Gives an account of how several English teachers in two different schools used portfolio responses to re-form the content of their classes. Outlines the positive effects of such portfolio-based course assessment and learning. (HB)

Describes how teachers might invite their students to become participants in the act of educational reform. Argues that school reform will ultimately fail unless students are encouraged to participate. (HB)

Describes a letter-writing and video exchange project carried on between two English classrooms, one in New York and one in Georgia. Outlines methods used to connect the classes, including dealing with issues of racial and ethnic differences. Claims that such methods validate students and build self-esteem. (HB)

Describes how one teacher developed an approach to teaching the plays of William Shakespeare that included both attending performances of plays and then producing individual scenes through student participation. Outlines other related activities of the unit, including holding an Elizabethan marketplace. (HB)

Shows how one teacher used innovative methods in teaching William Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Outlines student assignments including text renderings, rewriting a scene from the play, and creating a multicultural scrapbook for the play. (HB)

Describes one teacher's methods for introducing to secondary English students the concepts of Classicism and Romanticism in relation to pictures of gardens, architecture, music, and literary works. Outlines how the unit leads to a writing assignment based on collected responses over time. (HB)

Presents the responses of nine practicing teachers to the questions, "What controversial book do you teach anyway? How do you handle it in the classroom?" Provides citations and descriptions of the books discussed. (HB)

Discusses one high school senior's fictional rendition of her family's experiences of immigration and the American myth. Describes how stories such as this one can be moving and powerful, and thus constitute a sort of "fictional dream" into which readers enter and are thereby changed. (HB)

Argues that students' writing can usefully be published in the form of broadcasting through radio and television. Provides the responses of four practicing English teachers who explain how they have succeeded in having students prepare written materials for broadcast. (HB)

Discusses the ways that one teacher undertook a "cultural safari" in an attempt to learn extensively about African culture and society. Narrates this teacher's experiences in Senegal, her research about Africa, and its impact on her teaching. Argues that such activities "connect" students and teachers to the world community.…

Examines the concepts of multicultural and multiethnic literatures and considers how educators can develop guidelines for selecting these materials for classroom use. Suggests how the discord surrounding these concepts can be alleviated. (HB)

Describes how one English teacher developed an approach to teaching personal writing which juxtaposed the refined power of literary stories against the raw power of students' personal and sometimes tragic stories. Encourages English teachers to relate literary works to real, everyday life. (HB)

Describes how one teacher follows up a unit on Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" with a study of the contemporary film, "Steel Magnolias." Argues that both pieces celebrate the joys of life and that the film helps balance what is missing in the play. (HB)

Discusses the Standards Project for English Language Arts, an attempt to reform English instruction which potentially could engender broad, rapid changes in language arts instruction. Describes recent instructional innovations in which the author has participated, including mass media and multicultural instruction. (HB)

Describes the techniques developed by one instructor for helping students improve their writing, especially creative writing. Outlines how three central writing prompts can be used to inspire student writing and revision. Develops a computer metaphor as a helpful means by which students can access their own "screens." (HB)