1. Multigenre Teaching
Multigenre, Multiple
Intelligences, and
Transcendentalism
COLLEEN A. RUGGIERI
hate math!” I exclaimed to my friends during my junior year of high school. To some
I of them, it seemed logical, as I was a self-proclaimed lover of English class. After all,
we surmised, most people can’t love and excel in both subjects. Unfortunately, as the
weeks passed, math class became more and more torturous to me. How could I have
gone from absolutely loving the subject to dreading it so much that I got headaches before
class? I couldn’t do the problems assigned by the teacher, my grade was slipping, and my
ego was definitely bruised. In the end, I chose to drop the math class to save my sanity. To
this day I regret it, wondering just how many of life’s terial,” but also of presenting literature in only one
equations may have been solved by the knowledge form or from one perspective?
gained in that one course. In response to this rhetorical thinking, I de-
“You know, you probably could have done cided to transform my eleventh grade American
those problems if they’d been explained dif- literature classroom, beginning with the unit on
ferently,” a colleague commented to me, nearly Transcendentalism. Like most teachers, I had sup-
twenty years later. “One of the mistakes in the plemented the core curriculum containing Self-
United States is that people believe that problems Reliance, Nature, Walden, and Civil Disobedience
can be solved only one way. That’s not how the with other genres, allowing my students to discuss
Japanese or other cultures teach subjects, and the literature, work cooperatively, and write a va-
that’s probably why [fewer] people are scared off riety of responses and papers. However, the unit
when it comes to advanced coursework in other ultimately ended in the dreaded exam, which was
countries.” Taking these comments to heart, a light the consummate stumbling block during each class
went on in my mind. There is truth to the idea that discussion. “Is this going to be on the test?” seemed
some American classroom practices can actually to be the primary focus of nearly every student.
stifle learning and alienate students. How many Therefore, in revamping my unit, I set out to
times have I heard my students saying, “I don’t get achieve two goals. First, I sought a wider variety of
this stuff,” whether in my high school English class, supplemental materials and literary connections
or in someone else’s? How many students, who’d than what I’d previously been using. Second, I
once loved language arts classes in elementary and hoped to provide alternative assessment opportu-
middle school and who’d appreciated the value of nities that would be meaningful and rewarding
English class, have come to hate it once they’ve hit while delivering authentic results. These goals led
high school? Furthermore, how many high school me on a journey that ultimately became fulfilling
teachers and college professors are not only stuck for my students, as well as enlightening and en-
in the rut of lecturing in order to “cover all the ma- riching to me as an educator.
60 novem b er 2 0 0 2
Copyright © 2002 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.

2. Capturing Meaningful Connections dental unit, I put members of the class in coopera-
through Comics tive groups of four. I gave each group one or two
comic books and fifteen to twenty minutes of class
When seeking new texts to incorporate into the unit, time to read and enjoy the comics, asking them to
I thought about what might inspire or interest me if find connections to the concepts we’d discussed re-
I were reading casually or for pleasure. The first idea garding Transcendentalism. Following the allotted
that came to mind was the Calvin and Hobbes comic reading time, each group shared at least two comics
strip. It seemed as if every time I read this comic, I that had strong literary connections to the ideas of
experienced an epiphany as well as a chuckle. As Emerson and Thoreau. When sharing the strips, we
Kathy Kirk notes in her book, Writing to Standards, discussed specific lines from the texts we’d studied
what is especially appealing about using comics is that could be connected to the comics. Multiple
the fact that they provide a fun way to study voice groups selected two specific comics, and we found
and that they often make serious statements about that many lines from the Transcendental texts
politics and culture (14). In order to share the same could readily be connected and compared to these
experience with my students, I headed for the near- particular strips. (See Figure 1.) As a homework
est bargain table at my favorite bookseller. Comic assignment, I asked students to locate other exam-
creator Bill Watterson has published several collec- ples of comics that would provide literary links to
tions, including Something Under the Bed Is Drool- what we’d studied and to bring them to class along
ing, There’s Treasure Everywhere, The Calvin and with a paragraph of explanation. Within two days,
Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, The Indispensable nearly all of the class had finished the assignment.
