Although "Othello" has been one of William Shakespeare's most popular plays, its performance history has been marked with risk and tension because of the play's focus on racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality. The controversies surrounding conflicting attitudes toward race and religion, love and marriage, and war and the…

This book challenges the current penchant in United States education for "dumbing down" and anthologizing literature for secondary learners. The book provides a rationale for teaching the classics to all high school students. It offers a wealth of ways for English teachers to do what they yearn to do in their own classrooms: teach "the good…

This study guide covers the new television version of one of Mark Twain's most popular stories, "The Prince and the Pauper," the classic tale of two boys whose curiosity about each other's lives leads them to switch places and, in the process, learn valuable lessons about outward appearances and true compassion. The guide summarizes the…

"The Merchant of Venice," even in its own time, was considered William Shakespeare's most controversial play. Now, one of the most popular read and performed works, the play raises even more important issues for today, particularly anti-Semitism and the treatment of Jews. The analysis of the play in this casebook helps students interpret…

American schools have debated the merits of a national canon since the inception of English as a subject a century ago. In earlier years, the mission of the language arts was much more elitist and hierarchical. English was a subject that taught the great works, so that aspiring students could be familiar with the standard pantheon of authors and…

This casebook of materials about William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" will enrich students' understanding of the historical context of the play and encourage interpretations of its cultural meaning. Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" reflects perennial cultural concerns about order and freedom, particularly as they clash in the…

Describes an individualized instructional unit on Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" that focused on students' responses to the novel's plot, character, theme, and structure. Reports that students wrote good quality essays, performed well on a test of the novel, and engaged in serious discussion of the novel during student…

Intended for teachers of grades 4-8, this book presents a flexible format for reading, designed to be used with students who have different backgrounds and experiences with reading literature. The book's first 3 sections, "Character,""Setting," and "Plot," proceed step-by-step through the recognition of these basic…

This teacher's guide for public television's 6-part adaptation of George Eliot's "Middlemarch" provides information that will enrich students' viewing of the series. The guide includes a wide range of activities to help students further explore the novel's universal themes. The guide suggests that students read the informational…

Many high school students are on a quest to find out who they really are. Using the theme of "Searching for Identity" in both "A Fine White Dust" and "Great Expectations" will help students identify their feelings. Cynthia Rylant's "A Fine White Dust" has easier language than "Great Expectations,"…

This teacher's guide for public television's 3-part adaptation of Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist" provides information that will help enrich students' viewing of the series, whether or not they read the novel. The guide includes a wide range of discussion and activity ideas; there is also a series Web site and a list of Web resources.…

A two-year ethnographic study of dialogic literary circles in Spain explored the learning experience of adults who participated in them. In a dialogic society, educational projects providing real opportunities for transformation and overcoming inequalities usually had a dialogic orientation and promoted instrumental learning as well as critical…

All people have to deal with feelings of loneliness, isolation, fear, and lack of acceptance, especially in the teenage years. Both of the novels "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes" and "Frankenstein" deal with these issues. By 10th grade, students are really searching for who they are and what they want out of life. It is…

Lois Lowry's award-winning novel, "The Giver," chronicles the strength of Jonas, an adolescent boy of 12 who lives in a utopian society. In the Community everyone is equal, and there is only a gray routine of existence. But Jonas is singled out by "The Giver," a wise old man who teaches Jonas the range of human emotions, and…

Both the adolescent novel "The Giver" (Lois Lowry) and the classic work "Animal Farm" (George Orwell) deal with the idea of a controlling society. "The Giver" gives the reader an understanding of what it is like to live in a society where every move and every decision is basically made for you, but the people living…