With Rigor for All: Teaching the Classics to Contemporary Students

Jago's book With Rigor for All: Teaching the Classics to Contemporary Students challenges the current penchant in the U.S. for dumbing down and anthologizing literature for secondary learners....Jago peppers thetext with her own classroom techniques, experiences, and students' work. Above all, she exemplifies her own belief that teachers must be readers.
- Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, September 2000

In this disarmingly pleasant-to-read book, Carol Jago provides a convincing rationale for teaching the classics to all of your high school students. A veteran educator, Jago provides a wealth of ways for us to do what English teachers yearn to do in their own classrooms: teach the good stuff . Ways that engage students, that make classics and kids come alive.

With Rigor for All also offers practical suggestions for overcoming the problems teachers face when teaching the classics: length, challenging vocabulary, complex syntax, alien times and settings, student disaffection. The book also deals with issues such as assessment and censorship, and offers many lists of suggested titles and a rich sampling of student writings in response to the classics.

If you, like Carol Jago, believe in teaching the good stuff, With Rigor for All is the best source of information and inspiration we've come across.