A national survey of senior secondary English curriculum content has confirmed that contemporary literature predominates among set texts, being seen as an "essential" category for study because of its "relevance" in helping students "understand the world in which they live." Perhaps uncontentious -- depending on the…

Describes how the writing lives of professional authors can provide excellent models of writing for both teachers and students. Shows how different writers use very different processes in producing their texts. Considers how writers choose topics for writing and how they utilize childhood and teenage memories. (HB)

Gives a report on the activities of the ALAN workshop at the 1991 convention of the National Council of Teachers of English. Briefly discusses the activities of 14 young adult authors at the conference who shared the backgrounds for their novels. (HB)

Presents the responses of numerous professional writers to the question, "What did you do on your summer vacation?" (HB)

Considers what makes up the sensibilities and personal traits of a writer. Describes how one writer learned to express herself through a particular writing workshop. Outlines the reasons writers write and lists some tricks of the trade. (HB)

Describes the sensibilities and temperament that make a successful, daily writer. Questions why writers write. Attempts to define what it is that makes a writer write. (HB)

Discusses the author's approach to writing nonfiction for adolescents and her experiences with reactions of young readers. Explains the value of real stories being told and read by adolescents. Supports the incorporation of nonfiction into the classroom. (SC)

Lists 128 authors whose work is included in the reading program approved for use in journalism classes in California, including Woody Allen, Pearl S. Buck, Jesse L. Jackson, and George Orwell. (DF)

Provides a transcript of an interview with young adult novelist Ruth White. Discusses White's methods of writing and publishing, her individual works of fiction, and the influences on her writing career. (HB)

Noting that "The ALAN Review" has published probing articles by and about leading authors of young adult (YA) literature and about the themes, topics, and issues at stake in YA literature, this book presents some of the best and most provocative of the essays published in "The ALAN Review" since its founding in 1974. It offers 41 essays: 25 essays…

Identifies 10 writers, editors, teachers, and presidents of the National Council of Teachers of English who were cited by a poll of educators as having a major influence on secondary school English instruction. (MM)

This independent study module treats those Americans who have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. They include Sinclair Lewis, Eugene O'Neill, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Pearl Buck. Selections from the writings of these authors are included. Their works represent many literary genres and also…

Conflict is the basis of all stories and thus should appear in some form in the first sentence. There are three kinds of conflict: people vs. people; people vs. nature; and people vs. themselves. Conflict must be repeated in all the various elements of the story's structure, including the plot, which is the plan of action telling what happens to…

Noting that women authors are still underrepresented and females are often stereotyped, these guidelines, prepared by the National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Women in the Profession, urge all English Departments to integrate literature by and about women into the curriculum. The guidelines discuss why balancing the curriculum…