Describes an exercise in the content analysis of political ideologies. Advantages of the exercise include that it teaches students to employ content analysis as a method of research and that it introduces them to the ideological statements of America's leading social critics. (DB)

Argues that a response-centered approach to literature should begin with a consideration of the students' and later the literature's values. Explains how this can be accomplished through the study of literary modes. (FL)

Describes a technique whereby students are taught to use information they have gained from secondary sources to write critical introductions to novels they have read. (FL)

Examines the appeal of oral histories--their intimacy, authenticity, seeming reliability, and panoramic as well as sharply focused presentations of human life--and the possibilities they offer as subject matter in English classrooms. Provides lists of oral histories and "how-to" books on oral history. (RL)

Suggests ways students can develop their cognitive and affective responses to literature. Shows how English teachers can use the concepts of identification, dissociation, and evaluation to help students dramatize, talk about, and write about short stories. (RL)

Discusses the use of visual/aural stimuli in presenting poetry and literature. A step-by-step script for a slide/tape presentation is included. (HTH)

Tracking down the similarities between two beloved stories (the Wizard of Oz and Star Wars) led to a critical analysis of other tales. Through this process, students discovered why some books are classics, became more discriminating readers, and applied what they learned to their own creative writing. (Author/KC)

Explains a four-stage formula that teachers at all levels may use to give students a flexible, practical, and relatively foolproof procedure for generating a literary thesis and its support. (RL)

Suggests the comparative use of Hawthorne's story, "The Minister's Black Veil," and the Johnny Cash song, "The Man in Black," for helping students learn to judge texts, explore symbolism, and discover the differences between different kinds of literature. (TJ)

Argues for including both the affective and cognitive dimension in teaching literature to college freshmen and sophomores. (MKM)

Describes and analyzes an elective course which enables students to relate the viewpoints presented in literature to their own personal philosophies. (DD)

Examines the influence of novelty of pose and facial expressions on college students determination of a photograph's artistic merit. Moderate novelty of poses and positive facial expressions received the greatest endorsement. However, some deviation occurred between considerations of artistic and photographic merit. (MJP)

Discusses the assignment of a research critique assignment to sociology students at Rhode Island College. Explains that students in methodology courses develop research skills by critiquing research articles and writing research proposals. Identifies the structure of the course and its connection with the other parts of the curriculum. Describes…

Discusses the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Criticizes contemporary condemnation of Columbus as unproductive. Acknowledges the deaths of countless Native Americans through disease and warfare. Recognizes that the pre-Columbian Americas did not comprise a paradise. Concludes that commemorating the…

Discusses the problems of teaching about women in history. Suggests that women are presented in basic historical survey courses as helping men do what men wish to do, for shock value, and in the politics of woman suffrage. Recommends developing means of viewing economic and social relationships as socially constructed rather than natural. (DK)