This study investigated the approximations of disciplinary literacy in high school English Language Arts students' writing. To study the development of these disciplinary conventions, the portfolios of written literary analyses were examined from fourteen twelfth-grade students over their last two years in high school. The conceptual framework for…

Noting National Assessment of Educational Progress findings that indicate students have difficulty analyzing literature, this paper presents a model for teaching students the process of reading and responding to literature in an orderly manner. Following an introduction to the problem of literature analysis in the schools, the model is discussed…

Subjectivist literary criticism, which emphasizes readers' emotional responses to texts and adopts psychoanalytic classroom techniques, renders questionable such aspects of literature teaching as goals, evaluation, and teacher preparation. Literature teachers must abandon the scientific orientation of objectivism and subjectivism in favor if an…

Suggesting that many works by and about women are available, accessible, and necessary to balance the high school English curriculum, this book offers diverse selections from women writers and introduces practical ideas on how to integrate them into the curriculum. Multicultural and feminist, the book is intended for teachers already engaged in…

To determine whether a test to evaluate high school students' ability to understand and appreciate poetry could be constructed, two equivalent forms of a poetry test for grades 11 and 12 were developed using the recommendations of leading textbook authors, selected course content, anthologies, and literature and poetry tests. Aspects of poetry…

In this language arts unit, high-ability students in grades 4 through 6 study the concept of change by reading autobiographies of writers from various cultures and by looking at change in selected lives. Selected stories from "Junior Great Books" were chosen for their probing of issues of identity. Other literature selections are drawn…

Developed by classroom teachers during the development phase of Minnesota's Graduation Standards, this performance package is made up of locally designed assignments that, taken together, show whether a student has learned and can apply the knowledge and skills related to answering questions using information gathered through direct observations,…

This language arts unit of study for high ability learners in grades 5-6 highlights persuasion in oral and written form, focusing especially on oral communication. Emphasis is placed on providing evidence for opinions. Students must cite passages from literature to defend their points of view in discussion as well as in written arguments.…

This unit of study for junior-high level high-ability language arts students explores five themes in 19th century American history through literature of the times: romanticism, transcendentalism, abolitionism, industrialism, and feminism. Each of the five "isms" has its own "literature box" that contains appropriate documents…

This review of research summarizes major studies in the teaching of literature in the following areas: the history of literary instruction and attitudes toward teaching literature in the United States, the objectives of English literature instruction, curriculum experimentation and innovation, instructional procedures, juvenile and adolescent…

An approach to developing college students' critical thinking skills, designed for freshman composition students but adaptable for other disciplines, is outlined. Components include: establishing bounds of analysis; using bibliography to foster scholarship; capitalizing on emotional response; learning the genre to be analyzed by writing in it;…

This language arts unit of study for high-ability junior-high students looks at the historical events and social issues of the 1940s through the literature of the decade, including novels, short stories, poetry, essays, letters, and newspapers. Numerous opportunities for reading, writing, listening, and speaking are incorporated into the unit.…

Designed to assist teachers in small schools with the improvement of curriculum and instruction and to help smaller districts without curriculum personnel to comply with Washington's Student Learning Objectives Law, this guide contains the literature component of the language arts curriculum materials for grades 9-12. Learning objectives are…

This unit of study involves high ability intermediate-grade students interacting with literature while enhancing reading comprehension and textual analysis skills. Students read literature and engage in shared inquiry to develop an awareness about the nature and importance of change, particularly as it affects people in various circumstances,…