A child's sense of involvement in story and desire to meaningfully experience literature must be sustained and promoted if the problem of "literacy" is to be resolved. Four activities, designed as a series of stages, can enhance the literary experience of children. The first activity is reading to children--exposing them to the language…

There is an assumption in most freshman composition classes that students have the cognitive level to be sensitive and receptive to problematic situations, to articulate the problems, and to formulate statements to set out lines of inquiry. This assumption is invalid when applied to the majority of students, and writing teachers can attest to…

THROUGH A CLOSE LOOK AT 18 SELECTED LYRIC POEMS, THIS TWO-PART NINTH-GRADE UNIT DISTINGUISHES THE LYRIC FROM OTHER KINDS OF POETRY. PART 1 DEALS WITH THE TECHNICAL DEVICES OF POETIC LANGUAGE, THE POET'S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON HIS EXPERIENCES, AND THE DIFFERENT TONES, ATTITUDES, AND SUBJECTS SEEN IN THE POEMS OF DICKINSON, FROST, KEATS, HOUSMAN,…

DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN THE NARRATIVE AND DRAMATIC MODES CAN BEST BE UNDERSTOOD BY EMPHASIZING WHAT IT MEANS TO THINK AND CREATE DRAMATICALLY. ALTHOUGH BOOKS (WHICH ARE READ) AND PLAYS (WHICH ARE SEEN) TREAT PLOT, CHARACTER, AND SETTING SIMILARLY, CONVENTIONS THAT PARTICULARLY DISTINGUISH THEATRICAL FORM ARE--(1) THE AUTHENTICATING REALITY OF THE…

TRAGIC AND COMIC FORMS OF DRAMA ARE EXPLORED IN THIS TWO-PART 11TH-GRADE LITERATURE UNIT. A SECTION ON TRAGEDY, TREATING THREE PLAYS, EMPHASIZES STRUCTURAL DIVISIONS, CONVENTIONS, AND SUBJECT MATTER PECULIAR TO THIS TYPE OF DRAMA. FOLLOWING A DISCUSSION OF THE CLASSICAL GREEK THEATRE AND THE ARISTOTELIAN VIEW OF TRAGEDY, THE FORM AND THEME OF…

GRADE FOUR OF THE NEBRASKA ENGLISH CURRICULUM EXTENDS AND REINFORCES CONCEPTS INTRODUCED IN PREVIOUS GRADES. AMERICAN FOLK LITERATURE, WITH ITS HEROES EXEMPLIFYING HEROIC QUALITIES OF THE CULTURE, IS STUDIED FOR ITS APPEAL TO STUDENTS AND ITS USE OF DESCRIPTIVE AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. EFFECTIVE USE OF PHONOLOGICAL PATTERNS IS ILLUSTRATED IN…

MATERIALS FOR THE NEBRASKA ELEMENTARY ENGLISH CURRICULUM INCLUDE AN ANCILLARY POETRY MANUAL FOR GRADES ONE THROUGH SIX. ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO INCREASING THE CHILD'S PLEASURE IN POETRY, BROADENING HIS KNOWLEDGE OF POETRY, AND HELPING HIM TO EXPRESS HIMSELF MORE CREATIVELY. CHILDREN ARE ENCOURAGED FIRST TO ENJOY THE READING OF POEMS AND THEN TO…

THE TEACHER PACKET FOR THE SEVENTH-GRADE ENGLISH PROGRAM OF THE NEBRASKA CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT CENTER INCLUDES, AS DO ALL SECONDARY UNITS, TWO SUBJECT-MATTER SECTIONS--LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION, AND LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION. THE LITERATURE PROGRAM CONCENTRATES ON THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH VARIOUS CULTURES CREATE STORIES, THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS…

THE 11TH-GRADE COURSE OF STUDY IN AMERICAN LITERATURE PRESENTED IN THE STUDENT PACKET FOR THE NEBRASKA ENGLISH CURRICULUM BEGINS WITH A UNIT ENTITLED "INDIVIDUALISM AND IDEALISM" IN WHICH STUDENTS ANALYZE SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHIES BY EMERSON, THOREAU, WHITMAN, AND DICKINSON. NEXT, THE THEME OF SIN AND LONELINESS AS IT LIMITS…

CAUGHT IN THE PRESSURE FOR TEACHING MORE EXPOSITORY PROSE, THE HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER IS IN DANGER OF REQUIRING A KIND OF COMMUNICATION FROM STUDENTS THAT DEADENS THEIR CREATIVITY. HOWEVER, WHEN CREATIVE WRITING IS TAUGHT WELL, IT REQUIRES AS MUCH STUDENT EFFORT AND PLANNING AS DOES EXPOSITORY WRITING. THE TEACHER CAN BEST TEACH CREATIVE…

A 3-YEAR PROGRAM, "MODERN SOCIETY--ITS VALUES AND ITS DEMANDS," WAS DEVISED TO MAKE USE OF THE VISUAL AND ORAL ABILITIES OF "RELUCTANT" SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. SEVENTEEN MODERN NOVELS AND PLAYS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THEIR MOTION PICTURE ADAPTATIONS WERE STUDIED AND VIEWED. STUDENTS GRADED THE FILMS ON THE BASES OF…

A COMPANION VOLUME TO THE COLLECTION OF ESSAYS, "ON TEACHING LITERATURE" (TE 000 393), THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY IS DESIGNED PRIMARILY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE TEACHER OF ENGLISH IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL. IN NINE SECTIONS, EACH BY A DIFFERENT AUTHOR, IT DESCRIBES AND SUMMARIZES THE CONTENTS OF WHAT THE WRITERS HAVE JUDGED TO BE THE MOST VALUABLE AND…

The 15 studies in this collection investigate the various images of the Negro in American literature--images which range from streotype to archetype. In the first six studies, critics discuss the literary tradition of the Negro in colonial literature (Milton Cantor), in the Southern novel prior to 1850 (Tremaine McDowell), in literature of the…

This cumulative writing program for grades 7-12 of the Arlington County Public Schools presents a basic philosophy of composition which assumes that the process of writing consists of "probing deeply into a subject, ordering thought, and placing those thoughts on paper in such a way as to assure meaning." Following the discussions of the three…

Allan Sillitoe's "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" and the movie version of that novel capture the imagination of students because of the stature of the hero, Colin Smith. He refuses to "play it cool" or to "cop out"; he loses his race and wins his manhood. To the students, he carries the command to hold on…