Because students often come to a literary text without the prerequisite knowledge to understand or explicate it fully, they can be thought of as outsiders, needing the help of insiders, or experts in literature, to "learn the text's secrets." Moreover, students often do not fully comprehend how much of literature rests on symbolism that demands…

Focusing on the need to offer and encourage the experience of reading literature in elementary schools, the essays in this book (1) explicate the range of theory known as reader-response criticism; (2) argue its distinctive relevance to the needs of young, developing readers; and (3) indicate how classroom practices might be changed to accommodate…

The purpose of this book is to provide teachers of literature with a sampling of a wide range of theoretical backgrounds and possible pedagogical applications for reading, writing, and interpreting literature in school classrooms, elementary through college. The book contains the following essays listed with their authors: (1) "Henny Penny to…

Argues that the cultivation of the imagination in schools and colleges is largely ignored because of utilitarian biases in the education system, where achievement is determined by quantitative measures of cognitive skills. Discusses Williams' view that acts of the imagination transform reality and applies view to English education. (JG)

This paper describes an elective course at Taiwan's Wen Tzao Ursuline College of Modern Languages, "Concise English Poetry Appreciation and Recitation." The course is based on the reader response approach and targets third year students, leading them into the world of poetry through various stages (traditional nursery rhymes and simple,…

Many students think of poetry as a meaning to be figured out, a puzzle to be solved--as if poets were forever doomed to write only what they never quite mean and to mean what they never actually write. The struggle to discover meaning becomes acute with that distinctly modern poetry created by T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, and their…

Intended to encourage teachers and students to take a fresh look at children's literature, this practical collection of ideas offers plot summaries and suggests teaching strategies for 57 notable children's books. Books in the collection were chosen "outstanding trade books" by a National Council of Teachers of English committee on trade…

Although modern readers often find the interpretation of medieval literature difficult, they should be encouraged to use their imagination to resolve the dilemmas they encounter. Often, these are the same issues with which medieval audiences had to wrestle and which the poets intended to raise. W. Iser's and H. R. Jauss's principles of…

Presents lists of exercises to be done in conjunction with students' independent reading that emphasize the affective domain. Includes activities that were developed for high school literature and college poetry classes. (MM)

Sharing concerns and interests of New York State educators in the improvement of literacy, this annual journal raises educational issues such as appropriate, effective instruction and assessment for all of New York's children. A central thread found in many of the articles is the importance of authenticity and inclusion. A second strand reflects…

Yale's Cooke Teaching Program is designed to diminish the sense of imperviousness and immobility that the university often conveys to its surrounding community. During the academic year, one Yale graduate student attended a high school senior honors English class twice weekly. It was an advanced class (mostly minorities), many were college-bound,…

Drawn fron a conference attended by more than 150 educators from England, the United States, Canada, South Africa, India, China, New Zealand, and Australia, the papers in this compilation deal with a variety of aspects of literature instruction. Papers in the first section of the compilation provide reports on seminars held during the week-long…

A study examined the poetic conventions of rhyme, meter, and diction to determine whether central tendencies and differences in evaluative response at various stages of late childhood and adolescence were discernible. Data were gathered from students of four grade levels (5, 7, 9, 11) enrolled in New York City public schools (359 students in all).…

In an effort to understand the effect of a nurturing, supportive environment on children's understanding of poetry, a study was conducted involving the observation of 42 rural fifth and sixth grade students and their two teachers over a school year. During the course of the year the children were invited to respond to published, professional…

The articles in this journal issue (1) discuss involving students in various language arts activities that have peace as a theme, and (2) deal with literature for students from kindergarten through grade 12. Topics in the first part are as follows: peace education in the English classroom, the peaceful hero, understanding the language of peace,…