Kylene Beers describes her experience with one high school student struggling for reading. Controversy on what make a book good is expressed.

Describes how nonfiction literary prose offers advantages that literary fiction does not by showing a sense of honesty that comes with a single voice telling things as they are seen by that person. Discusses important distinctions between personal essays and autobiographies. (SG)

The first part of this article recounts the experiences of a language arts teacher, Terry Patrick Bigelow, and his former student, Cynthia (Noyes) Ried, who suffers from Fahr's Syndrome, a neurodegenerative congenital disease that forms calcium deposits deep inside the brain. It is irreversible, inoperable, and incurable. In the first part of the…

Discusses a women's literature course designed to explore the connections between the narratives that students read and discuss and the narratives that they live and write. Examines a variety of sources, including fiction, biography, autobiography, literary criticism, history, psychology, sociology, and popular culture. (RS)

Describes impressions of China, including material things Chinese people value, sight-seeing and school visits, topics of conversation, and the absence of travel luxuries. (EL)

Presents a fictional tale of one adolescent boy's experiences with the Christmas holiday. Tells how the boy's attitude was changed by various experiences surrounding the holiday. (HB)

Presents student responses to nonfiction literature of the Vietnam War. Describes reasons for teaching the nonfiction literature of the Vietnam War. Concludes that this literature is accessible and engaging to students, and it deals with issues that speak to students in powerful ways. (SG)

A step-by-step plan for creating a digital story grounded in sound theory and research about how adolescents expand their literacy is presented. Students were found to be selective about effects while putting the story first, choosing those that drove the story farther as opposed to those that mimicked what might be seen in films or television.

Recounts an experience with a "stage prop" bomb made by the art department for a high school production of John Patrick's play, "Anybody Out There?" (EL)

Describes the reaction to his "English Journal" article on gay teens. Discusses loss of job, invitations to give speeches, requests for interviews, and the response of individuals and the administration at the community college where he teaches part time. (EL)

Because of the short life expectancy of recent books for adolescents, the author recommends examining the field in terms of its history and also calls for learning more about teenage books in general and teaching criteria for judging works. (CRH)

Recounts the reaction of a withdrawn ninth grader in a lower-level English class who began participating in class discussions after receiving a response to a letter he wrote to author Stephen King. Notes that the student, now a graphics arts major at a state university, still corresponds with his English teacher. (RS)

Discusses the use of testimonials (edited oral narratives collected from people who by their circumstances cannot write about their experiences firsthand) in the English classroom. States that teaching testimonial narratives leads students to ask challenging questions about priorities in literature classes and their everyday experiences. (RS)

Argues that teachers of writing can readily become forces for peace in our schools and, by extension, in society at large. Argues that returning to personal story at the center of the writing curriculum, accompanied by deep listening, will promote peace and well-being, voice and sense of self, and respect and caring as well as powerful literacy in…

Describes how Anna Deveare Smith's "Fires in the Mirror" can be adapted for the secondary level language arts classroom. Describes a storytelling exercise, and then describes the six stages of the project as students adapted personal narrative for performance: theme; obtaining the interview; the peer-editing workshop; preparing for the…