Classroom Notes Plus: A Quarterly of Teaching Ideas, 2003-2004

This issue of "Classroom Notes Plus" contains descriptions of original, unpublished teaching practices, and of adapted ideas. Under the "Ideas from the Classroom" section, the August 2003 issue (v21 n1) contains the following materials: Reading Poetry with Wright's "Black Boy" (David Fuder); Finding Poetry Lost in Translation (James Penha); "Lord of the Flies" and American Society (Liz deBeer); "Lord of the Flies": Building an Island (and Classroom) Community (Ronald T. Sion); Astrology and "Romeo and Juliet" (Traci Lombardo); Going from the General to the Specific with Horoscopes (Donna Isaac); Motivation Manifesto (Laura Austin); What the Dickens? Knitting as Motif (Christine McGovern); Responding to Books through Posters (Ann Grabowski); and Symbol Search: An Entry to Social Studies and Citizenship (Rose Reissman). The "Web Resources" section contains: The Interactive Raven. The "Focus on Writing" section contains: Writing for Our Lives (Carolyn Steinhoff Smith); Round Robin Writing (Byung-In Seo); Reflecting on Writing via Interview (Mary Kim Schreck); and Forrest Gump and Sandra Cisneros Teach Similes (Carol Lecren) [Reprinted from "Promising Practices"]. Under the "Ideas from the Classroom" section, the October 2003 issue (v21 n2) contains the following materials: Settings and Maps (Ray Chapin); Words, Magnets, and Poetry (Sherry Swanner); Using Magic to Teach English (Alice C. Herring); You Gotta BE the Dwarf: Using Drama to Unlock Texts (Don Leibold); Elizabethan Interactive Museum (Arlene Lewis); Bridging the Gap: or How I Learned to Use Their World to Get to Ours (Kathleen K. Thornton); and Relevancy in the Classroom: Bringing the Real World into School (Josh Luukkonen). Under the Classroom Solutions" section is: A Map That's More Than Classroom Decor (Ronda Stevens). Under the "Focus on Writing" section is: "All Answers Are Answers to All Questions" (Mark Peters); Photos Lead to Mini-Character Sketches (Mary F. Whitaker); and Vivid Sensory Description (Heather Frame and Heather Graham). Under "Excerpts" is: Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice. Under "Handout" is: Should This Character Marry? (Tara M. Baker). Under the "Ideas from the Classroom" section, the January 2004 issue (v21 n3) contains the following materials: How Things Aren't (Daniel Sullivan); Using Poetry to Enhance Reading and Writing (Alisha L. Vincent); Showing, Not Telling (Bonnie Dodge); First Things First: Developing Paragraphs (Scott Slomsky); Understanding Characters through Freewriting (Moira Collins); Character Mandala (Fran Bullington); Discovering Good Writing (Nancy Posey); Evaluating Nonfiction (Kim Ford); Multimedia Shakespeare (includes handout) (Amy Caby); Learning Centers for 1984 (Jill Hensley); More than Just the Facts: Presenting Characters in the Classroom (Lyn C. Howell); Opening the Literary Field for Different Interpretations (Kimberly L. Cooney); Facing the Elements: Short Fiction Write-Around (Kim Martin Long); and Creative Expression in the Language Arts Classroom (Judith A. Goldbaum). Under the "Focus on Writing" Section is: Teaching Writing through Court Trials in Secondary English Classrooms (Ernest Morrell) [Reprinted from the "Florida English Journal" (Spring/Summer 2003)]. Under "Excerpts" is: A Writing Question and Answer from the "Purdue Owl News." Under the "Ideas from the Classroom" section, the April 2004 issue (v21 n4) contains the following materials: The Drawer Assignment (Jill Melancon); Get Creative with the Memory Game (Heather Wright); Breakfast with Mrs. Akin (Susan Akin); Teaching Problem-Solving through Scenarios (David Bruce); Status Cubes for the Writer's Workshop (Elisabeth Babin); Carpe Diem! (Linda S. Felice); Bookmarks as a Reading Aid (Jane Long); Responding to Stories through Music (Barbara Yogan); Thinking about Reading with 3-2-1 (Maureen Dolan); Partners in Crime: Cracking Cases Using Science and English (Erik Hein); The Elements of Fiction and Dr. Seuss (Cat Lytle); "Lord of the Flies"Luggage Tags (Catherine Schluessler); and Experimenting with Tone (James M. Pedersen).Under "Classroom Solutions" is: Class Discussions (Carole Ronane). Under "Focus on Poetry" is: Nonsense Poems and Wrong-Handed Portraits (Judy Cromett). The April 2004 issue also contains Classroom Notes Plus Index, 2003-004. [For "Classroom Notes Plus: A Quarterly of Teaching Ideas, 2001-2002," see ED480259.]