Describes the efforts of educators throughout the twentieth century to challenge committees, commissions, and teachers of English to investigate and communicate possible solutions to problems faced by real English teachers in real classrooms. (MM)

Questions the value of classic literature in teaching secondary school students to read for pleasure. Suggests that a better vehicle for the same goal is young adult literature like "The Outsiders." (TB)

Argues that the contemporary language arts curriculum encompasses eight areas: literature, language, composition, speech and drama, critical thinking, technology, media literacy, and interdisciplinary studies. Offers a rationale for "cosmos" as a new metaphor for the language arts. Discusses the content of each of the eight curricular areas, and…

This book offers teachers a convenient means of broadening their understanding of reader response theory and criticism and applying this theory to the teaching of literature in high school and college classrooms. The book is designed to arouse individual teachers' interest in reader response theory and encourage them to apply it to their teaching.…

The current literary tradition observes a canon of hierarchies, a ranking of great writers and genres, that tends to exclude or downgrade women and lower caste males. The response of feminist scholars to this state of affairs falls into two general categories: the first is to find great women authors to fit into the canon on its own terms; the…

Intended for use by junior or senior high school English teachers, the articles and features in this theme issue focus on romantic fiction and poetry for young adults. The articles and their authors are as follows (1) "The Gift of Poetry" (L. B. Hopkins); (2) "Maybe the Gallows, But Not a Tin Ear" (A. K. Helbig); (3) "A…

Because half of all students are female, and because role models are important in forming ideas and images, more attention should be devoted to finding books with heroic, tragic, or significant female characters. Good literature by women can be found in an increasing number of anthologies of women's literature that are now being produced. When…

One of six books in each basic subject area, this book is intended to spark more detailed discussion and ongoing dialogue among fellow teachers who have front-line responsibility for ensuring that all students are prepared adequately for college. It is also intended for guidance counselors, principals, superintendents, and other officials who must…

Throughout its history, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has addressed the question: How can literature be fully revealed to students at all educational levels? In answering this question, NCTE has (1) clarified the rationale and objectives for teaching literature, with a view to reconciling concepts of literature as both an…

The developmental approach to high school literature study in this guide involves an instructional model emphasizing fluency (a period of responsiveness and support by the teacher), control (that part of instruction traditionally recognized as a high school literature), and precision (that phase of instruction in which rigor and intensity in…

Designed to demonstrate a variety of ways in which listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities can be built around the study of essays, this collection of materials, lessons, and activities deals with some of the most frequently taught expository essays in New York City ninth-grade classrooms. The document begins with a general…

Designed to demonstrate a variety of ways in which listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities can be built around the study of short stories, the works dealt with in this collection of materials, lessons, and activities include some of the most frequently taught short stories in New York City ninth-grade classrooms. The document begins…

This guide provides educators with descriptions of specific techniques for teaching skills in reading, writing, listening, and literature; suggestions for planning a year's work; and models for changing a curriculum in the language arts. Specific topics discussed in the eight sections of the guide are: (1) the process of changing the curriculum;…

In the absence of guidelines for "a purely literary study" of the Bible at the secondary school level, this discussion is offered as one English teacher's approach to teaching the Old Testament. Among the unit's major purposes are to increase students' appreciation of the literary and ethical values of the Bible and to acquaint them with material…

The cries of the 1960s for relevance and innovation in the teaching of English have given way to the demands of the 1970s to get back to the basics. Teachers may wonder whether there really was a revolution in teaching in the 1960s or whether traditional English teaching actually prevailed. Whatever the case, it is time for the competing factions…