Considers the benefits and impact that come from reading texts aloud with other persons. Provides a plan by which partners can read books together aloud. Claims that this is a vital and habit-forming activity. (HB)

Examines the good fortune that marks the career of writing teachers. Shows how creative writing activities stimulate and inspire writing teachers. Includes five poems written by the author. (HB)

Provides an overview of how current theories of postmodernism might inform and influence the practice of English teachers in the classroom. Provides an annotated bibliography of five central theoretical works. (HB)

Suggests that teaching Vietnam literature to adolescents can undermine a teacher's desire to implant in students a resistance to war. Narrates the experiences of one English teacher who was disappointed to find students attracted to war. Discusses a number of works of Vietnam literature. (HB)

Discusses the special needs of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students within the context of writing laboratories. Considers the issues and options involved with training writing tutors to work with ESL students on their writing. (HB)

Argues against the encroachment of information technologies, particularly information machines, upon higher education. Describes the experience at an IBM Corporation presentation on the use of computers in the college classroom. Defines the term "talking head" and shows how this term relates to education. (HB)

Describes a method ("buddy book journals") of encouraging independent reading among students. Outlines the activity, in which students select partners with whom they read and study a particular book. Argues that this method is an excellent means of generating thoughtful response to literature. (HB)

Presents five responses from practicing teachers to the question, "How do you incorporate commercial and/or public television in your English curriculum?" (HB)

Considers the role of the English department malcontent, who constantly seems to spoil any chance of departmental consensus. Discusses the typical life of the English department. Analyzes departmental disputes with the aid of Jacques Lacan's notion of "jouissance." (HB)

Discusses the role of the teacher as authority in the classroom. Questions whether an assertive teacher can be understood as anything less than an abuser of students. Considers the place of the text in four classroom scenarios with regard to these questions of authority. (HB)

Provides an overview of genre theory and offers a brief history of recent debates regarding genre. Argues that a social theory of genre is essential in reconceptualizing the English Language Arts as they are affected by globally active forces, toward a curriculum with innovation and creativity in the center. (SR)

Claims that computer games have little educational value, are antisocial, and classroom time should be spent on more worthwhile pursuits. Argues that computer games are not literary texts in that they cannot inform students of their cultural heritage, provide an opportunity to respond to ethical questions, or deal with significant and lasting…

Focuses on the general anxiety changes in authority, convention, and tradition provoke in college faculty as a result of curriculum reform. Discusses an English department chair's personal experiences that were on her mind as she set about revamping an introductory fiction course. Offers her experiences as a cautionary tale about curriculum…

Argues that the crisis in the English profession is primarily an administrative one. Suggests coalition building with other disciplines is not only necessary but will be possible only if those in the English profession adopt a tolerant attitude; and the postmodernism the English profession has embraced should leave room for the perspectives of…

Reflects on the value of supplementing the reading of print fiction with the viewing of film and video in the English curriculum. Discusses intertextuality, media convergence, and multiliteracies. Notes use of the film "The Matrix" to bridge popular and classroom cultures. Explores the use of popular cultural texts in the contemporary…