The world of middle level education is rapidly evolving. Increasingly, online learning platforms are complementing or replacing traditional classroom settings. As students exchange classroom interaction for online collaboration, pencils for keyboards, face-to-face conversations for chat room texts, and traditional lessons for digital modules, it becomes apparent that teachers, schools, and administrators must identify ways to keep pace. We must identify ways to meet the needs of middle level learners within this digital context. In this volume, researchers and teachers share a variety of resources centered on the growing world of virtual education and its implications for the middle level learner, educator, and classroom.

This text offers 6th - 12th grade educators guided instructional approaches for including young adult (YA) literature in science and math classes in order to promote literacy development while learning content. Chapters are co-authored, pairing content experts with literacy experts, to ensure that both content and literacy standards are met in each approach. Each chapter spotlights the reading of one YA novel, and offer pre-, during-, and after reading activities that guide students to a deeper understanding of the content while increasing their literacy practices. While each chapter focuses on a specific content topic, readers will discover the many opportunities reading YA literature in the content area has in encouraging cross-disciplinary study.

Fostering Mental Health Literacy through Adolescent Literature provides educators a starting point for engaging students in the study of adolescent literature that features mental health themes with the intended goal of developing students' mental health literacy while simultaneously attending to English Language Arts content and literacy standards. Each chapter, co-authored by a literacy expert and mental health specialist, features a specific adolescent novel and provides middle and high school teachers background information on the novel's featured mental health theme(s), along with pedagogical approaches for guiding readers into, through, and out of the novel. In doing so, this text seeks to raise awareness of mental health issues thereby reducing associated stigma and normalizing individual and peer mental health experiences for all adolescents.

Fostering Mental Health Literacy through Adolescent Literature provides educators a starting point for engaging students in the study of adolescent literature that features mental health themes with the intended goal of developing students' mental health literacy while simultaneously attending to English Language Arts content and literacy standards. Each chapter, co-authored by a literacy expert and mental health specialist, features a specific adolescent novel and provides middle and high school teachers background information on the novel's featured mental health theme(s), along with pedagogical approaches for guiding readers into, through, and out of the novel. In doing so, this text seeks to raise awareness of mental health issues thereby reducing associated stigma and normalizing individual and peer mental health experiences for all adolescents.

The influence of Shakespeare on American culture is unequivocal. And despite its youth, young adult literature has grown into a literary force majeure. Considering the widespread popularity of both Shakespeare and young adult literature, their pairing can offer teachers and students a wide array of instructional possibilities. Our collection offers secondary (6-12) educators engaging ideas and approaches for pairing Shakespeare's most frequently taught plays alongside young adult novels which often provide a unique examination of a topic that teaching a single text could not afford. The pairings offered in each chapter allow for comparisons in some cases, for extensions in others, and for critique in some.

This text offers 6th - 12th grade educators guided instructional approaches for including young adult (YA) literature in the social sciences and humanities classroom in order to promote literacy development while learning content. Chapters are co-authored, pairing content experts with literacy experts, to ensure that both content and literacy standards are met in each approach. Each chapter spotlights the reading of one YA novel, and offer pre-, during-, and after reading activities that guide students to a deeper understanding of the content while increasing their literacy practices. While each chapter focuses on a specific content topic, readers will discover the many opportunities reading YA literature in the content area has in encouraging cross-disciplinary study.

This text offers 6th - 12th grade educators guided instructional approaches for including young adult (YA) literature in the social sciences and humanities classroom in order to promote literacy development while learning content. Chapters are co-authored, pairing content experts with literacy experts, to ensure that both content and literacy standards are met in each approach. Each chapter spotlights the reading of one YA novel, and offer pre-, during-, and after reading activities that guide students to a deeper understanding of the content while increasing their literacy practices. While each chapter focuses on a specific content topic, readers will discover the many opportunities reading YA literature in the content area has in encouraging cross-disciplinary study.

This text offers 6th - 12th grade educators guided instructional approaches for including young adult (YA) literature in science and math classes in order to promote literacy development while learning content. Chapters are co-authored, pairing content experts with literacy experts, to ensure that both content and literacy standards are met in each approach. Each chapter spotlights the reading of one YA novel, and offer pre-, during-, and after reading activities that guide students to a deeper understanding of the content while increasing their literacy practices. While each chapter focuses on a specific content topic, readers will discover the many opportunities reading YA literature in the content area has in encouraging cross-disciplinary study.

Today's secondary virtual teachers are tasked with designing and implementing effective literacy instructional approaches for adolescent online learners. Neglecting to consider the magnitude of possessing literacy skills needed in today's world and not teaching literacy effectively may lead to challenges for students in school and beyond. For most educators, one's toolbox of literacy instructional strategies center around approaches intended for the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom. But methods of reading and writing within the online classroom differ from those within the traditional school setting. Though online students are often separated by time and space, it's entirely possible for virtual teachers to utilize literacy strategies that actively entice and encourage student learning and engagement. This text provides virtual teachers a variety of strategies for translating traditional literacy instruction and assessment into the online classroom.

Today's secondary virtual teachers are tasked with designing and implementing effective literacy instructional approaches for adolescent online learners. Neglecting to consider the magnitude of possessing literacy skills needed in today's world and not teaching literacy effectively may lead to challenges for students in school and beyond. For most educators, one's toolbox of literacy instructional strategies center around approaches intended for the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom. But methods of reading and writing within the online classroom differ from those within the traditional school setting. Though online students are often separated by time and space, it's entirely possible for virtual teachers to utilize literacy strategies that actively entice and encourage student learning and engagement. This text provides virtual teachers a variety of strategies for translating traditional literacy instruction and assessment into the online classroom.

The world of middle level education is rapidly evolving. Increasingly, online learning platforms are complementing or replacing traditional classroom settings. As students exchange classroom interaction for online collaboration, pencils for keyboards, face-to-face conversations for chat room texts, and traditional lessons for digital modules, it becomes apparent that teachers, schools, and administrators must identify ways to keep pace. We must identify ways to meet the needs of middle level learners within this digital context. In this volume, researchers and teachers share a variety of resources centered on the growing world of virtual education and its implications for the middle level learner, educator, and classroom.