Describes one teacher's approach to teaching students how to write research papers by involving them in providing practical proposals to significant problems faced by their schools. Gives a step-by-step outline for producing the final research essay. (HB)

Considers the inherent value of teaching literary works in the high school English classroom. Argues that teaching literature remains a powerful mode of moral and cultural instruction. Claims that literature stimulates the imagination and performs an empathetic function. (HB)

Examines responses of graduate students preparing to teach English to an invitation to relate something that was remarkable about their new classroom experiences. Considers the power of narrative for expressing emotions and intellectual growth. (HB)

Provides a report of research conducted as the authors read and analyzed preservice English teachers' writing. Studies the personal teaching metaphors composed by students upon the request of the instructors. Finds that the creation of personal teaching metaphors can illuminate preservice teachers' beliefs. (HB)

Discusses the ways that one English teacher researched her student's language patterns and used that information to adjust her teaching. Considers the difficulty of changing ingrained habits of nongrammatical usage in student speech and writing. (HB)

Advocates the analysis of student writing and improvisations as texts offering images, stories, and information about their different backgrounds, languages, histories, and cultures. Outlines how teachers can develop strategies for generating such student writing, especially through the use of improvisation. (HB)

Describes the available video resources that might be used for preservice and inservice education on literacy issues. Presents an annotated bibliography of 14 videos or video series, all of which are designed for educators and center on teaching literacy. (HB)

Describes the Nebraska Literacy Project, a 5-week workshop for K-12 teachers modeled after the Nebraska Writing Project. Shows how teachers can encourage students to look closely at their own literacy histories and their daily practices as readers and writers. Presents the literacy histories as recorded by some participants. (HB)

Describes the way one teacher created in her English classroom an environment similar to a coffeehouse. Claims that using the coffeehouse model, a class meeting devoted to students reading aloud their own creative writing provided inspiration for the students to write. (HB)

Reviews the scholarship on the connections between meditation and writing. Analyzes objections to the use of meditation in the writing classroom. Relates experiences using meditation techniques with various writing students. Suggests that writing teachers use meditation techniques with apprehensive or blocked writers. (HB)

Presents a transcript of the electronic discourse in response to Lester Faigley's recent book, "Fragments of Rationality," produced by a networked graduate seminar in composition studies. Discusses the impact of postmodernism on the composition classroom and the potential usefulness of similar networked attempts to write collaboratively.…

Describes recent critical and theoretical works dealing with the topic of narrative and storytelling. Provides citations and brief annotations of 13 works. (HB)

Advocates providing students more control in the writing assessment process of English classrooms. Describes how two teachers developed methods allowing students participation, individually and in peer groups, in writing assessment. Compares student criteria with Pennsylvania Department of Education criteria. (HB)

Studies the currently influential theories about the nature and development of the child. Questions whether these theories usefully inform educational work with specific children in particular locations. Considers how these theories affect writing instruction for children and criticizes their effects on real children. (HB)

Describes the way one English teacher designed a course by asking students to compare articles on the same topic from different newspapers. Claims that teaching such forms of textual analysis is highly motivating and pedagogically useful. (HB)