With the mention of "sustainability" and "recycling," most people think about reusing paper, plastic, metal, and glass, but what the authors discovered when they embarked on a word-study unit is that the sustainability movement has also brought about the recycling of words. The authors were team-teaching a language awareness class taken by…

"Trope" comes from a Greek word meaning "turn." In the rhetorical sense, a trope refers to a "turn" in the way that words are being used to communicate something more than--or different from--a literal or straightforward message. Tropes are part of "deep structure" meanings and include such rhetorical devices as allegories, allusions, euphemisms,…

"Working with living authors" means interacting in a professional way with people who are "alive"--not just in the sense that their writing is contemporary and "lively," but in the sense that they are flesh-and-blood people. One can shake their hands and talk to them, and while they have the same needs and emotions as everyone, they also have the…

Drawing attention to widespread instances of discourteous speech and hate discourse that permeate US and world culture, Alleen Pace Nilsen maintains that our imperative as educators is to teach "students the benefits of being civil to each other." She proposes some avenues for enriching students' understanding of the power of civil language.

Four doctoral students and their professor contemplate the value of play in their high school and college classrooms. They discuss their experiences teaching children's books, student illustrations, and excerpts from magazines and newspapers that convey the intricacies of the English language through homonyms, homophones, homographs, and polysemy.…

A lesson focusing on the names of muscles but relating them to more common words is presented, as current research suggests that the best way to teach vocabulary is to group related words. Students create visual representations of word groups and teach the words to the class.

Considers how with no training in how to teach vocabulary skills, many teachers transfer to their classroom the same techniques that they see test makers using. Offers a chart to encourage thinking about the ways that standardized testing techniques differ from good teaching and learning practices. Argues that educators should provide students…

Presents annotations of eight new young adult books (published in 2002) that have each received at least three "best book" citations. Offers a brief synopsis as well as a thoughtful critique of each book. (SG)

Provides the annual "Honor List" of the nine best young adult books published in 2001. Notes that many of this year's books were written from the point of view of outsiders. Provides a short summary of each book. (PM)

Presents 11 titles selected for the 2000 Honor List for young adult literature. Notes that the books were selected by combining their favorites with the best-book list compiled by the editors of such publications as "School Library Journal,""Booklist," and "Horn Book." (SG)

Discusses the logic, elegance, and history of using they, them, and their as singular indefinite pronouns. Notes that, as a solution to the pronoun problem, the strength of this solution is its vagueness. Offers numerous real-life examples from publications or broadcasts and lists why it is counterproductive for English teachers to exclude this…

Focuses on the changing relationships between males and females in the National Council of Teachers of English from its inception to the present. Discusses changing relationships between the sexes in English departments, including graduate students and faculty. Describes differing approaches to the job of teaching, and recommends in general giving…

Presents brief descriptions of the eight books for young adults on the 1999 Honor List annually compiled the authors. Offers descriptions of the eight books. (SR)

Counters six arguments against humor in English classes. Presents arguments in support of studying humor in English classes, noting its usefulness and benefits. (SR)

Presents the annual "Honor List" of books for young adults for 1997. Offers substantial descriptions of eight books with an unlikely assortment of heroes. (SR)