Considers the current debates regarding the teaching of reading. Outlines the general failure to understand the nature of literacy, the complexity of educational issues, and the lack of public language for discussing such issues. Provides an accessible explanation of current reading methods for parents. (HB)

Provides an edited transcript of an extensive interview with compositionist Gary A. Olson. Covers his background, his views on composition theory and practice, and a variety of other topics. (HB)

Provides an account of how one poet would like to have her poems taught in the English classroom. (HB)

Provides an account of the importance of story poems in the English classroom. Describes how one teacher wove the teaching of poems, stories, and writing into a single coherent unit of study. Argues that bringing these diverse materials together is a useful method of literary study. (HB)

Examines criticism of and resistance to Robert Cormier's young adult novel "The Chocolate War." Argues that the book should be taught as tragedy and that teachers should pay their high school students the compliment of assuming their humanity and thus their need and ability to grapple with true tragedy. (SR)

Describes an assignment for high school or college literature classes in which students focus on a particular character, answer a list of questions about that character, and eventually write an imagined yet realistic dialog with that character. Notes that this helps students grasp a character's complexity and depth. (SR)

Discusses the development of "Teaching English in the Two-Year College," a journal designed to serve the special needs of community college English faculty. Discusses success and subsequent growth of the journal and considers the different subject matters addressed throughout the first five developmental years of the journal. (SC)

Discusses why word families should be taught. Argues that the timing of such instruction is critical and that teachers can use children's invented spelling to determine what they already know and what they are ready to learn. Offers a developmental perspective to guide teachers in the planning and pacing of word-family instruction. (SR)

Discusses the shift from public funding of the university to corporate sponsorship and dependence on other private sources. Acknowledges how students are forced into corporate jobs to repay school debt. Suggests using English to promote a setting which encourages students to value people over profits, enjoy access to quality education, and value…

Offers an "inspirational speech" delivered by Harvard professor Cornel West at the 1994 National Council of Teachers of English convention. Discusses ways in which English teachers can help to keep alive the tradition of struggle for decency, dignity, freedom, and democracy. Shares his belief in the significant role English teachers play in…

Argues that literature provides a vehicle for inquiry-based teaching that can encourage reflective thinking and help students to learn to make informed decisions by carefully thinking through ill-structured, realistic dilemmas that have no right or wrong answer. Describes strategies that promote carefully structured investigation of such dilemmas,…

Examines issues and topics of interest to teachers of English around the world. Discusses what English teachers' associations can do to help each other in the new millennium. Argues that the Web can assist them in thinking through fundamental issues of curriculum, evaluation, and teacher development, and that greater influence in negotiations with…

Muses on the power of words and how they shape people's lives. Relates stories from the author's life illustrating this, and relates the author's (a writer of novels for children and young adults) struggles and rewards as she works with words. (SR)

Defends literary education by describing what is distinctive and central and valuable about the collective enterprise. Offers some negative prescriptions--some important ways not to respond to the challenges facing the profession--and some positive suggestions as well. (SC)

Argues that a curriculum of peace must include ways to define human problems. Describes how the author taught a literature course called "The Healing Word: Literature About Coping with Death and Illness" that used literary selections and a film series to examine physical healing, mental healing, and healing from grief. (SR)