Offers a defense of teaching science fiction as an elective in the high-school English curriculum. (RL)

Describes how teachers might invite their students to become more creative and riskier in their own poetry by examining cartoons in Gary Larsen's series, "The Far Side." Claims that the finished products were often authentic and daring. Includes eight examples of students' poems. (HB)

Gives an overview of how curriculum design might best be undertaken. Provides unconventional suggestions for developing curriculum. (HB)

Details the various question about the place of literature in the modern high school English curriculum. Questions the ability of educators to formulate a literature pedagogy without reaching a consensus about the place of literature in the curriculum. (HB)

Describes how one teacher taught poetry and its principles by relying mainly on poems written by her former and current students. Comments on why this approach seemed to bring out in students a true appreciation of poetry. (HB)

Suggests four exercises to undertake prior to the actual reading and study of William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in high school English classes. (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)

This digest discusses the highlights of a study which surveyed (in 1988) the book-length works taught in high school English programs in public, parochial, and independent schools and then compared the survey results with results of a similar survey in 1963. The digest reports that the 10 titles most frequently taught in public, Catholic, and…

A study of how literature is currently taught in high school, this book also explores how the best of current teaching practices result in greater understanding of the ways in which deeper levels of literacy can be achieved by all students in increasingly multicultural classrooms. The book is not a collection of lesson plans, but is about ideas.…

In providing a rationale for the use of "Grendel" in high school English classes, this paper presents explanatory material demonstrating its appropriateness, beginning with a discussion of "Grendel" as part of a course in major or contemporary works of literature. The second section of the paper illustrates the use of the novel…

Describes the current state of reading lists in high school English courses as stagnant and in dire need of renewal. Argues for the canon of literature used in high schools to be opened up to include works by minorities and women writers. (HB)

Gives an overview of how one English teacher taught "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns. Emphasizes the novel's first-person narration and its themes of maturation. (HB)

Several plays are studied to introduce students to theatrical terms and to the elements of a play in this quinmester course for Dade County High Schools. Several approaches to the study of the play are suggested such as individual and a large group production of a play, the use of a unified theme such as Youth vs. Tradition, or the line of…

Claims that high school curricula should provide opportunities for students to vicariously explore the relationships, roles, and ideas that appear in Shakespearean drama. Uses the dilemma dramatized in "Hamlet" as an example. (JD)

Sketches the history of the literature canon and suggests that the past teaches the present. Argues that English teachers must attempt to become much more inclusive in the literature being taught in high schools. (HB)