A rationale for using film in the language arts classroom and suggestions on how to use it. (DD)

Offers arguments for and against the teaching of grammar in the English classroom. (RL)

Focuses on questions of language use in the classroom and how a teacher's attitudes about language will affect students' learning. (RL)

Offers a writing exercise, based on a comic-strip theme, that teachers can use to relieve tensions between them and their students while developing students' expressive writing skills. (RL)

Emphasizes the seriousness of language play, especially when it is used in classrooms that contain students with learning disabilities. (RL)

Lists 25 things that teachers should consider when evaluating the linguistic components of the texts they select and use for English grammar and writing instruction. (RL)

Traces the history of the controversy about teaching Black children standard English. Argues that all students need to learn standard English, regardless of home environment, parental education, or racial background. (RL)

Proposes making minimal translations of Shakespeare's works to restore his literature to modern readers' attention. Considers four types of passages requiring such translations: complicated exposition, thick stylization, the high dramatic moment, and the passing trifle. Presents guidelines for further translations. (RL)

Reports on a productive approach to secondary-school spelling instruction--one that emphasizes how and when to use the dictionary. Describes two of the many class activities that cultivate student use of the dictionary. (RL)

An English teacher reflects on what is truly necessary in the writing curriculum--an emphasis on the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of the writer, rather than more "correctness" of grammar. (RL)

Offers a defense of teaching science fiction as an elective in the high-school English curriculum. (RL)

Notes the difficulties of getting students to respond to literature. Outlines an idealized conversation about a literary work, with some excerpts of the kinds of student-teacher exchanges that can occur. Offers a guide sheet for conducting such literary conversations. (RL)

Uses personal experiences from "grammar" school to argue that the exercises used to develop practical skills, such as a knowledge of grammar, should be practical as well. Suggests that teachers need to convince students that what is being taught will be useful and important in later life. (RL)

Uses trademarks that are calculated misspellings, bumper sticker slogans, the strained and pretentious language of Howard Cosell, and governmental jargon to illustrate how to attune students to the magic and power of language, while poking fun at language abuse. (RL)

Explains why writing is a mysterious, complex process dependent on a lifetime of experiencing, feeling, and thinking, and why English teachers should be emphasizing writing to an audience more than the learning of mechanical rules. (RL)