World of Calvin and Hobbes, and The Essential Peanuts, B.C., Family Circus, and Crock were
Calvin and Hobbes. In their many adventures, char- among the many comics collected by students. In
acters Calvin and Hobbes often deliver messages the paragraphs accompanying the comics, students
regarding individualism and the environment. Be- analyzed political statements and commentaries in
cause of this, Watterson’s books lend themselves to terms of their connections with Transcendental
interesting discussion and analysis, so I purchased a thinking. By reading the comic books, my students
few copies of each title at greatly discounted rates to were able to use this different genre to interpret
use in my classroom. social commentaries, make connections with works
they’d studied in class, and develop their own views
on the subjects of individualism, nature, and pas-
By reading the comic books, my sive resistance.
Making Meaning through Music
students were able to use this
In considering another genre that might provide a
different genre to interpret social positive vehicle for learning, I opted for a mode
that motivates most everyone I know—music. To
commentaries, make connections introduce the class to the next assignment, I
brought in my favorite Frank Sinatra song and dis-
with works they’d studied in class, cussed the Transcendental ideas contained within
the lyrics of “My Way.” I asked my students to con-
sider their own music collections and to bring a
and develop their own views on the
song to class—along with the lyrics and a brief
paragraph of explanation of the connection be-
subjects of individualism, nature, tween their choice and the ideas we discussed.
The response was terrific, and in order to share
and passive resistance. the excitement, I played portions of each song be-
tween classes and for the first two to three min-
utes each period that I had American literature.
After my students and I had read and dis- As the songs were played, the students who brought
cussed the four major selections in the Transcen- them to class shared their rationales with others.
English Journal 61

3. F IGURE 1.
C OMICS THAT WERE MOST OFTEN SELECTED BY STUDENTS
(Top panels) from Something Under the Bed is Drooling (99). (Bottom panel) from There’s Treasure Everywhere (9).
CALVIN AND HOBBES © 1988 Watterson. Reprinted with permission of UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE. All rights reserved.
62 novem b er 2 0 0 2

4. We also made a chart acknowledging the various For example, while two students in the class were
titles and artists, as well as the musical genres rep- Garth Brooks fans, they each chose different songs
resented in the selections. (See Table 1.) When re- for the assignment. One student commented fur-
viewing the chart, my students were quick to ther about the song selections in a freewrite at the
notice that certain categories, particularly the rock/ end of the period:
pop music section, had the most entries. They also
noted that they were surprised at how many songs All of these songs are amazing. I never would
were listed in the country music category, and that have listened to country music before now,
because I thought it was a bunch of cry me a
we did not have any listings for alternative music,
river, I lost my girl and truck music. Now I see
jazz, or heavy metal. Several of the students who that the genre is a lot different from what I
were fans of the alternative genre stated that when thought it was. It’s amazing that the messages
they listened to the music they had a difficult time of individuality and nature are so universal in
choosing songs from this genre because the lyrics the music. It makes me realize that what we’re
seemed “angry” and didn’t appear to be optimistic. reading in class really does have connections
However, one student pointed out to the class that, with what we see in real life. It also helps me
though these songs might not meet that one par- to learn more about the people in our class. I
never would have guessed that some people
ticular criterion, many alternative musicians are
would have picked the songs they did, and I
very original and innovative in their approaches to guess that proves that we don’t always really
music and songwriting, thus making the actual know each other.
creation of the music at least partially Transcen-
dental in nature. His response sparked further This student’s remark struck a chord with everyone
discussion, as class members saw the call for indi- in the classroom when it was shared the next day.
vidualism at work in their own choices of songs. Indeed, by adding the musical element to class study
TABLE 1.
E XAMPLES OF S TUDENT- SELECTED S ONG T ITLES AND A RTISTS T HAT R EFLECT T RANSCENDENTAL T HINKING .
