Relates the implementation of a literature program for students in grade six based on reader response theory. (HOD)

Suggests that the best method of understanding a poem is to experiment with reading it aloud rather than simply discussing the poem. (DF)

Describes how reader response theory can be easily adapted to classroom practice, thereby sharpening student interest in reading, increasing their capacity to reason and write, and fostering greater regard for different points of view. (HOD)

Discusses an explicit method for applying deconstruction--a philosophical approach to literary criticism originated by Derrida--in the introductory literature course and shows how to maintain the system's challenging and intellectual rigor, while avoiding much of its potentially offputting terminology and its tendency toward subjective word play.…

Advocates focusing literature instruction on the classroom community rather than the individual because through language, as through mathematics, concepts and worlds are fabricated. (CRH)

Describes an assignment designed to integrate students' opinions about literary works with those of the instructor and other critics. Students regularly write collaborative responses in small groups, before class discussion of the work, then engage in peer evaluation and revision before pesenting it to the class. (HTH)

A course on detective fiction proved to be very popular at the University of Michigan, Flint. Fifty students signed up for the class, which was supposed to be limited to 45. Surprisingly, though, only 10 of these identified themselves as readers of detective fiction; those remaining were mainly curious. The course featured a range of works…

Describes how students in an undergraduate children's literature class constructed and created interpretations of the books they were reading. Notes that the students each designed a three-foot paper strip reflecting his or her personal response to the book. Finds fresh thinking, fewer repeated ideas, and more understanding of symbol, metaphor,…

Argues for the value of reading and interpreting autobiographical writing in a high school literature class. Explains a teaching method whereby students are asked to choose a special passage and respond to it in their journals from a personal viewpoint. Suggests that the sharing of these passages in class builds class chemistry. (TB)

Examines the performance and construction of subjectivities of four early adolescent, sixth-grade girls as they read and discussed a novel about two adolescent Mexican children seeking a new life in America. Suggests they engaged in ongoing construction of their subjectivities as they interacted with the text and each other. Notes the girls…

Outlines a series of summary-writing assignments which focus on differences between expository and literary texts, and provide unusual opportunities for students to develop their response to literature. Maintains that such summaries increase students' facility as perceptive readers and insightful writers. (SR)

Argues the importance of the relationships among silence and literature, the arts, and other experiences that point toward transcendence. Suggests that English teachers can expand the repertoire of classroom activities and teaching techniques that make use of silence. (KEH)

Explores how high school students' reading logs reveal their reading processes as they read and respond to literature. Examines the reading logs from three eleventh-grade English classes throughout the school year. (MM)

Uses Martin Jamison's "Rivers" to illustrate a reader-response approach to poetry. Describes the process of students creating their own "poems," while analyzing the author's poem. Concludes that this approach encourages the necessary personal connection required for poetic involvement. (JAD)

Focuses on the resonance and power of the Madonna, or the Virgin Mary, in literature and culture. Argues that the Madonna represents womanhood and feminism. Describes how the multiple readings of "The Scarlet Letter" charted one professor's changing relationship over 10 years with the Jesuit institution where she taught. (HB)