Argues that viewing writing as a social process where writers and readers attempt to make contact is more appropriate than viewing language as information exchange. Also outlines the central assumptions underlying aesthetic reading research. (JC)

Argues that some of the works of major British writers may be read as propounding simple but important views on metaphysics of the self. Contends that the work of the British Empiricists cut the ground out from under the metaphysics of Descartes, and the world subsequently came to be regarded as a flux of impressions. Reflects on the relationship…

Explores the theoretical basis for understanding nonfiction from an aesthetic point of view and discusses some of the pedagogical issues arising from this theoretical framework. (TB)

Shares personal and profound experiences that permitted the emergence of a method of response to literature, circles of meaning, including excerpts of a master's thesis case study of a student making meaning of short stories using the method. Notes some of the learnings that this experience brought into the author's work with education students.…

Discusses reader-based and text-based approaches to teaching literature to high school students and then offers suggestions for questions and activities for the teaching of Robert Cormier's "The Chocolate War." (TB)

States that the teacher's ultimate responsibility is to assist individuals to continue to appreciate Shakespeare's plays in later life. Discusses (1) the play as a live process, (2) methods of play appreciation, and (3) the play experience as an integrated whole. (EL)

Explores the possibility that literary theorists and reading researchers are unconscious of each others interests, goals, and assumptions. Seeks to explore how the gaps between these two areas might best be bridged. (EL)

Argues that in the study of literature, the authority of the text is confounded by the authority of the teacher. Suggests that more effective learning takes place when the authority of both text and teacher is set aside. (FL)

Describes one secondary school teacher's experience in experimenting with reader response literary criticism as a teaching tool and how she handles difficulties concerning teacher supervision, student motivation, and student growth. (TB)

Describes two approaches to introducing a novel to elementary students. Maintains that the second approach, which encourages reader response, is more effective than the first, which mandates the learning of 100 new vocabulary words. Describes a discussion technique based on a "discussion web" or map of possibilities that helps students to explore…

Examines what teachers do when they read texts in particular genres, and suggests how to encourage similar behavior in students. (CRH)

Uses the interpretative location of the author's reading of Michael Ondaatje's poem "Light" and the author's writing of his own poem "Three Women Pictured" as a way of organizing a discussion of three ideas that illuminate the complexity of shared reading and response in schools. (TB)

Presents some personal experimental work relating to world metaphors together with that of others working in the areas of logic, psychology, and philosophy. (NKA)

Reviews various methods of teaching literature and proposes that response to literature be an element in the teaching of literature. Considers the role of the teacher in a response-centered classroom and how to create a classroom environment that will encourage interpretation and response to literature. (SRT)

Wrestles with the questions of how teachers might understand and respond to the risk of exposing children to graphic historical narratives. Focuses on picture books and novels intended to help children remember, understand, and confront the implications of the Nazi genocide of European Jewry and the use of nuclear weapons on the people of…