Oldies/Classics Pop/Rock R&B/Rap New Age/Classical Country
Otis Redding: Madonna: “Rain” and R. Kelly: “I Believe Enya: “Sail Away” Dixie Chicks: “Wide
“Sitting on the Dock “Respect Yourself ” I Can Fly” Cranberries: Open Spaces”
of the Bay” Mariah Carey: “Hero” Tupac Shakur: “Copy Cat” Lee Ann Womack: “I
Louis Armstrong: Dave Matthews Band: “Keep Ya Head Tim Janis: Hope You Dance”
“What a Wonderful “Cry Freedom” Up” “Water’s Edge” Billy Gilman: “Hero”
World” Destiny’s Child:
U2: “Beautiful Day” Vivaldi: “Four Garth Brooks:
Billy Joel: “Just the “Survivor” Seasons” “The River” and “We
Way You Are” Van Halen: “Dreams”
Desiree; “You Yanni: “Rain Shall Be Free”
Frank Sinatra: Creed: “Higher” Gotta Be” Must Fall” Norman Blake: “You
“My Way” Dido: “My Life” Jennifer Lopez: Are My Sunshine”
Handel: “Water
Grateful Dead: Jewel: “Hands” “I’m Real” Music Suite, Martina McBride:
“Liberty” Janet Jackson: No.2 for orchestra “Independence Day”
Backstreet Boys:
Bob Marley: “Get “Shining Star” “Clouds” in D major” Trisha Yearwood:
Up, Stand Up” India Arie: “Video” Modest Mussorgsky: “Real Live Woman”
Bon Jovi: “My Life”
Beatles: “Here Jermaine Jackson: “Night on Bald Tim McGraw: “Place
Vanessa Williams:
Comes the Sun” “Rise to the Mountain, A, for in the Sun”
“Colors of the Wind”
Bob Dylan: “Blowin’ Occasion” orchestra”
Michael Jackson: Jo Dee Messina:
in the Wind” En Vogue: “Free “Burn”
“Earth Song”
Joni Mitchell: “Big Your Mind” Rascal Flatts: “Prayin’
Whitney Houston:
Yellow Taxi” for Daylight”
“One Moment
Three Dog Night: in Time”
“Joy to the World”
Sting: “Fields of Gold”
English Journal 63

5. and discussion, students thought more about the the works that they’d read. Their journals were not
curriculum, as well as its relevance in their world. due for two weeks, which allowed for more reading
time outside of class. I required each student to read
Making Meaning with Free Reading selections from three genres, though no one was re-
quired to finish more than one entire work within
Once we finished the comic and music activities, I the timeframe of the actual assignment. In helping
blocked out time for a free reading unit in order to to guide students’ choices, I provided them with a
expose students to even more genres. I gave students list of titles for their consideration. (See Table 2.)
the class period each day to read, and their home- However, they were free to find other works, pro-
work assignments consisted of journal responses to vided that they showed me their materials in advance
TABLE 2.
S ELECTED M ULTIGENRE R EADINGS FOR AN A MERICAN L ITERATURE T RANSCENDENTALISM U NIT.
Art/Photography Poetry Nonfiction YA Lit. & Picture Books
Cunningham, Anderson, L. and Marty Asher, Dillard, Annie. Pilgrim Anderson, Laurie Halse.
Antonia. Essential eds. Sisters of the Earth: at Tinker Creek. New Speak. New York: Puffin,
Impressionists. Bath, Women’s Prose and Poetry York: HarperCollins, 1999.
England: Parragon, About Nature. New York: 1998. Avi. Blue Heron. New York:
2000. Vintage, 1991. Erlich, Gretel. A Match Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Goldsworthy, Andy. Bosselaar, Laure-Anne, ed. to the Heart: One Carter, Forrest. The Educa-
Andy Goldsworthy: A Urban Nature: Poems about Woman’s Story of Being tion of Little Tree.
Collaboration with Wildlife in the City. Minneapo- Struck by Lightning. Albuquerque: University of
Nature. New York: lis: Milkweed Editions, 2000. New York: Penguin, New Mexico Press, 2000.
Harry Abrams, 1990. Farrell, Kate. Art and Nature: 1995.
Fleischman, Paul. Seedfolks.
Hassrick, Peter, ed. An Illustrated Anthology of Na- Henley, Don, and Dave New York: HarperCollins,
The Georgia O’Keeffe ture Poetry, Vol. 1. New York: Marsh, eds. Heaven Is 1997.
Museum. New York: Little, Brown & Company, Under Our Feet. New
Harry Abrams, 1997. 1992. York: Berkley Publish- Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust.
ing Group, 1992. New York: Scholastic, 1998.
House, John. Monet: Ferra, Lorraine. A Crow
Nature into Art. New Doesn’t Need a Shadow: A Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Hickam, Homer. October
Haven: Yale Univer- Guide to Writing Poetry from Air. New York: Random Sky. New York: Random
sity Press, 1986. Nature. Salt Lake City: Gibbs House, 1997. House, 1999.
Jennings, Kate F. Smith, 1994. Leggett, Jeremy. Global Hobbs, Will. River Thunder.
