Describes how one teacher provides minimally structured lessons that encourage senior high school students to carry their learning beyond the classroom. Describes units on business communication, research, British literature, and independent reading. (MG)

Responds to Bruce Kimball's article, "Professions of Language and Reason," in which he reviews Booth's book, "The Vocation of a Teacher: Rhetorical Occasions." Explains how Kimball missed the point of his book, which was to celebrate teaching, a vocation too often denigrated or twisted to serve the ends of other vocations. Corrects other…

Shakespeare has brought alive Western society's shared history and culture in a way no other playwright has ever done, and it is his relevance that makes reading his works worthwhile. Community college educators can prepare the citizens of the future to assimilate population trends and technological advancements by giving their students the widest…

Twenty-eight prospective English teachers at a large midwestern state university participated in this study of what they believe literature to be and what criteria they apply in choosing texts they would teach. Although the prospective teachers reported that they had not been taught explicit criteria for evaluating texts, they had no difficulty…

Designed to make the study of Dickens'"Great Expectations" an appealing and worthwhile experience, this paper presents a unit of study intended to help students gain (1) an appreciation of Dickens' skill at creating realistic human characters; (2) an insight into the problems of a young man confused by false values and unreal ambitions…

All English teachers share an occasional uneasiness about whether English really matters. Three major sources for this uneasiness are: (1) English teachers are uncertain about their basic purpose. Historically, the emphasis in the English profession has shifted from sharing the best that has been thought and said, to literary history, to rigorous…

Teaching through counterparts--using modern treatments of standard literary themes and texts--is a technique designed to share with students perspectives on both traditional and contemporary literature. This paper describes the development of an English literature survey course in which traditional literary works were studied along with…

For those students who qualify, the Advance Program offers an opportunity to follow a stimulating curriculum designed for the academically talented. The purposes of the course outlined in this guide for twelfth grade English are to bring the previous three years' studies in Advance Program English to a meaningful culmination; to provide a…

Some reflections upon how writers learn to write are presented in an analogy with learning to swim, offering implications for the teaching of composition. The "simplicity" of the act of writing is contrasted with the "complexity" discovered by literary analysis. Two of the author's poems are used as examples. (AF)

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Jonas A. Barish, T. S. Eliot, L. C. Knights, Harry Levin, Edmund Wilson, Arthur Sale, C. H. Herford, Paul Goodman, Edward B. Partridge, Ray L. Heffner, Jr., Joseph Allen Bryant, Jr., and Dolora Cunningham--all dealing…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Walter Jackson Bate, T. S. Eliot, Douglas Bush, Richard H. Fogle, Jack Stillinger, Harold Bloom, David Perkins, Earl Wasserman, and D. G. James--all dealing with the biography and literary work of John Keats. Designed for…

A TEACHER VERSION OF A CURRICULUM GUIDE ON THE "LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR" WAS DEVELOPED. AN ENLARGED AND MORE DETAILED INTRODUCTION THAN THAT PROVIDED FOR THE STUDENT VERSION WAS PRESENTED. STUDY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, WRITING ASSIGNMENTS, AND SUGGESTED READINGS WERE ALSO PROVIDED. THE STUDENT VERSION IS ED 010 813. RELATED REPORTS ARE ED…

THIS TEACHING GUIDE ON "THE MERCHANT OF VENICE" WAS PREPARED FOR USE IN A NINTH-GRADE LITERATURE CURRICULUM. THE PURPOSE OF THE GUIDE WAS TO ILLUMINATE THE PLAY AS A WHOLE, AND TO SUGGEST TO THE TEACHER SOME USEFUL PRINCIPLES FOR FRAMING QUESTIONS AND GUIDING DISCUSSIONS IN THE CLASSROOM. THE GUIDE WAS NOT TO BE USED, HOWEVER, AS A BASE…

Discusses the effectiveness of a week-long teacher inservice workshop on Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the context of an analysis of participants' responses to a 10-question evaluation of the inservice. (AEA)

Describes how an English teacher in a Queens, New York, ghetto school introduced her grade nine students to Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations." Focuses on students' responses, which eventually became enthusiastic, and discusses the use of classics within the curriculum. (KH)