Teacher Resource Guides

The intent of this guide is to focus on the content of each of the stories found in Notes Across the Aisle, as well as the ideas associated with each one, and to provide suggestions for student discussions, projects, assignments and writings. For a better understanding of the writer's craft, writing technique has been highlighted and a Glossary of Terms provided.

The guide incorporates current reading response theory but also provides traditional literary activities. The aims of interaction between the student and the work are guided by the assumption that the reader is not passive, nor that all "meaning" resides in the text. Rather, the intention of this guide is to involve the student in all phases of the reading process. The teacher therefore is not the sole organizer of the response. This guide aims to have the teacher create the atmosphere and situations which encourage and develop the student's response, and to act as the medium for the written work. The teacher should manage the classroom so that the student takes responsibility for the reading experience.

The guide presents each story of the anthology in the context of the following format:

• Focus
• Writing Technique
• Reader Response
• Creative work in Writing, Oral and Drama, Enrichment and Entertainment.

For thematic connections see specific title.

This guide is free with each class set purchase of 20 or more

The Thistledown Novels Guide includes: R. P. MacIntyre's Yuletide Blues, Kathy Stinson's Fish House Secrets, David Richards's Soldier Boys, and Lesley Choyce's The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson.Designed to enhance the work of both teachers and students, the guide treats the novels independently, though there is ample opportunity for overlap should the teacher choose to emphasize the common elements among them. For each of the novels the arrangement, then, is as follows: the Overview section, which includes:

• Teaching Focus;
• Plot (Content);
• Characterization;
• Themes;
• The Writer's Craft (Structure and Style);

the Questions section, divided into:

• Reader Response;
• General Questions;
• Other Activities;

finally, there is a series of Essay Questions to further develop students' writing and research skills.

The Thistledown Novels Guide subscribes to various teaching strategies, neither absolute nor necessarily explicit, but nonetheless an essential foundation from which teachers and students alike can effectively work. In the guide four key terms outline the primary teaching strategies:

• Interaction,
• Interpretation,
• Critical Thinking,and
• Action.

For thematic connections see specific title.

This guide is free with each class set purchase of 20 or more

The intent of this guide is to focus on the content of each of the stories in Takes: Stories for Young Adults, as well as the ideas associated with each one, and to provide suggestions for student discussions, projects, assignments and writings. For a better understanding of the writer's craft, writing technique has been highlighted and a Glossary of Terms provided.

This guide incorporates current reading response theory but also provides traditional literary activities. The aims of interaction between the student and the work are guided by the assumption that the reader is not passive, nor that all "meaning" resides in the text. Rather, the intention of this guide is to involve the student in all phases of the reading process. The teacher, therefore, is not the sole organizer of the response. This guide aims to have the teacher create the atmosphere and situations which encourage and develop the student's response, and to act as the medium for the written work. The teacher should manage the classroom so that the student takes responsibility for the reading experience.

The guide presents each story of the anthology in the context of the following format:

• Focus
• Writing Technique
• Reader Response
• Creative work in Writing, Oral and Drama, Enrichment and Entertainment.

For thematic connections see specific title.

This guide is free with each class set purchase of 20 or more

The activities in the In the Clear Teacher's Guide have been developed by four secondary English Language Arts teachers in Saskatchewan and two English Language Arts educators in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. We have tried out most of the activities in our classrooms, so you can be confident that they will likely work well in your classroom. The four English Language Arts teachers have also been involved in the piloting and implementation of the new secondary English Language Arts curriculum in Saskatchewan (1999, Spring), so the activities incorporate the latest curriculum content and approaches. Because we have used the outcome statements from the Western Canadian Protocol to develop the plans in this Guide, they are equally applicable to the English Language Arts curricula in all four western provinces.

The Last Map Is The Heart Teacher's Guide is intended to assist the teacher in the preparation of teaching strategies for the fictions and short stories from The Last Map Is The Heart. It provides a focus, an insight into writing technique, and a commentary. The range and intensity of all teaching/learning activities have been created to accommodate both the novice and veteran teacher as well as the various levels of student readers.

This guide incorporates current reading response theory but also provides traditional literary activities. The aims of interaction between the student and the work are guided by the assumption that the reader is not passive, nor that all "meaning" resides in the text. Rather, the intention of this guide is to involve the student in all phases of the reading process. The teacher therefore is not the sole organizer of the response. This guide aims to have the teacher create the atmosphere and situations which encourage and develop the student's response, and to act as the medium for the written work.

