Presents the responses of numerous professional writers to the question, "What did you do on your summer vacation?" (HB)

Considers the role of the visiting writer in encouraging and supplying useful writing advice to student writers. Proposes some principles for the art of writing that writers offer composition students, especially related to the art of writing over its craft. (HB)

Considers the relationship between drama and writing. Presents a conversation between two scholars interested in this connection in which they describe various views of the relationship. Suggests classroom activities linking drama and writing. (HB)

Describes the activities in a high school English class aimed at instructing students concerning films. Discusses how film study has been radically altered in recent years through the influence of theory. Gives numerous examples of how English teachers might utilize film by focusing on text, viewer, and context. (HB)

Describes how one English teacher developed an approach to Homer's "Odyssey" that focused on the mythical hero lurking within each individual and the power of myth to shape everyday human experience. Provides excerpts from student writing about the personal odysseys in their own lives. (HB)

Reviews and critiques a current book on critical pedagogy: C. H. Knoblauch's and Lil Brannon's "Critical Teaching and the Idea of Literacy." Considers the concepts of critical teaching, functional literacy, and teacher inquiry. (HB)

Describes and analyzes the composition textbooks, or first books of compositions, all written between 1838 and 1855, which were all markedly different from the best-known writing texts of the period. Provides a broader account of how writing was taught in the mid-nineteenth century in America. (HB)

Responds to an article in the same issue by Ann Ruggles Gere entitled, "Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms: The Extracurriculum of Composition." Gives two examples of "extracurricular" readers and writers that have been neglected by historians: African-American literary societies and community-based writing groups. (HB)

Examines the notion that much of what is taught in English classes is irrelevant to the challenges faced by today's students. Questions whether literary study serves students needing literacies outside the school. Considers the social context of literacy. Reconceives English instruction to provide relevant literacy skills. (HB)

Describes the widespread use of textbooks by language arts teachers. Explains the extreme prevalence and reliance upon textbooks, despite frequent complaints about textbook quality. Considers ways of revising textbooks and how they can be used to benefit teachers and students alike. (HB)

Reviews and critiques a new collection of essays edited by Virginia R. Monseau and Gary M. Salvner: "Reading Their World: The Young-Adult Novel in the Classrooms." Considers especially the "literariness" of literature. (HB)

Provides an account of how one English teacher fosters student appreciation of ethnic and minority literatures by teaching Linda Hogan's poem, "The Truth Is." Shows how students can be encouraged to consider their own cultural heritages. Asks student groups to concentrate on how one word is used within the poem. (HB)

Considers the emergence of English Romanticism in the early 19th century as the advent of new ways of thinking and knowing. Compares the cognitive skills of romanticism with the development of adolescent cognition. Shows how English teachers can tailor literature instruction to foster the insights of romantic understanding. (HB)

Details the concepts of romanticism and classicism and how they relate to secondary English instruction. Argues that teachers should offer students both the imaginative adventure of the romantic and the analytical power of the classicist. Describes a visual lesson by which these two modes might be illustrated and fostered. (HB)

Reviews and critiques a new writing textbook by LaRene Despain: "Writing: A Workshop Approach." Considers especially the types of writing assignments advocated and the kinds of skills needed for researched argumentative essays. (HB)