Suggests that improvising scenes and developing fictional personas can help students to engage as active learners in their study of literary works. Presents examples of how such activities can be carried out in the classroom. Argues for the use of improvisation in the English classroom. (HB)

Describes one teacher's methods for introducing to secondary English students the concepts of improvisation, experimentation, and innovation. Discusses numerous techniques for fostering such skills when working with William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." (HB)

Describes how English teachers can utilize the concepts and techniques of "interpreters theatre," or theater of the mind, to help students become more engaged in literary texts. Explains basic procedures of this technique and gives sample scripts from actual classroom usage. (HB)

Presents one teacher's experience of organizing and producing a high school theatrical group specializing in performances for younger children. Describes recruitment of students, writing the script, rehearsals, performances, and student feedback. Argues that such an undertaking is English education at its best.(HB)

Presents an annotated list of 19 works of young-adult literature that represent characters undergoing stressful experiences, anxiety, or depression. (HB)

Gives responses of eight practicing teachers to the question, "What work of twentieth-century prose (nonfiction) do you recommend to your students?" Provides citations, summaries, and overviews of the works. (HB)

Reviews and critiques a recent pedagogical book entitled "Exploring Texts: The Role of Discussion and Writing in the Teaching and Learning of Literature." Considers how this book might prove useful for secondary English teachers. Provides citation and detailed analysis of the book. (HB)

Provides an account of how one teacher taught poetry by first focusing on what students knew about a poem and then moving to what they were surprised by and, thus, to what they did not know. Outlines how such a method was carried out in the classroom with Marge Piercy's poem, "Councils." (HB)

Presents a fictional tale of one adolescent boy's experiences with the Christmas holiday. Tells how the boy's attitude was changed by various experiences surrounding the holiday. (HB)

Presents a fictional tale of how one elderly and prudish English teacher was disconcerted by adolescent sexuality, to the extent that she could not cope and was forced into early retirement. (HB)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher by narrating the fictional experiences of one teacher's childhood and explaining how these experiences shaped the teacher's professional outlook. Concentrates on the visit of one of the teacher's uncles to America. (HB)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher by narrating the experiences of one teacher's childhood and explaining how these experiences shaped the teacher's professional outlook. Concentrates on one of the teacher's memories of her childhood vacation cottage and her father. (HB)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher by narrating the experiences of one teacher's childhood and explaining how these experiences shaped the teacher's professional outlook. Concentrates on one of the teacher's memories of his childhood experiences with his grandmother. (HB)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher by narrating the experiences of one teacher's childhood and explaining how these experiences shaped the teacher's professional outlook. Concentrates on one of the teacher's memories of her visits to her father in an extended care facility. (HB)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher by narrating the experiences of one teacher's childhood and explaining how these experiences shaped the teacher's professional outlook. Concentrates on one of the teacher's memories of how reading Nancy Drew stories brought her back to her childhood. (HB)