Criticizes school policies that hamper teachers' use of new methods such as journal writing and reader response to literature because these methods have caused criticism of teachers and school administrators. Concludes that students have a right to ideas, good teaching, sharing, mistakes, and trust. (SRT)

Advocates the use of classical mythology in contemporary classrooms because mythology features heroes or heroines that may serve as role models. (DF)

Teachers can help their young students build a strong foundation for multicultural understanding by introducing them to stories from many cultures and teaching them to use the cognitive strategies that enable them to comprehend and experience cultures different from their own. Multicultural literature can become a powerful tool that illustrates…

To provide a framework for describing how children respond to picture books, first and second grade children were observed over a 10-week period. Variations in the responses of individual students, changes in their reactions over time, and the importance of considering the context of a response are discussed. (PP)

The impact of high school and college students' prior knowledge of literary and social conventions on their attitudes toward fictional characters is examined. Differences were found in attitudes toward the teaching of literature and in evaluations of a fictional teacher's behavior. A model for research in this area is proposed. (PP)

Explores the nature of the picture story book event from a semiotic perspective. Describes a classroom event in which a picture story book was constructed during teacher-student-text interaction in a second grade classroom using involving oral reading and discussion, interpretations of the main character's traits, letters to the author, and…

Argues that bulk mailings can successfully be used in the classroom to teach reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Provides examples of activities addressing salutations, alliteration, connotations, rhetorical appeals, sentence structures, close reading, and vocabulary development. (KEH)

Describes class discussions in an undergraduate English fiction class. Draws a parallel between students' reactions to reading material and the instructor's own responses to fiction as an undergraduate. Suggests that a literature teacher can depart from the usual role of telling students how they must read a given story. (SG)

Describes instructional techniques, based on schema theory, which enable English as a second language (ESL) students to revise their writing to meet the expectations of English-speaking readers. Illustrates this approach by examining a Chinese-speaking student's first revision of an essay. (RS)

Shares a curriculum framework based on six aspects of literacy: ownership, reading comprehension, writing process, word identification, language and vocabulary knowledge, and voluntary reading. Notes that this framework is consistent with a whole literacy approach, and includes an assessment system and provisions for accountability. (MG)

Describes literature study groups in which students choose the adolescent literature books they wish to read, write down their thoughts in journals, and share their reading experiences in discussion groups. Notes that students respond favorably, actively involving themselves in reading and discussing books. Discusses the problem of evaluating…

Evaluates how Stephen Silverman's research review (this issue) on teaching in physical education explains what the literature offers, what is missing, and what to do next, from the perspective of Silverman's personal reading. The article notes Silverman's review fails to make judgement calls about the research's worth. (SM)

Reinforces some of the points made in Stephen Silverman's research review on teaching in physical education, examining the process-product paradigm, the measurement of learning and teaching, and the significance of student mediation. The article identifies issues that merit further discussion and analysis. (SM)

A study tested responses of 201 upper division business students to 8 graduate business school recruitment ads with similar content but written in different styles. Results suggest that certain styles, independently and in combination, do affect perceptions on lower-order dimensions (ad interest, appeal, believability, clarity) but not broader…

Elementary educators can teach middle and upper level students to be book critics beginning with picture books, thus encouraging poor and reluctant readers and providing all students with practice in reading, writing, and critical thinking. The article provides suggestions for objectives of student critiques, e.g., bulletin board displays for the…