The diverse cultures of students need to be honored with due respect. Teachers of rural students and students who are not in culturally diverse areas should learn about all types of people in order to participate in a democratic society.

Presents a script for a play that focuses on the death of a teacher co-worker of the actors (teachers) in the play. Discusses how the "traditional" grammar teaching methods of the deceased teacher were not always respected by his fellow educators, yet he did have a place in the school and education of the students. (SG)

Presents a fictionalized dialogue loosely based on a meeting attended after writing tests had been piloted. Notes that some details have been added and enhanced to demonstrate the impact that state writing assessments with high stakes can have on classroom content. (SG)

Presents a piece of short fiction which tells the story of a skeleton in a high school biology room and a look at the lives of the students and the teacher who observed her. (SR)

Presents an essay describing the rude misbehavior of two sets of high school students in two distinct cultures: white prep school boys whose transgressions are written off as harmless, and urban African-American and Asian-American students whose off-putting behavior gets no such exemption. Suggests that this misbehavior and the reaction to it turn…

Presents an award-winning short story about a middle school student's wistful reflections on his civics teacher and the other students in his class, many of whom were pregnant, poor, or disadvantaged in some way. (TB)

Presents an award-winning essay about a teacher's relationship with a troubled student placed in his alternative classroom. Shows how the two worked together on science, math, and "Romeo and Juliet." (TB)

Spoofs grammar instruction using characters from William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying." (RS)

Presents a short story about two young girls' experience at a Catholic summer camp. (TB)

Presents a short story about a young girl living with her mother and her new step father, a rude, domineering construction worker whom she does not care for. (TB)

Presents a short story about an adolescent boy whose troubled family life has led to a poor attitude in school and repeated discipline problems. Shows how the boy finds solace through his drawings, particularly those of his sister who ran away. (TB)

Presents a creative writing teacher's reminiscence on one of the last days of school as students gather in a stadium to socialize and write a few words in their yearbooks which they have just received. Discusses particular students, their pain, their fearlessness, and the hazards and disappointments that are an inevitable part of life. (TB)

Presents a fictional interview with an ineffective English teacher. (DD)

An imaginative, humorous alternative to the present state of affairs in secondary education, calling for students and their mothers to exchange their daily drudgery. (JT)

Emphasizes attention to the sound of a poem in both teaching and writing poetry. Provides selected poems written by students and teachers. (JT)