After 10 years of publication, SecondaryEnglish is going to cease to
exist on October 12, 2008. Over the past decade, we have published
over 100 articles (selected from over 1,000 manuscripts) and hundreds of
reviews of books, CDs, and software. It has been a great ride.
Thanks for reading.
Featured
Book Reviews
(click on the book to read the review or click here
to view a page of book reviews)
Our book reviewers offer more than
plot summaries. We alert you to controversial aspects of a book,
cite movie and music connections, and offer an unbiased assessment of a book's worthiness
for the secondary classroom.
"I would rate this book 10 out of 10 and my
favorite of the series yet. "
"After her overprotective grandmother has a
stroke, Maya, an orphan, leaves her extremely restricted life in
California to stay with her mother’s family on a remote Wyoming ranch,
where she discovers a love of horses and encounters a wild mare that her
mother once rode."
"He
opens the door and sees a stone statue. There was a coin beside it so
Sam put the coin in the slot of the statue ... Sam has just gone back in
time."
"George
'Gee' Keane has passed away, but he has left behind a few autographed
photos, a box of shells, many secrets, and many mysteries."
Books related to the
Teaching of English
(Click
here
to see more reviews)
How to
Teach so Students Remember by Marilee Sprenger. Reviewed by Todd
Finley and Anthony Dralle.
Literacy and
Imagination: A Teacher's Search for the Heart of Learning by
Karen Gallas. Reviewed by Christopher Godish.
Couldn't Keep it to Myself by Wally Lamb.
Reviewed by Frances Sawyer.
I am a Pencil
by Sam Swope.
Reviewed by Kimberly Popovich.
Writing Fiction
by Janet Burroway.
Reviewed by Brian Fogt.
The Teaching of High School English by J.N.
Hook. Reviewed by Della Warren.
The
Tech-Savvy English Classroom by Sara Kajder.
Reviewed by Andrea Beatty.
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Click on the title to see and hear the video poems.
Video poem: Outside
In Mother Nature's Sistine Chapel,
what I want is like Grandma's cookies--
an addictive, guilty pleasure,
a justified disposal of brain cells.
If already intoxicated,
like fresh spring water;
otherwise, like licking a car tire
after hitting a skunk.
But when the shadows dance in the
courtyard,
I find stillness like a stone.
I empty my lungs,
scream,
breathe,
and
smile.
I push myself past the chaos,
past the bubblegum, the style without substance.
I let go.
There are a thousand worlds for me.
Even if all the books were gone,
I'd still find my exit.
Even if all the grass had been cut,
There would still be those places still and quiet.
by Adrian and Ryan.
Click here for the video (mp4).
Video poem: Traces
Overwhelming dirty, will linger on my
hands for hours.
Crisp Loss, stains on your feet.
Tinkling of water - welcoming, napping bench.
Clicking of pens.
Thoughtful and shiny with excitement.
Huddled with my favorite childhood books.
Morning hangover, painful disinterest.
Sparkling lights from the shade cast by large limbs, wind passing
through the leaves.
Crisp Loss, stains on your feet.
Overwhelmingly dirty, will linger on my hands for hours.
A sturdy dock in the lake unaffected by the crashing waves.
By Shelly and Amanda
Click here for the video
(mov)
Films With Class
Across the
Universe
by David Ferguson
Essays and Powerpoint Presentations
Click
here
to view essays, reviews of audiobooks, Dark Quilters, Heartland, Short
Takes, and Powerpoint presentations.
About Secondary English
Click
here or on the
handprint to learn about the website, to learn how to submit an article, or to learn how to become a reviewer of young adult literature.
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Articles
(click
here to
view more articles)
Schizo-Curricular: ‘But Come Back Next
Year’
By Chris Goering
"Language as Power"
curriculum guide (PDF)
Model lesson on
comparison/contrast essay (PDF)
Model lesson Venn Diagram
(PDF)
By Cathy Schaetzle
(with Barbara Israel & Lawrence Baines)
Literacy Infidels: My Introduction to
Micro-blogging
By Todd Finley
"The Future" by Architect John Russell Pope
Educating Today for Issues of Tomorrow
By Ed Farrell
Remote Controlled
Discussion
By Eric Grossman
Enhancing classroom discussion
through point and click technologies
Plop!
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy:
Symbiosis of Words and Images
by Samuel Kramer
Building visual-verbal ability enables a
student to work more effectively in any field.
Electrifying
the Experience:
Using Technology to Create Digital Portfolios
by Matt
Copeland
We’ve saved trees, expanded our
learning, and created a final product that outshines the more
traditional, hard copy predecessor.
Identity and Conformity in Contemporary
Young Adult Literature
By Deirdre Perlini
Works mentioned include:
Uglies, The
Specials, Birdwing, The Six Swans, Montmorency, Stargirl, Bronx
Masquerade, Born Confused, and the poem "Identity" by Julio Noboa
Polanco.
Learning
About Voice through Edward Abbey's
Desert Solitaire
by Edgar Herb
Thompson
By examining sense of self, sense of
audience, and sense of place, students can learn about voice in a
systematic way and begin to become conscious of voice in their own
writing.
Jane
Austen Lite:
Jane Austen as Great-Grandmother of Chick Lit
by Tonya K.
Schauwecker
Works mentioned include:
Sense and
Sensibility; the Gossip Girl
series; Angus, Thongs, and
Full-Frontal Snogging; On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a
Sex God; The Thin Pink Line; and
Who Needs Boys?
An Experiment in the Use of
Technology as a Means of Teaching Shakespearean Drama to High School Seniors
by Alan Perry
An experimental study using two
different instructional strategies with surprising results.
Fashion
Notes from Round Da Bronx
By
Shamalee, Chelsea, & Sasha
Exploring fashion and student archetypes
Helping
Caged Birds Grow Up:
Teaching the Everyday Powers of Language
By Roy F. Fox
The
study of language—especially how it can influence students’ growth,
identity, and “language empowerment”—is too often overlooked in
English/Language Arts classes.
Rhyming
Across the Curriculum
by Greg Stanley
Poetry in history class? Well, why not?
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ARTICLES,
REVIEWS,
ESSAYS,
&
PRESENTATIONS on TEACHING
ENGLISH