In this text, the authors provide research-based foundations for the use of young adult literature as complex texts. In the first three chapters the authors provide an accessible explanation and discussion of the three components of text complexity. The chapters and materials that follow use well-known and often award-winning young adult titles to exemplify these principles.

Clues to Walt Whitman's effort to create a new and distinctly American form of verse may be found in his Notebooks, now available online from the American Memory Collection.  In an entry to be examined in this lesson, Whitman indicated that he wanted his poetry to explore important ideas of a universal scope (as in the European tradition), but in authentic American situations and settings using specific details with direct appeal to the senses.

In this lesson, students explore the historical context of  Walt Whitman's concept of "democratic poetry" by reading  his poetry and prose and by examining daguerreotypes taken circa 1850.  Next, students will compare the poetic concepts and techniques behind Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again," and have an opportunity to apply similar concepts and techniques in creating a poem from their own experience.

A fun way to get students to start thinking about who they currently are as a reader and what their reading goals for the new school year should be. Thumbnail Image Credit: "Reading" by be creator is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

This resource is a Language Arts student activity that utilizes Utah's Online Library resources - specifically the EBSCO NoveList K-8 Plus database - to help teachers and students find books of interest to K-12 readers.

This reading will help students learn why sports are an important necessity of life and the everyday skills it teaches us. 

What Works Clearinghouse is a repository of research based interventions for primary and secondary grades for literacy, math, and more. It has information for RTI/MTSS implementation in addition to ranking research based interventions.

A certified Orton-Gillingham Educator gives an overview of these terms and shows how they can be implemented in the classroom.

This site gives an overview of explicit instruction and provides 16 elements (with examples) that teachers should include. This is geared toward special education, but is helpful for any teacher.

This article offers a concise discussion about how literature circles work, a description of the principles of motivation on which they are built, and a list of other resources for teachers interested in learning more.

This lesson utilizes the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation (UIT) tale, “Why Buzzard Is a Loner” to enhance comprehension skills, provide an introduction to the importance of personal hygiene and drama. Although some Native American Indian stories can only be told during the winter time, this story can be told any time of the year. The tale will be read aloud to the students who will then dramatize the story as it is read again. Then students will have a presentation from a health practitioner, school counselor or the school nurse on healthy teeth maintenance (i.e., brushing, flossing, rinsing, etc.)Extensions include learning more about birds in Utah and lessons that give more information about the Ute people. The cultural note states, “Just as the birds in this story held a council meeting to decide how to deal with Buzzard. Ute people, to this day, have council meetings to discuss problems and solutions for their people. At these meetings, everyone has the right to express his or her opinion and be heard and listened to.” 

Why Writing Works: Disciplinary Approaches to Composing Texts is an open-access, online textbook resource for college writing. It is written for an audience of second-year college students with a focus on writing in the disciplines.

This article provides helpful guidance for teachers seeking to implement the English language arts Common Core State Standards into their curriculum planning. Their recommendations can be adapted to other standards frameworks and help teachers make informed choices as they approach text selection.

Written by five college reading and writing instructors, this interactive, multimedia text draws from decades of experience teaching students who are entering the college reading and writing environment for the very first time. It includes examples, exercises, and definitions for just about every reading- and writing-related topic students will encounter in their college courses.

Explore the traditions and conventions of haiku and compare this classic form of Japanese poetry to a related genre of Japanese visual art.

A teacher reflects on his experiences trying to teach Standard English and honor students’ dialects.

This resource provides background and a rationale for teaching vocabulary with morphology and several instructional strategies.