Describes the discomfort experienced by students and teacher as they explored how blackness is portrayed and understood in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Grapples with fundamental pedagogical questions: how to talk about race with a diverse group of students and how to examine victimization and oppression. Suggests tandem teaching with M.…

Offers quotes from articles about English teaching in the United States published in professional journals from 1847 to 1955. Suggests there never was a "golden age" of English teaching. Shows discussion and controversy about teaching writing, about what literature should be allowed in the schools, whether teaching grammar is worthwhile, and…

Describes a unit wherein students reading "The Odyssey" produced visual representations of important story elements, considered differences in Homer's use of language and their own, enacted scenes from "The Odyssey," and wrote goal-setting and interpretive essays. (NH)

Focusing on seven classics of literature that are most challenging for teachers and students, but which are also a part of the high school literary canon, this book shares ways to create a learner-centered classroom for the study of literature. For each of the seven classics, the book "walks teachers through" the teaching-learning…

Popular literature consists of novels, stories, and essays--and by extension, plays, movies, and teledramas--that attract a significant audience. Having students study popular fiction in English classes can help to "hook" the non-reader because popular fiction is more accessible and simpler in structure and language than the literary classics.…

Reports findings of a survey in which approximately 800 fifth and sixth grade students chose their favorite children's "classics." (FL)

Recommends several strategies to make reading novels in class more enjoyable and rewarding for students, so that they would not depend so much on "Cliff's Notes." (NKA)

Describes how an English teacher in a Queens, New York, ghetto school introduced her grade nine students to Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations." Focuses on students' responses, which eventually became enthusiastic, and discusses the use of classics within the curriculum. (KH)

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…

This curriculum unit examines William Shakespeare's tragic play, "Romeo and Juliet." The unit calls the play "one of the greatest and saddest love stories of all time," and notes that artists across centuries and oceans have retold the tale of "Romeo and Juliet" in various forms and incarnations. It first presents…

Questions the use of classic literature in the lower secondary school grades and reports on a survey of reading experience and habits, both in and outside of school, among 380 students in grades 6-12. Suggests that young adult literature can do what schools have not--turn adolescents into avid readers. (TB)

A discussion of the liberal arts'"great books," specifically in political philosophy, reflects on the value of the core curriculum, the value of expanding the traditional canon, the use of reading to learn, results of true learning, and the danger of shunning works traditionally seen as important. (MSE)

Describes a classroom activity where students compare an episode of "The Simpsons" to speeches and essays of Mark Twain. Suggests it invites students to consider the categorization of texts into "high" and "low" culture, and helps students build media literacy skills by applying tools of textual analysis first to a…

Describes a solicitous yet forthright approach to a potentially controversial American literature unit on the tremendous impact of the Enlightenment on American society and its political system. Outlines the peculiar blending of Puritan morality and Enlightenment ideals that shaped American character. Discusses the vital role of rejecting…

This article reports on a term's work with students in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in which the adult classic text Silas Marner was studied in both written and film form (Eliot, 1994; BBCFo, 1985). Through an extended consideration of the structures employed by different forms of narrative, students were invited to consider the knowledge and…