Ansel Adams. New Hines, Anna G. Pieces. New Warming and the End New York: Random House,
York: Barnes and York: HarperCollins, 1998. of the Oil Era. New 1999.
Noble, 1997. Kilcher, Jewel. A Night York: Taylor & Francis O’Dell, Scott. Island of the
Leopold, Aldo. A Without Armor. New York: Group, 2001. Blue Dolphins. New York:
Sand County HarperCollins, 1999. Lopez, Barry. Arctic Random House, 1987.
Almanac. New York: Quetchenbach, Bernard. Back Dreams: Imagination Rawls, Wilson. Where the
Oxford, 2001. from the Far Field: American and Desire in a North- Red Fern Grows. New York:
Line, Les, ed. The Nature Poetry in the ern Landscape. New Dell, 1996.
National Audubon Late Twentieth Century. York: Vintage, 2001.
Rylant, Cynthia. The Wonder-
Society, A Century Charlottesville: University Press Muir, John. Nature ful Happens. New York:
of Conservation: of Virginia, 2000. Writings: The Story of Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Speaking for Nature. Spence, Gerry L. Gerry My Boyhood and Youth,
Seuss, Dr., Jack Prelutsky &
Southport: Hugh Spence’s Wyoming: The My First Summer in the
Lane Smith. Hooray for
Lauter Levin Associ- Landscape. New York: Sierra, The Mountains
Diffendoofer Day! New York:
ates, 1999. St. Martin’s Press, 2000. of California, Stickeen,
Knopf, 1998.
Wolfe, Art. Africa. Essays. Ed. William
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Cronan. New York: Taylor, Mildred. The Land.
Seattle: Wildlands New York: Bantam, 1998. Library of America, New York: Dial Books, 2001.
Press, 2001.
Williams, Jill. Nature Sonnets. 1997. Voigt, Cynthia. A Solitary
Arlington: Gival Press, Blue. New York: Macmillan,
LLC, 2001. 1993.
64 novem b er 2 0 0 2

6. of their reading. Many students found the books I’d in class was given a slip of paper with an intelligence
suggested at the school or public library, and some scenario and asked to find individuals in the room
even went to the bookstore to purchase their own who demonstrated that intelligence (35). After dis-
copies. While my students were reading in class, I cussing the eight intelligences theorized by Gardner
made the promise to read along with them. This was and recently discussed in terms of classroom impli-
difficult for me at first, as I was conditioned to feel- cations by Thomas Armstrong (see Table 3), students
ing guilty for taking the time to read when I felt like reviewed their inventories and were excited to real-
I should be teaching. Students loved having the op- ize their intellectual strengths. Once students dis-
portunity to read selections they’d found on their covered their strongest areas of intelligence, we
own, and during the free reading unit I was even ex- discussed a form of assessment that would be used to
posed to a great book, Paul Fleischman’s Seedfolks, determine the knowledge they had gained during the
after a student suggested it to me. This book is a col- Transcendental unit. I provided a general list of
lection of vignettes that depict a diverse group of project ideas to show students what could be consid-
neighbors living in inner city Cleveland, who come ered acceptable (see Table 4), and students were then
together with the formation of a community garden. allowed to choose or modify one of the projects on
It provides terrific connections to Transcendental- the list. In order to evaluate each project, students
ism, and it can be read in about an hour. The book and I collaborated in creating individual rubrics.
became a class favorite, and it has stayed in my reper- The rubrics were based upon understanding
toire of supplemental readings. When reading the and analysis of the curriculum and supplementary
journal responses, it was refreshing to note that stu- readings completed in the unit; the thoroughness
dents responded in ways that indicated they had and originality of projects; and self, peer, and teacher
made further connections with the curriculum while evaluations. After the projects were submitted, we
engaging in other readings. Also, my classes as a spent three days in a museum style exhibition.
whole reacted with great energy when given an as- There were performances from some stu-
signment that had an element of freedom. By the dents, and there were a variety of exhibitions con-
end of their reading, students wrote in their journals taining art, photography, nature studies, and stories.
that they enjoyed the assignment and felt that they Students did quality work by tapping into their in-
had a much stronger appreciation of the application telligence and provided interesting insights through
of the themes of Transcendental literature. the content and presentation of their work. One par-
ticular student, who was typically somewhat quiet in
Making Meaning through class, chose to demonstrate her knowledge through
Multiple Intelligences a comic book that she created based on her readings.
