Sometimes sifting through all the new, best instructional practices is a bit like Mission Impossible except there is no special agent to perform amazing stunts and help you out. Someone is always trying to sell the panacea to all eduational woes. But there is no cure-all, no sure-fire formula, although some will speak as though you just put in student A, add in teacher B and materials C and presto...a perfectly educated citizen. Of course, if you have a student who wants to learn and is ready and able; a teacher who is well prepared, has a manageable work load, has materials, and likes kids, you do have a strong likelihood of success. But the devil is in the details. It sounds easy but, in an adaptation of the whimsical Harvard's Law, Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity and other variables, the student will do as s/he darn well pleases.

Before you jump whole hog into a curriculum or program, remember what a wise principal once said...teaching is like fly fishing. You have many flies in your flybox. On one day, at a particular river, fishing for a particular fish, you use one type of fly. Change the day, river, or fish and you change the fly. If one fly doesn't work, try another and another if necessary. Be sure you know what kind of fish you are fishing for. Sometimes you buy the flies and sometimes you tie your own. Seek advice from other fishermen/women.

Lesson Design/Rubrics/Methods:
Read, Write, Think http://www.readwritethink.org
Rubistar http://rubistar.4teachers.org

Literacy:
NCTE Adolescent Literacy: http://www.ncte.org/collections/adolescentliteracy
21st Centurey Literacies: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/21stcent/index.htm

Shakespeare
Shakespeare: Shakespeare High http://www.shakespearehigh.com
Folger Shakespeare Library <http://www.folger.edu

MultiModal Literacy
Center for Media Literacy http://www.medialit.org
Media Awareness Network http://www.media-awareness.ca
Teen Aware <http://depts.washington.edu/taware

Media Literacy Clearinghouse http://www.frankwbaker.com/