Writing opportunities within the content area classroom can be exciting and motivational, but some content area teachers feel they are not up to the task of "teaching writing." The first step in assuaging this authentic concern is to let content area teachers off the hook. They are not writing teachers. Content area teachers can appreciate strongly supported arguments and easily spot a well-turned phrase, but they should not be held accountable for teaching the skills needed to accomplish these writing goals. Their field of expertise may be science or history or math, and because these teachers have done quite a bit of writing in their own academic careers, they are experts in the type of writing required in their respective disciplines. These rich backgrounds help content area teachers make indispensable contributions to the refinement of writing skills. Here are a few thoughts and suggestions that might encourage more content area teachers to infuse writing into their curriculum.  Continue reading...

My Juniors are beginning research papers this month, so last week, I broke the news to them, as I do every year: For their papers, they'll have to get up from their computers, go to an actual library building, and do some of their research with old-fashioned paper sources: newspapers, magazines, books. The horror in their eyes grows stronger every year, for each subsequent class I encounter lives more and more enmeshed in the online world. Yet, like my fellow teachers, I persevere with my insistence, for we know that research is a skill best learned in a library.  Continue reading...

Our youngest generation is a scarce and precious resource facing a human wave of global competition. This reality is changing the way teachers think of literacy, and more importantly, it is changing their classroom practice. Teachers across the entire curriculum spectrum are beginning to realize that they are responsible for producing learners who possess the literacy skills needed for the 21st Century. They are realizing that literacy is the ability to comprehend all sorts of text, and helping students accomplish the goal of comprehension requires more than asking them to open a book and read the chapter.  Continue reading...

"Blancmange?" one of my students said. "What's blancmange?" And suddenly, we weren't talking about themes and relationships in Little Women anymore, but instead about a foodstuff that no one's enjoyed for 200 years.  Continue reading...

When Bob Greenman taught high school journalism and English in Brooklyn, NY, public schools he found himself turning to the New York Times for more than just the news. "I had the kids work on vocabulary from the paper," the 30-year veteran educator explains. "It's peerless for vocabulary acquisition, even better than reading classic fiction." That experience inspired Bob to put together a book called Words That Make a Difference, a compendium of vocabulary words with contextual examples from the New York Times, and another one he co-authored with his wife Carol, this time with examples from the Atlantic Monthly magazine. We spoke to Bob about his practical approach to teaching vocabulary.  Continue reading...

I confess, I'm a word nerd. When I was a kid, I didn't keep a diary (grasping even at eight that the exploits of an introverted bookworm with a peaceful home life were perhaps not the stuff that formed a fascinating read), but I did keep a list of words that I liked: Burble. Murmur. Placate. Superfluous. Chaos. It's the specificity that got -- and gets -- me. My mom isn't just "kind" -- she's compassionate, altruistic and decent.

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Shannon Reed is an award-winning playwright who teaches high school English to a large pack of bright young women at a private school on the beach in Queens, New York. She graciously contributed this column:

Despite a general predilection towards awesomeness, like any teacher, I have my blind spots. I'm terrible at looking interested during school assemblies. I show little patience when a student can't remember a basic procedure after about a month. I do not like to teach the intransitive verb; I get confused and confuse the girls. My top blind spot? I'm terrible at motivating my girls to read more.

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