Presents high school teachers' suggestions for magazines to use in the English classroom. Notes that "Meryln's Pen" and "The New Yorker" were the magazines most frequently mentioned. (MM)

Summarizes sources on popular culture which can be used in designing a composition course centered around a mass culture theme. (MM)

Notes an absence of pleasure about and use of the English language, explained by: (1) the thriving industry of "put down" that makes people feel insecure about language; and (2) failure to appreciate simple, direct, pleasantly cadenced English. Encourages listening to the language to reawaken pleasure in it. (SR)

Reports on a study unit designed by a group of high school English teachers in the rural deep South, using Broadcast English to prepare students for job interviews. Emphasizes Broadcast English as a register to be used in certain speech situations (rather than an attempt to "fix" students' language). (SR)

Argues that the standard of correct pronunciation is what educated native speakers actually say, not what they think they say and not what dictionaries prescribe that they are supposed to say; therefore educated Southern pronunciation is correct and should be labeled so. (SR)

Maintains that the literature curriculum should reflect our pluralist society, not a canonical tradition. Suggests pairing canonical works with works instantiating pluralism. Describes a unit on the novel for a ninth grade honors class and the use of an "adolescent problem novel" in a sophomore intermediate class. (SR)

Notes the severe gender imbalance in reading lists provided by the Educational Testing Service and even by the author. Claims these present a distorted view of literary heritage, reinforce stereotypical values, and do psychological damage to female students (especially those who are gifted). (SR)

Discusses how "close" reading led to "closed" reading (a work's one true meaning is available only to a select few). Advocates "open" reading, returning authority over the text to students. Espouses the detective story as an open text which has been "closed" by the author but which resists closure. (SR)

Responds to E. D. Hirsch's lists of essential background knowledge, asserting that readers must also understand key concepts, be familiar with genre, and employ interpretive strategies to understand literary texts. Asserts that careful grouping and sequencing of texts can provide this knowledge for students. (SR)

Explains how one teacher abandoned her focus on the content of literature, and shifted to teaching her students how to read literature. Lists many of the reading techniques students learned during the year. (SR)

Asserts that the "Advice to Writers" project, encouraging students to articulate what they do when they write and to share those perceptions with fellow student writers, is an effective way for students to reflect on the writing process. (MM)

Argues that formulaic writing, as in the five-paragraph essay, blocks diversity of expression. Asserts that each composition should be unique to the writer and subject, and that the writing process must be allowed to move through "untidy" stages that characterize the creative process. (MM)

Describes a synonym exercise--composing an essay without using the verbs "be,""have,""go," or "get"--which increases students' awareness of at least six different language features. (MM)

Describes how writing character descriptions of "The Cosby Show" is effective for discussing universal family problems and teaching positive values and standards. (MM)

Describes a method of writing about literature in which "major detail sentences" (sentences which make generalizations about the point of the paragraph) help students combine their observations and the facts of the story into an analytical form. (MM)