With its sights clearly set on middle school teachers and the middle school teaching experience, this new text expands the definition of literacy to encompass today's popular electronic and audiovisual media. Research-driven coverage offers a thorough presentation of the theory of middle school teaching, plus a wealth of real stories from real classrooms that demonstrate strategies in actual practice. The authors address the current emphasis on standards, discussing their advantages and disadvantages and integrating them throughout. They also embrace the notion of inclusion by offering numerous suggestions for teaching special-needs students in the regular classroom and explore the social and cultural complexities—and the joys and challenges—of teaching today's adolescents.