(See Figure 2.) Her artistic talent and intellect were
As a culmination of the Transcendental unit, I intro-
revealed to the class, which may not have happened
duced Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelli-
gences, based on my reading of Frames of Mind and
Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice during TABLE 3.
E IGHT WAYS OF L EARNING (A RMSTRONG 22).
graduate school. My students and I discussed Gard-
ner’s belief that knowledge is what a person uses “to Type of How someone
resolve genuine problems or difficulties that he or she Intelligence with this type thinks:
encounters and, when appropriate, to create an ef-
fective product,” along with the fact that traditional Linguistic in words
knowledge is often measured in very limited ways Logical-Mathematical by reasoning
(Frames 61). To further introduce the theory, each of Spatial in images and pictures
my students participated in a variety of MI activities, Bodily-Kinesthetic through somatic sensations
including taking a few intelligence inventories. A clear Musical via rhythms and melodies
and easy to use inventory appears on J. Ivanco’s Web Interpersonal by bouncing ideas off other
people
site at http://snow.utoronto.ca/courses/mitest.html.
Intrapersonal in relation to their needs,
Another inventory developed by Walter McKenzie
feelings, goals
(http://surfaquarium.com/Miinvent.htm) was also
Naturalist through nature and natural
very helpful to my students. In addition, we used forms
Thomas Armstrong’s “intelligent hunt”; each person
English Journal 65

7. TABLE 4.
P ROJECT S UGGESTIONS FOR T RANSCENDENTAL U NIT A SSESSMENT
Linguistic Write a portfolio of short stories or poetry that contain Transcendental ideas and themes;
develop and deliver a speech.
Logical-Mathematical Design a series of Transcendental puzzles; perform a series of nature experiments in which
you document the results; design a Web page.
Spatial Create a photo/art exhibit; make a video/documentary; make a scrapbook.
Bodily-Kinesthetic Stage a performance (dance, act).
Musical Create songs; perform for the class; compile a “Name that Transcendental Tune” list of thirty
songs that were not discussed during class.
Interpersonal Do an environmental survey of at least 100 of your peers, documenting the results.
Intrapersonal Spend an hour outdoors for at least a week and design a nature journal based on the ideas
gained from your classroom readings.
Naturalist Create a nature guide for the local park, using passages from the readings for inspiration;
create a garden.
F IGURE 2.
S AMPLE I RONIC C OMICS FROM A U NIT P ROJECT D EMONSTRATING H OW C ONTEMPORARY S OCIETY
O FTEN V IEWS T HOREAU ’ S I DEAS .
66 novem b er 2 0 0 2

8. through other traditional classroom activities and them the opportunity because I truly wanted to
evaluations. Similar situations occurred as the class measure the results of the projects against the re-
admired each other’s projects, generating a new sults of a pencil and paper test. As an incentive for my
sense of camaraderie and excitement. research, I offered the test as a “free zone” option—
meaning that it would not count toward their over-
all average. With a little persuasion, every student
Evaluating the Results was convinced to take the exam, and the results
again were interesting.
Upon completion of the projects, students and I dis-
cussed their evaluations. One surprising finding was
that students were often harder on themselves when
determining the overall quality of their work. For
example, one student completed a photographic Once students discovered their
essay, in which she took nature shots that inter-
preted scenes from Walden. While the photos were strongest areas of intelligence, we
all connected in an outstanding fashion to the liter-
ature she had studied, she was quick to note that the
quality of prints did not match her own standards of discussed a form of assessment that
“excellence.” She also stated that she had procrasti-
nated and found herself frustrated when she ran out would be used to determine the
of the time to complete the project according to her
standards. She told me that she felt the project de- knowledge they had gained during
served a B, offering her complete candor regarding
her performance. This was especially interesting, as
this particular young woman would often complain
the Transcendental unit.
about her test grades if she received anything less
than an A, most often placing blame on “a bad test”
or “boring material.”
