This book challenges current paradigms of literature instruction by making a strong case for teaching critical theory in high school literature classrooms. The book urges teachers to expand their theoretical repertoires. It argues for the importance of multiple perspectives in enabling students to better read and interpret literature, as well as culture and the media. The lessons and strategies presented in the book provide a rich resource for teaching a variety of critical approaches, including reader response, feminism, Marxism, deconstruction, and poststructuralism; the teaching strategies themselves can be adapted to a variety of classroom settings and are useful in enhancing both traditional and new methods with an end goal of empowered students. Chapters in the book are: (1) The Case for Critical Theory in the Classroom; (2) Through the Looking Glass: Introducing Multiple Perspectives; (3) The Lens of Reader Response: The Promise and Peril of Response-Based Pedagogy; (4) Of Grave Diggers and Kings: Reading Literature through the Marxist Lens, or, What's Class Got To Do with It?; (5) A Lens of One's Own: Of Yellow Wallpaper and Beautiful Little Fools; (6) Deconstruction: Postmodern Theory and the Postmodern High School Student; (7) From Study Guides to Poststructuralism: Teacher Transformations; and (8) Critical Encounters: Reading the World. (Includes ready-to-use teacher handouts. Classroom activities are appended. Contains 75 references, and a 43-item list of selected literary texts.) (NKA)