The author does not really like "Hamlet." He loves the play, the language, and the characters, but always finds it difficult to teach. Part of this is because he prefers to assign students scenes to perform as they read a Shakespeare text, but Hamlet does not divide nicely into manageable scenes, and he usually does not have enough teenage Ken…

School administrators across the U.S. are asking literature teachers to become reading teachers, and not surprisingly, many secondary teachers are having difficulty with this transition. The author's transition to reading teacher was hurried by her dissatisfaction with lessons that featured question-answer discussions. Curious about how students…

As heated as the controversy is and has been, most opponents of homework actually support at least a modest amount of "independent study," and the most ardent advocates are likely to emphasize moderation in the amount of homework and emphasis on the quality of independent assignments. In this article, the author focuses on this troublesome issue…

Uses the film version of Bernard Malamud's "The Natural" to show how archetypes and irony make their appeal to a serious audience without in any way making the film less entertaining. (EL)

Proposes a study of "Citizen Kane" in high school using a somewhat simplified version of post-modern literary critical theory. Chooses this film because of its familiarity and accessibility and because the ambiguity and indeterminacy of its text allow room for exploration by students. (NKA)

Provides a list of 118 reasons why the author's students claim they study American literature, including: (1) to broaden their vocabulary, (2) to learn from other people's experiences, and (3) to develop an open mind about different kinds of literature. (JD)

A teacher discusses how she used criticism of "The Scarlet Letter," when studying the book, in her honors class. The students were also intrigued by the biographical information they learned about Hawthorne, and eager to use it in interpreting his novel. (SRT)

Claims that high school curricula should provide opportunities for students to vicariously explore the relationships, roles, and ideas that appear in Shakespearean drama. Uses the dilemma dramatized in "Hamlet" as an example. (JD)

Presents an interpretation of Katherine Anne Porter's short story "An Approach to Granny Weatherall" with explanatory material to help students and teachers appreciate and understand it. Notes that this interpretation is contrary to the Roman Catholic theology of sin and punishment on which the story is based. (NKA)

Compares Richard Adams's "Watership Down" to the "The Odyssey," and offers a selection of classroom activities for students that use Adams's novel to study classic literature. (NKA)

Uses ideas contained in King's book as the basis for a unit on critical analysis of horror films for composition students. (NKA)

Reviews Elie Wiesel's "Night," an account of his Holocaust experiences. Concludes that what is important is not that students' questions be answered, but that people continue to ask them. (EL)

Looks at Shakespeare's tragedy through the eyes and words of an English teacher's secondary school students. (NKA)

Considers what literature does, its role in a child's education, and how it might be taught. Advocates the use of adolescent literature in the classroom. (NKA)

Outlines a student-conducted literature course that uses several classic novels ("My Antonia,""The Pearl," etc.) as the basis for group discussion, writing, and oral performance activities--all directed toward extracting "meaning" from the books selected. (NKA)