink lesson Persuading an Audience: Writing Effective Letters to the Editor

  Find out how to incorporate multimedia into your classes in these lessons on The Soundtrack of My Life Autobiography Project and Copyright Infringement or Not? The Debate over Downloading Music

  Enhance your students' content-area writing with the specific strategies you'll find in Preparing for Workplace Literacy or ‘Real’ Life through Content Area Reading Instruction

  NCTE's Secondary Section Homepage

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College Level Resources

  The Myth of Linguistic Homogeneity in U.S. College Composition
In this excerpt from a College English article, author Paul Kei Matsuda asserts that English-only classrooms are typically assumed to be the norm in the U.S. The article explores the serious implications of this erroneous assumption for international and resident second-language writers as well as for native speakers of unprivileged varieties of English.

  Grammar Instruction in the Land of Curiosity and Delight
Each issue of Teaching English in the Two-Year College includes instructional notes that teachers can implement in the classroom. From a recent issue of the journal, this article by community college teacher Nancy-Laurel Pettersen describes two strategies for grounding grammar instruction in students’ lifelong experience as users of language.

  The Focus on Form vs. Content in Teaching Writing
This excerpt from Research in the Teaching of English, written by George Hillocks, Jr., discusses the challenging opposition of form and content in writing instruction. The article analyzes data that demonstrates form continues to be more prominent in writing classrooms and suggests possible reasons for the preference of form over content.

  The Scoring of Writing Portfolios: Phase 2
How can we improve portfolio assessment methods? In this College Composition and Communication article, author Edward M. White examines the use of holistic scoring in portfolio assessment and proposes an alternative means of scoring that includes reflective writing in a central role, all while efficient and timely feedback on students’ work.

  NCTE's College Section Homepage

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K-12/Teacher Educator Resources

  Analyzing Grammar Rants: An Alternative to Traditional Grammar Instruction
In this excerpt from a recent English Journal article, authors Kenneth Lindblom and Patricia A. Dunn explore ways to teach language awareness and use by examining published complaints about the teaching of grammar, or grammar rants. Like many English Journal articles, the essay includes teaching materials that can be used in the classroom—analysis questions, example rants, and a related analysis chart.

  The Comic Book Show and Tell
Do we teach students to write to show or to tell? This ReadWriteThink lesson plan invites students to respond to an authentic writing experience designed to generate critical thinking about the choices that writers make. In addition to a complete instructional plan, the lesson includes a short comic book excerpt to analyze, related definition sheets, and a graphic organizer.

  What’s the Next Big Thing with Literature Circles?
Each issue of Voices from the Middle includes columns by outstanding authorities in language arts instruction. This excerpt by literature circles expert Harvey Daniels recaps the history of literature circles and offers a critique of current practices. The piece offers resources that anchor best practice and introduces readers to “the next big thing” in student-led discussion: written conversation.

  Every Punctuation Mark Matters: A Mini-Lesson on Semicolons
In this ReadWriteThink lesson plan, students complete a mini-lesson exploring sentence structure and its effect on meaning. Students analyze the use of semicolons in Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and then apply their findings to their own writing. The lesson includes Web links to additional information on the famous letter as well as grammar resources.

  Exploring Inquiry as a Teaching Stance in the Writing Workshop
This excerpt from a recent Language Arts, written by Katie Wood Ray, author of NCTE’s best-selling book Wondrous Words, explores how inquiry-based exploration involves students in shaping the learning that takes place in the classroom. Like many Language Arts articles, the essay includes student artifacts, class-generated work, and connections to reflection and assessment.

  Imagining the Possibilities in Multimodal Curriculum Design
Students are constantly bringing new ways to read and compose to the classroom. This excerpt from English Education provides strategies for tapping this developing literacy practices in the language arts classroom. The article presents a flexible curricular framework focused on multimodal inquiry and design.

  NCTE's Conference on English Education Homepage

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