Engaging 9th grade students in contemporary reality-show parodies based on "Great Expectations," the author helps students explore the intricacies of Charles Dickens's novel. In "Stay Tuned for Our Next Episode: Teaching 'Great Expectations' in Installments," the author highlighted the benefits of teaching "Great Expectations" in installments, as…

Presents three brief essays that discuss approaching traditional literature (Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," Mark Twain "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," and Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales") in imaginative ways in high school English and vocational/technical classrooms. (RS)

Presents strategies to increase the flow of writing so that students become more attuned to the usefulness of words in capturing thoughts, feelings, and impressions. (RL)

Presents three brief articles written by teachers that 1) describe a collection of approaches that utilize newspapers and magazines as the "excellent teaching tools they are"; (2) plunge students into critical analysis through the use of advertisements in magazines; (3) present ideas on how to teach students to create writing prompts…

Describes a two-week English project in which ninth graders read "La Boheme" in translation, studied it as a drama, listened to arias, and finally watched a videotaped performance of the opera. (JG)

Addresses the cultural diversity that exists in English-as-a-second-language classrooms. Discusses a Halloween story unit developed to help students bridge cultural differences. (RS)

Describes "Project History in the Making" in which students in the class of 1990 read letters written by members of the classes of 1940 and 1965 and write letters to the class of 2015. Notes some of the questions asked by the class of 1990 to invited guests from the classes of 1940 and 1965. (RS)

Describes several assignments and activities that focus on writing for "real-world" purposes, including writing to pen pals, government agencies, and for children or the elderly. (MM)

Suggests that students can improve their writing by being instructed on how to write badly. Applies the criteria of testability, tunnel-vision, excessive vagueness, flying in the face of established fact, and hazy authority to tabloid newspaper stories. Discusses how students can write their own "rotten" tabloid stories by taking these…

Presents a dialog among three English teachers concerning teaching performance poetry to ninth graders. (RS)

Presents an approach used in high school English classes to connect students with the world outside high school. Encourages students to take risks by selecting a project topic, choosing and inviting a guest speaker, preparing for the visit, reading and writing on related topics, and doing a follow-up project. (SR)

Argues that humor is an invaluable teaching tool in English classes. Describes how the author and her students: found humor an important means of discovering profound truths in Shakespeare's dramas; enjoyed the epic "Paradise Lost"; worked with satire in Chaucer; and used humor in students' own creative activities. (SR)

Describes the collaboration between two teachers, involving six eighth grade and two ninth grade English classes, to present a unit reflecting the needs, hopes, and potential of the handicapped. Explains how volunteerism was incorporated into the classroom. Describes preparation, traveling to the Special Olympics State Basketball Tournament, class…

Considers how English teachers, by building a complementary relationship with the workplace, can prepare students better for success in the coming century. Focuses on ways of revolutionizing writing instruction with real world problems. Discusses three examples of real workplace projects demonstrating the notion of writing as problem solving. (HB)

Describes a folklore project for high school classes in English as a Second Language (from beginning to advanced) that focuses on family folklore and uses children's/young adult literature as models of personal experience or folk narrative to serve as catalysts for class discussion and reading/writing activities. (SR)