The style of Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" arises from an alternative vision and choice of values characteristic of romance. Romance seeks fulfillment beyond the consequences of everyday relationships and the constrictions of ordinary life. Causal relationships give way to lists of independent items, unmotivated outcomes, and…

In Elizabeth A. Dagrosa Harris' high school English classroom, the writing assignment that inspires the most dread in her students is the literary criticism paper, a common assessment usually assigned in the second semester of the British literature curriculum. This assignment is grounded in solid and time-tested standards that describe research…

Bilingual Education is a must in Spain nowadays. Its implementation during the past ten years has involved a meaningful change in teaching methodology. For the first time now our students have the chance to speak and to listen to the target language before they start mastering grammar. As part of this process, English literature is being…

Even though theme is cited in two of the 10 Common Core Standards for Reading Literature, little is written on how to teach it. Determining theme while reading a story is a critical element of reading literature, yet some children simply struggle. The instructional strategies presented here are designed to hone students' theme awareness and…

This article reflects on the values and practices of a revolutionary A level (senior secondary) course that achieved a high degree of validity and reliability in assessing the study of English literature. John Hodgson and Bill Greenwell were involved in its teaching and assessment from an early stage, and Greenwell's comments on an early draft of…

Although secondary school teachers have long been aware of the pedagogical possibilities of Louise Rosenblatt's Reader Response (articulated first in "Literature as Exploration," 1938) and I. A. Richards' Close Reading (first broached in "The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of…

As part of a university-wide project to explore Shakespeare's classic play, "Romeo and Juliet," from a variety of perspectives, an interdisciplinary talk was presented to the university community on the chemistry of the potions and poisons referenced in "Romeo and Juliet." To draw the multidisciplinary audience in and to teach…

The heart of this article is an account written by a student at the end of the course. In this account Jeremy charts his changing views about teaching literature. Influenced by the work of Jerome Bruner (1986) and others, he argues for greater 'flexibility' in the ways we conceptualise 'critical response' to a literary text. The work his Year 9…

Dismissed as "brainless" at school, Alan Markland's one saving grace was his ability to read. It grew into a passion for books and reading which survived years of alcoholism and eventual homelessness. He was in his sixties when he began to realise his true vocation as a writer. Markland describes his early education as "perfunctory." An early…

Shakespeare's plays are widely regarded as the greatest inheritance in English literature and recent years have seen a growing interest in introducing them to children in their primary schools. In this book, the authors bring a blend of clear thinking, playful and inventive practice and straightforward practical advice to bear on teaching…

Shakespeare's hypotext has invited so many hypertextual transformations over the last four hundred years that twenty-first century students deserve the chance of digging into this rich mine of information and dramatic possibilities. The practical approach of a competency-based teaching method offers great advantages over traditional practices in…

In this "Idea Sharing" article, the author introduces Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" as a critique of King James I's (England) concept of an absolute monarchy, in his constitutional treatise, "Basilikon Doron (1599)," the "kingly gift" that advises the young prince on the ethics of government and how to…

This essay presents a revised history of the punctuation mark ["], drawn from the earliest communities who made it their own. By situating the development of ["] in its historical context, from first uses of the diple [diple] by the Greek scholar Aristarchus, it explains how it was the general applications which persisted into the sixteenth…

Harvard served as a model for English Departments in the past and, with its 2008-2009 changes, it seems to take the mantle in providing yet another model. However, I propose a much more radical approach to creating an undergraduate "English" curriculum that does more than push the boundaries of traditional study of English literatures. I…

In 1986, Paul Friedman and Reva Jenkins-Friedman introduced "Fostering Academic Excellence through Honors Programs" by warning readers that "One might assume that the brightest college undergraduates feel well served during their years on campus and that procedures for educating them are common knowledge." The research on the importance of honors…