Discusses some Japanese cultural concepts and student behavior that grows out of them. Suggests a number of classroom techniques that recognize and accommodate these cultural concepts while helping Japanese learners adjust to American classrooms. (SR)

Describes a project in a southeast Michigan high school in which Latino English-as-a-Second-Language students worked collaboratively for 10 weeks with at-risk working-class Anglo counterparts from an 11th-grade American literature class. Describes reading and writing activities that centered around the notion that students should search for and…

Describes how an English teacher uses ghost stories in his classroom to further students' interest in and understanding of epics. Presents a short unit in which all the class work focuses on scary kinds of things. (SR)

Describes a project in a third-year Latin class in a high school in the Appalachian foothills in which students (1) identified and analyzed classical rhetorical devices in speeches by Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr.; (2) used rhetorical frames; and (3) wrote their own speeches as part of a year-long writing exchange with senior-level…

Considers what influences the idealistic preconceptions (or fantasies) of student English teachers. Examines various models, found in journal articles, movies, Socrates and Plato, and in this very journal. Examines two books that helped the author reformulate his ideals and find new, more satisfying models. (SR)

Notes that the author likes to involve her students in the evolving literary canon. Uses "The Shipping News" (E. Annie Proulx, 1993) as a model to illustrate why and how a new book enters the classroom. Describes introducing it, analyzing sentence structure in voice, character analysis, metaphor, writing assignments, and other teachers'…

Discusses the value of contemporary literature and of teaching it, and notes related censorship issues. Describes how the work of contemporary authors Michael Dorris and Tim O'Brien teaches students about values, helping them reflect upon ancient questions regarding truth and reality. (SR)

Discusses a high school unit involving the cartoon characters "Beavis" and "Butt-head." Examines how social values and social conflicts affect and mirror language use. Describes Beavis and Butt-head projects, and objections to the unit. Argues that schools must embrace nonprint texts to help students become skilled, literate, and critical viewers.…

Argues that numerous works written by Asian-American authors merit consideration on reading lists. Discusses several of these books, noting how they can be used in class in units on Identity, History, and Stereotypes. Argues that English classrooms have ignored the existence and the contributions of Asian-Americans to the United States for far too…

Describes the powerful connections an English teacher and his students made with Sandra Cisneros'"The House on Mango Street." Discusses how the book invites the reader to experience racism, shares the mainstream of the American experience, and deals with growing up. Notes that the book had a powerful impact on students' writing and their desire to…

Explores a powerful, complex novel full of extraordinary prose and very appealing to students: "MotherTongue" by Demetria Martinez. Describes several intriguing avenues the work offers for teaching both stylistically and thematically: politics, use of multiple genres, point of view, and prose. (SR)

Asserts that Alice Walker is one contemporary writer whose voice deserves to be heard in secondary English language arts classrooms. Suggests a number of class activities (dealing with imagery, organization, literary techniques, and writing and identity) for Walker's essay "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens." (SR)

Profiles writer David Haynes, and discusses his four novels (an award-winning young adult book and three novels for the adult market). Concludes that Haynes' success as a novelist is due to his characters, a healthy dose of humor, and his realistic depiction of a wide range of African American characters without resorting to sensationalism or…

Discusses a five-day Holocaust lesson based around Robert O. Fisch's memoir "Light from the Yellow Star: A Lesson of Love from the Holocaust." Describes class activities as students responded to Fisch's artwork, to his narrative text, living history, living prejudice, and genocide. Concludes that the memoir is an invaluable testimony and…

Discusses Gerda Weissmann Klein's book, "All But My Life," which chronicles the author's journey from a normal young (Jewish) woman to a slave in Nazi labor camps for six years. Argues that the book is well written, has characters of depth and complexity, affirms life through the ordeal of the Holocaust, and is a popular book with students. (SR)