Drawing connections between Chaucer, Eminem, and social issues, New York City high school teacher Tom Liam Lynch helped students become familiar with "The Canterbury Tales." Students wrote poems of rhymed couplets about today's social and political issues, created illuminated manuscripts, and recorded a rap CD. A book and album were…

This column shares innovative lesson ideas grounded in current literature or action research. Two books are discussed: Lesley Atwater Kahle's book "Cut Word Story," which allows students to become individually engrossed in words and grammar within stories that they create; and Anete Vasquez's "Literary Analysis 101", which gives teachers a simple,…

Students and teachers participated in an Arts Week program that was educationally sound and promoted communication among faculty members. (JH)

Describes how to make an inexpensive device which helps students in conjugating verbs. (RB)

A step-by-step account of a direct, different, and individualized method of teaching the use of commas and semicolons to high-school students. (SP)

Student-developed literature and language games are described. (SP)

A high school teacher outlines how she successfully threw open the curriculum planning to the students in her English class. (Author/SP)

Erick Gordon, founding director of the Student Press Initiative, illustrates collaborations with teachers and students that have motivated students to invest themselves in the process and product of writing, including research, oral history, revision, and an immersion in and commitment to community.

A student-produced slide-tape show on a local author was a valuable exercise in both historical research and creativity. (JH)

Every student is excited reading his own writing published in books. (JH)

Explains how picture books can be used to enrich and develop language skills at the middle school and junior high school level. (MM)