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Making the Journey, Third Edition
Being and Becoming a Teacher of English Language Arts

Leila Christenbury, Virginia Commonwealth University

ISBN 978-0-325-00817-2 / 0-325-00817-5 / 2006 / 336pp / Paperback
Imprint: Heinemann
Availability: In Stock

Grade Level: 7-12

List Price: $28.50
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Description

Making the Journey is a staple of secondary English methods courses and teacher libraries because it not only provides practical advice on what to do in the classroom and how to act, but also offers a realistic but optimistic sense of what it means to embrace the practice of good teaching. Now, trusted educator, writer, and researcher Leila Christenbury has returned with a remarkable new edition of her classic.

The third edition of Making the Journey will be both refreshingly new and satisfyingly familiar to those who’ve come to rely on Christenbury’s wisdom and uncommon common sense. Every chapter has been revised and updated with new examples, the latest research, and stories from today’s classrooms. Even more important, Christenbury has devoted new sections to discussing instructional and political topics crucial to the contemporary teacher, including:

  • supporting English language learners
  • developing students’ ability to write on demand
  • meeting the challenge of high–stakes standardized testing
  • balancing depth of coverage with breadth in standards–based curricular planning
  • creating tests and other assessments that align with curricular goals and provide useful information for subsequent instruction
  • engaging students’ reading interests through nontraditional, real–world genres like graphic novels
  • teaching writing and media literacy through digital–age innovations such as blogs and WebQuests
  • navigating the politics of school while remaining an activist professional

With the latest, smartest strategies, techniques, and ideas as well as Leila Christenbury’s trademark pragmatism and know–how, the third edition of Making the Journey will be an indispensable guide for anyone just starting their own journey into teaching or for anyone already on their way.

Table of Contents
    Acknowledgments
    Using This Book
    1. THE TEACHER, THE STUDENT, THE SCHOOL
    Beginnings
    Teacher, Student, School: The Dance of the Three
    The Teacher/Learner
    The Student/Learner
    The School
    References
    2. WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A TEACHER
    From Expert Learner to Novice Teacher
    What a Teacher Needs to Do
    Beginning Your Life in the Classroom
    The Politics of School
    Discipline
    Classroom Environment, Room Arrangement, Creature Comforts, Food
    A Few Other Things: Getting Started, Openings, Voice, Body, Touch, Dress
    Teaching as Failing
    References
    3. PLANNING FOR YOUR TEACHING
    Five Models of Teaching
    Teaching Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Five Models
    It Didn’t Work
    Creating Activities
    "Central School": From Poem to Plan to Class
    The House on Mango Street: From Chapter to Plan to Class
    A Brief Word on Creating Tests and Test Items
    The Place of Standards in Your Planning
    A Final Caution About Planning
    References
    4. THOSE WHO WE TEACH
    No One Ever Said It Was Going to Be Easy
    The Tough Times of Teaching: Apathy and Violence
    Two Researchers on Students: William Glasser and Linda McNeil
    The Alienated Student: Not Always Who You Think
    Three Students: Marianna, Antoine, and Marc
    One Teacher’s Strategy for Dealing with Alienated Students: "Big Bucks"
    The Average Student: Caught in the Middle
    The Gifted Student: Burdens and Responsibilities
    The Delicate Contract with Students
    Two Students: Tanya and Barry
    References
    5. THE WORLD OF LITERATURE: TEACHING AND SELECTING
    The Fear of Not Knowing Enough
    Literature: The Heart of Language Arts
    Schools of Literary Criticism: Why You Should Care
    The Four Schools: What to Do?
    Transactional Theory/Reader Response
    Organizing Literature
    Looking at Fiction: Novels and Short Stories
    The Lure of Nonfiction: Literary and Informational
    Teaching and Selecting Poetry
    The Power of Drama
    Using Shakespeare
    Building Bridges to Adult Reading: The Place of Young Adult Literature
    New Kid on the Block: The Graphic Novel
    The Specter of Censorship
    Using Literature: Some Teaching Tips
    A Final Note on Choosing Literature
    A Story: Thurman and Architectural Digest
    References
    Resources
    6. WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
    It Ain’t Necessarily So: The English Language Arts Teacher as Language Expert
    Prescriptive Versus Descriptive: The World of Linguistics
    Spelling and Vocabulary
    The Five Grammars
    So What Do We Do About Teaching Grammar?
    English Language Learners
    Language Play/Language Games
    Sentence Combining
    Students’ Right to Their Own Language
    The Language of Hate
    The Glory of Language
    References
    7. WRITING AND REWRITING
    Fifth Period, Wednesday Afternoon
    A Traditional Model of Teaching Writing
    A New Model of Teaching Writing
    When Students Have a Choice: Getting Writing Ideas
    When Students Have No Choice: Writing on Demand
    Writing Groups: Questions, Answers, and Reasons
    Conferencing with Students
    The Place of Correctness and Grammar in Its Place
    Now They’ve Written It–What Do You Do with It?
    Creating and Using Rubrics
    Using a Writing Portfolio
    The Wonderful and Varied Journal
    The Research Paper
    What We Are About as Teachers of Writing
    References
    8. THE CRAFT OF QUESTIONING
    The Power of Talk
    Questions That Teachers Ask
    The Questioning Circle
    Beyond Hierarchies: Questions You Don’t Want to Ask
    Questioning Behaviors
    When Questions Don’t Work
    Questions That Students Ask
    References
    9. MEDIA LITERACY
    Issues in Media Literacy
    Computers
    The Internet
    Television
    Film
    The Popular Culture and Media Literacy
    References
    Resources
    10. A QUESTION OF ETHICS
    English Class as Ethics Arena?
    Ethical Issues for the Classroom Teacher
    Breaking the Rules
    Being and Becoming an Ethical Teacher
    References
    11. TEACHING TODAY
    Things Have Changed/Things Have Stayed the Same
    Four Contemporary Challenges
    Staying in the Classroom
    The End of the Lifetime Teacher?
    Making the Journey
    References
    Index
Samples From this Title
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