Compares the difficulties students face in the junior high years to the obstacles of Odysseus. Notes hierarchical skill levels needed to understand and interpret literature; suggests using different print and nonprint media to improve interest in stories; recommends doing more writing and talking about fewer works. (JG)

Reports the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the areas of reading, writing, and literature. (JL)

Describes 16 activities that use student-created visual arts to teach conventional reading skills such as organizing sequences and remembering details. Activities suggested include: illustrating poems, descriptions, and stories; designing scenery and costumes; making pictures, book covers, cartoons, and books; and a listening game. (DF)

Puts forth a plan for raising student consciousness about audience through peer evaluation sessions. Targets three areas of effective autobiographical writing: an engaging opening; focus; and showing, not telling. Discusses grading rubrics for these categories appropriate for student readers. (TB)

Describes the experience of one English teacher who bent the rules of the school when faced with the task of writing an "interim report" on a bright yet underachieving student. Shows how a teacher's willingness to improvise and invent methods and rules in individual cases is sometimes essential for student growth and well-being. (HB)

Pairing high school seniors with elementary students to write, edit, and publish children's picture books proved to be an engaging project for the students. Seniors stayed focused and eager to work on the project and proved they had learned editing lessons by teaching them to the younger students.

The comprehensive approach to balanced literacy mandate relies on teachers understanding of the skills and strategies that reading and writing demands. State and city departments of education must look for ways to learn from the voices of English language art teachers.

Describes a three-week unit in which students read a biography of famous person, prepare a first-person narrative, make an appropriate costume, and record the video biography. Notes that students integrate reading, research, and speaking skills on their way to starring in their own one-person show. (RS)

Describes the findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress's "Reading Report Card" issued in September 1993. Critiques the report for methodological reasons. Argues that the report is virtually worthless regarding the reading skills of American students and should receive a failing mark. (HB)

Considers how new technologies might serve to help educators to teach in ways that were not possible without them. Considers "the unspoken responsibilities English teachers are asked to assume" as students pursue their desire to become "technologically literate." Describes an activity in which the World Wide Web is used to…

Gathers some of the ways the authors used online resources to teach the Declaration of Independence. Discusses critically reading historical documents online and approaching the Declaration through an analysis of genre. Notes that the techniques can be modified for a range of grades and a variety of topics. (SR)

The criteria developed by the NCTE Committee on Curriculum Bulletins for the evaluation of reading programs are presented and explained. (JH)

Finds that Agatha Christie's mysteries can be used to encourage discussion of characterization and human values, to promote reading and literary analysis skills, and to develop both writing and problem-solving skills. Suggests several language arts activities. (MM)

Recommends reading aloud to students or having them read aloud themselves as a way of stimulating their interest in what they are reading about and in reading itself. (JL)