This article shows how students confront offensive language head-on by researching its history and reconsidering its use in contemporary conversation. It describes an assignment in which students study the histories and social reception of words (in some cases considered obscenities) used to insult people of various social categories. Students…

It has been almost 30 years since the last systematic look at writing instruction in middle schools and high schools in the United States (Applebee, Writing). Since that report, there have been a number of significant changes in the contexts in which teachers teach and in which their students learn to write. Stretching back to the 1969-70 school…

Describes a successful use of portfolios to assess the development of eleventh grade students' writing skills by inviting self-reflection and encouraging students to assume control over their writing. (KEH)

Argues that writing instruction is most effective when instruction focuses on inquiry which includes: utilizing concrete data, solving problems by using thinking strategies inherent in various writing tasks, focusing on student-centered problems, and encouraging student interaction with a minimum of teacher lecture. (JAD)

States that psychological models help shape students' responses to literature. Explains how a Freudian model can be used to explore the meanings inherent in Emily Dickinson's "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass." (MM)

Outlines the importance of essay tests as a method of learning and discovery. Suggests ways of helping students approach essay questions, how to determine what information is necessary for a complete answer, and how to fulfill those requirements. (KEH)

Demonstrates the value of reading aloud to high school juniors. Provides suggestions to increase the engagement, confidence, and ability of all students in reading challenging texts. Realizes that an individual's reading preferences are dynamic and that it is difficult to define someone as one specific type of reader. (SG)

Discusses the issue of students buying papers on the Internet. Considers how educators reconcile their ability to teach effectively with their students' ability to cheat and steal without the teacher's knowledge. Suggests a solution by assigning essays that cannot be bought. (SG)

Discusses how writing response groups improve students' writing even when the students resist extensive between-draft revision. (MM)

Presents a student-guided approach (based on Louise M. Rosenblatt's "Literature as Exploration") to teaching Willa Cather's MY ANTONIA. (MM)

Considers how high school students can see reading "The Canterbury Tales" as daunting. Shares a series of units of study "combining the literary and the vulgar" that fully engage the students with the text. Suggests that with a masterpiece like "The Canterbury Tales," students are better served when educators take it…

Relates how the author came into a generally contentious classroom of eleventh-grade developmental English students and how it became a place of cooperative reading and writing and critiquing through a democratic approach and a three-week project in which students wrote a fictional story via letter writing. Notes student's involvement and…

Describes "Tell Me A Story," a class activity that serves as an open stage for performers to tell tales of adventure, horror and romance and during which students are encouraged to have fun and diverge from the expected. Proposes that a class learns valuable skills and lessons by collaborating in the creation and assessment of such…

Lists 10 ways to involve students in the teacher's writing that can be beneficial to both teachers and their students. (MS)

Describes one high school English teacher's experiment with assigning stories instead of analytical essays. Argues for retelling and storytelling as a valuable resource in the high school curriculum. (RAE)