The students can explore an entirely fascinating new world through graphic novels introduced into the classrooms. The graphic novels include genre fiction like superhero and horror stories that combine words and pictures, which are appealing to the students. Several titles with connections to traditional English literature are recommended.

Author gives specific suggestions to high school teachers; he feels that pairing the two plays offers additional valuable insights into each. (Author/SP)

One of the most fruitful ways of introducing students to the Shakespearean drama is by comparing its techniques with those of a movie. (Author)

Argues that the 1996 film of "Romeo and Juliet" (starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes, and transposed to inner-city gang culture) is a gripping presentation of Shakespeare's story of star-crossed lovers in an impulsive, hot-headed, violent world. Suggests that the film is practically guaranteed to make students love Shakespeare.…

William Shakespeare's "Othello" can be used as a project for drama study that might be culminated into a performance not of the play but of the writing and interpretive work completed by the students. The works of Theresa Toomey Fox, her Othello curriculum and the review of research and theory that supports an arts integration approach to teaching…

Describes how pairing Wordsworth's poem ("Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey") with a contemporary novel ("The River Why" by David James Duncan) makes the classic poem come alive for students. Argues that, regardless of the poem, Duncan's novel is ideally suited for classroom study. (SR)

Gustave Weltsek, a high school English teacher, has turned to process "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to avoid passing on traditional views and interpretations of the play. He has helped the students to see relevance in William Shakespeare's text by using improvisations to get them talking about issues that are important to them.

Discusses the personality development of the "Wuthering Heights" character Catherine Earnshaw in terms of the id, the ego, and the superego. (EL)

Discusses Dylan Thomas' poetry as examples of an art form evolving from real, human experience to word pictures which communicate a message in the sense of a vision . . . YofI the meaning of existence." (Author/SW)

The advantages of teaching English literature in an arts classroom through performance are described. The innovative assignments including poetry, applying performance techniques to a novel and drama helps students to learn English in a better way.

Discusses one of the perennial challenges of teaching English literature--finding ways to relate it to modern problems and issues and thus make the study accessible to students. Includes an example that relates the themes of "Morte D'Arthur" and "Chariots of Fire" and focuses on the sea imagery in both pieces. (JD)

Describes how an integrated eighth grade class became interested in drama and explains how they studied and produced two of Shakespeare's plays. (SW)

Relates how one teacher helped another overcome his prejudice against his American Indian students by showing him that English literature--even "Beowulf"--can be as valid in the curriculum as Native American literature. (JL)

Interviews Joseph Papp, director and founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival. Discusses how to teach Shakespeare to high school students. (MM)

Claudia Klein Felske, a high school English teacher, has created a vital dramatic experience in the classroom with the help of a guest workshop leader. The three activities, such as how to read William Shakespeare, Metaphor Theater and character cacophony, which helped students to experience the intensity of language and discover ramifications of…