The guide presents each of the stories in the context of the following:

• Focus;
• Commentary;
• Reader Response;
• Writing Techniques; and
• Creative Work

For thematic connections see specific title.

This guide is free with each class set purchase of 20 or more

The Thistledown Press Speculative Fiction Guide includes three novels by Canadian writers: Wind Shifter by Linda Smith, Dance of the Snow Dragon by Eileen Kernaghan, and The Fungus Garden by Brian Brett. This guide is designed to enhance the work and interaction of students and teachers alike, and although each novel is treated independently there are many opportunities for overlap if the teacher chooses to emphasize the common elements among them.

For each of the novels the arrangement is as follows: the Overview section, which includes:

• Teaching Focus;
• Plot (Content);
• Characterization;
• Themes;
• The Writer's Craft (Structure and Style);

the Questions section, divided into:

• Speculations;
• 2. General Questions;
• 3. Other Activities;

finally, there is a series of Essay Questions to further develop students' writing and research skills.

For thematic connections see specific title.

This guide is free with each class set purchase of 20 or more

The Thistledown Short Fiction Guide includes:
R. P. MacIntyre's The Blue Camaro,
Alison Lohans' Laws of Emotion, and
Martha Brooks' Paradise Café and Other Stories.

In writing it, the authors of the guide considered the following principles:

• Using student-centred instruction;
• Using a variety of teaching strategies to build and refine students' literary, writing, and communicative skills;
• Encouraging students to respond to literature in different ways: hence, oral, auditory, and visual activities are interwoven with reading and writing excercises throughout the Guide;
• Emphasizing to students the importance of developing literary and communication skills.

The short stories in each collection are formatted into the following sections: SUMMARY, SKILLS AND CONCEPTS, TEACHING STRATEGIES, and PERSONAL RESPONSE TO LITERATURE/ JOURNAL WRITING.

For thematic connections see specfic title.

The intent of this guide is to focus on the content of each of the stories, as well as the ideas associated with each one, and to provide suggestions for student discussions, projects, assignments and writings. For a better understanding of the writer's craft, writing technique has been highlighted and a Glossary of Terms provided. Many of the short stories can be used to complement one another, and the guide suggests possible combinations. The suggestions in this guide are not intended as the only way that a story may be viewed, but are a direction to potentially exciting literary experiences. The final decision of which selections to use and whether to focus intensively or extensively must rest with that individual who best knows his or her class - the teacher.

The guide presents each of the stories in the context of the following:

• Focus;
• Writing Technique;
• Commentary;
• Reader Response; and
• Further Resource Material

  For thematic connections see specific title.

  This guide is free with each class set purchase of 20 or more

This guide offers teaching strategies for the content, themes and styles that evoke humour in story telling and the techniques of craft that allow humour to unfold. The guide was created in response to Thistledown’s third national competition for young adult short stories, including the two winning stories “The Trickster” by Jacqueline Pearce, and “Mom?!” by Diana C. Aspin.

The Opening Tricks Teacher Resource Guide intelligently address the writing styles of  stories by: Cheryl Archer, Karen Krossing, R.P. MacIntyre, Eric Nicol, Sharon Stewart, Beverley Brenna, Shelley A. Leedahl, Barry Mathias, Janice Scott, Jennifer Taylor, and Ed Yatscoff.

The guide is arranged as follows: the Overview section, which includes:

• Teaching Focus;
• Plot (Content);
• Characterization;
• Themes;
• The Writer's Craft (Structure and Style);

the Questions section, divided into:

• Speculations;
• General Questions;
• Other Activities

There is a series of Essay Questions and Research Probes to further develop students' writing, web, and library skills.

This Teacher Resource Guide allows for student exploration into Up All Night, Thistledown's highly recommended high school short story collection. The guide will evoke those study questions and create the kind of in class activities and discussion that are an essential part of the school reading experience. Many of the stories in Up All Night have their challenges —  as the stories' subjects range from issues of teen pregnancy and school bullying to sibling rivalry and hatred.

This Teacher Resource Guide has been created to guide discussion on difficult topics and still create the most beneficial language activities from the writing in the stories. Built on the sound premises of establishing the teaching focus on the writing elements of plot, theme, character, and style in order to elicit student response, the guide also allows for extensive research probing and other library work to encourage student discussion, and feedback on contemporary issues.