Classics in the Classroom: Using Great Literature to Teach Writing

The unusual spectrum of literature discussed in this volume makes this an indispensable guide to teachers (especially of high school and college students). Included are myth, epic, comedy, lyric, poetry, drama, and the novel, without restricting the content to the Greek and Roman classics. Essays in this book also use classical literature from Persia, Babylonia, Japan, Africa, England, and the U.S.A. Readers will be delightfully surprised to find which poems work best for certain students; the lesson ideas are as diverse as the literatures covered here. To give just a couple of examples, Laura Gamache’s useful, informative, and creative essay makes use of interdisciplinary arts and the total aesthetic experience to get her fifth and sixth graders writing after Keats and Shelley models. And Jordan Clary’s brilliant “Rumi in Susanville” is helpful to any teacher of at-risk students, for its clarity and honest approach.