Details a twelfth grade English class which looked at literature, films, and their connections. Notes how the class eventually broke down the distinction between serious texts available to study in school and the popular texts found outside of school. Concludes that this process of reading and remembering a group of heterogeneous texts provides a…

Describes an English literature assignment which engages seniors in library research on an author, an oral presentation, and creating and grading a writing assignment. (MM)

Describes how the "Iliad" can be taught effectively as a soap opera. (MM)

Believes that students must be able to make a basic connection to the collective humanity. Notes that teenagers especially care about injustice and through exploring the global picture of human rights violations, they become aware and have desire to act on that awareness. Uses the humanistic approach to make 16th- to 20th-century British…

Describes a teacher's efforts to introduce her students to modern poetry and to teach them that the value of poetry is not merely aesthetic but can actually be a voice of rare clarity. Asserts that what rubs off on students is a sense of richness of language--an ear and an eye for a rooted expression. (PRA)

Concludes that high school teachers are performing the task of teaching composition satisfactorily. (RB)

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)

Describes how a twelfth-grade high school English teacher used Robert Olen Butler's "Tabloid Dreams" as a reading and writing assignment. Students explored their responses to Butler's stories with attention and depth, and then wrote their own stories, making the potentially ridiculous meaningful, and using complexity and emotion. (SR)

Approaches a writing assignment in an all-girls classroom by differentiating between what men think is funny ("guyfun") and what women think is funny ("galfun"). (NKA)

Details the use and appeal of Web logs to enhance classroom discussion and allow for outside involvement in the classroom. Defines a Web log, addresses discussing literature in a Web log, and describes the author's first attempts at using Web-log technology. Presents considerations for using Web logs as part of classroom instruction. (SG)

Describes a successful paper exchange program between eighth-grade students and high school seniors. States that the peer evaluations created audience awareness and motivated students' writing efforts. (MM)

Discusses using Utopian and dystopian literature in grade 11 and grade 12 English courses to help replace fright over the world's future with concern and commitment to needed action. (MM)

Describes a year-long evaluation procedure in which students accomplish greater involvement in assessing their own learning, beginning with a first-day questionnaire on learning and writing assumptions, continuing with writing workshop experiences, and culminating in a coursework evaluation project and publication. (KEH)

Describes two writing activities (based on S. I. Hayakawa's discussion of biased thinking in his book "Language in Thought and Action") that are designed to enable students to recognize and become sensitive to closemindedness. (KEH)