This article will share a postcolonial analysis of three widely taught texts that the author has used to introduce both secondary English language arts classes and college students in multicultural young adult literature courses to postcolonial criticism: Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," Gene Luen…

In this article, the author describes several innovative activities for engaging students in studies of literary characters: voting on superlatives for characters, creating characters' Facebook profiles, and composing creative dialogs in which characters from different works meet each other. The author points out that it is this self-knowledge…

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…

High school teachers Simao J. A. Drew and Brenda G. Bosnic help familiarize students with gender role analysis and feminist theory. Students examine classic literature and contemporary texts, considering characters' historical, literary, and social contexts while expanding their understanding of how patterns of identity and gender norms exist and…

Presents two articles in which teachers describe how film can be used in the language arts classroom to accomplish many of the same things that books can. Shows, in particular, how film facilitates the teaching of literary terms and devices and how it heightens interest in the student research paper without detracting from the basic lessons of the…

Contrasts the complaints of a class of gifted students about Dickens' novel "A Tale of Two Cities" with their teacher's discomfort at sitting through the long and tedious movie "Brazil." (NKA)

Presents an interpretation of Eudora Welty's A Worn Path'' that indicates three elements of immortality. (MM)

Techniques for improving students' understanding of literary devices in junior novels. (DD)

Explains how to use the novels of Toni Morrison to teach high school students about life and literature. (JL)

Claims that most teachers who read "The Great Gatsby" in high school English courses do not notice the work's extensive use of nautical imagery. Cites examples and claims that close reading reveals Gatsby to be not only the dreamer and unsuccessful suitor but also the American fisherman who "hooks a big one." (JD)

Examines the effects of catalytic, symbolic, antagonistic, and melding New England settings as they reveal conflicts of values in fiction. (JK)

Suggests that the theme of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is an oxymoron linking the two apparently contradictory ideas of death and sexual love. (RBW)

Author argues that the examination of old strains in new ballads should be the starting point in teaching the Tudor-Stuart period in literature and discusses various approaches to teaching the ballad. (MM)