In addition to this finding, it was also inter- Though the students who typically had the
esting to note that many students who had regularly best averages in the class saw only an average of a
struggled with the rigors of the literature in the 2 percent increase in scores, the marginal students
course responded with much greater effort during who had experienced the greatest levels of disin-
this unit than they had in the past. In fact, there was terest and difficulty in previous units experienced
a 99 percent homework completion rate for the substantial improvement. One student, who had
class during this unit, which was an improvement of practically given up during a previous unit, anx-
15 percent from previous averages. Furthermore, iously awaited each new component of the assign-
when the projects were evaluated, overall stu- ment. His average improved by 12 percent, while
dent performance rose an average of 5 percent per several students who had previously earned C av-
student—the equivalent of a letter grade for many erages saw their grades improve by an entire letter.
individuals. Perhaps the greatest revelation regard- Most importantly, students took ownership of their
ing achievement was my own, however, as I realized assessment and showed the desire to further their
that the lecturing, skill-drill-and-kill style of teach- learning. In her book Rainbows of Intelligence, Sue
ing had not weaseled its way into my lessons as I cov- Teele comments on the American classroom:
ered the curriculum. Students did not fall asleep in Many current classrooms are directed only to the
class, nor did they complain while they were doing linguistic and logical-mathematical students,
their assignments. The supplemental materials which leaves students who process information
made a significant difference in interest and per- with the other intelligences to struggle . . .
formance, and the project assessment motivated my Through understanding multiple intelligences
and identifying dominant intelligences, educa-
students beyond comparison.
tors can develop increasingly effective teaching
As a final element of the unit, I offered stu- strategies to match learning with instruction.
dents the opportunity to take a written exam on They can also develop multiple assessment mea-
what they’d learned through their work. I gave sures that match those intelligences and teaching
English Journal 67

9. methods that accurately reflect what knowledge Emerson and Thoreau most likely would have ap-
students have acquired. (85) plauded. How wonderful for English teachers to
have the tools to open the doors of life and learning,
In his more recent publication, Intelligence Re-
and to help their students to have a few more of the
framed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century,
answers to life’s equations.
Howard Gardner celebrates the acknowledgement
of several intelligences stating, “. . . the monopoly of
Works Cited
those who believe in a single general intelligence has
come to an end” (203). As we English educators Armstrong, Thomas. Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2000.
spend our days in the classroom, we want all of our
students to come to love language as much as we do, Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences. New York: Basic Books, 1983.
even if they don’t have a natural aptitude for the sub-
———. Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the
ject. We also want all of our students to be able to 21st Century. New York: Basic Books, 1999.
understand the material covered in class, as well as ———. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New
to see its relevance in the real world. Through in- York: Basic Books, 1993.
cluding a wide range of genres, activities, and as- Ivanco, J. “What Are My Learning Strengths?” 1 March
sessments that incorporate the principles of the 2002. http://snow.utoronto.ca/courses/mitest.html.
theory of multiple intelligences, I have found that Kirk, Kathy. Writing to Standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Cor-
this is possible. In the future, I hope to begin my win Press, 2001.
American literature course by introducing students McKenzie, Walter. “Multiple Intelligences Survey.” 1 March
to all of the intelligences they bring to my classroom 2002. http://surfaquarium.com/Miinvent.htm.
before we even open a book. Though I chose to Teele, Sue. Rainbows of Intelligence. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Corwin Press, 2000.
modify the tenets of Gardner’s theory and incorpo-
Watterson, Bill. The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary
rate a rubric during project evaluations, I have found Book. Kansas City, MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1995.
that this provides a workable medium between the
———. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. Kansas City, MO:
standardized testing that is being used to determine Andrews and McMeel, 1988.
levels of accountability and the creation of products ———. The Indispensable World of Calvin and Hobbes.
that allowed my students to have an increased sense Kansas City, MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1992.
of self-worth, while authentically demonstrating their ———. Something Under the Bed Is Drooling. Kansas City,
mastery of a subject. In addition, during this unit I MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1993.
was often able to observe individual learning in ac- ———. There’s Treasure Everywhere. Kansas City, MO: An-
tion, something that I considered merely an unob- drews and McMeel, 1996.
tainable luxury in past units. In the end, students in
my classroom transcended the boundaries of learn- COLLEEN A. RUGGIERI teaches English at Boardman High
ing, truly reaching heights that even the likes of School, Youngstown, Ohio.
EJ 6 0 Years Ago
Truth and Creativity
“The pupil who is most likely to succeed in writing creatively is the one who searches through his own life for material.
He has not been told to study and emulate the great masters; on the contrary, he has been encouraged to believe that
he himself has something to say if he will but find it.”
Robert W. Rounds. “Creative Writing and Living Language.” EJ 31.6 (1942): 454–62.
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