Explores how asking students to abstract a theme statement from a literary text as a main reading objective can actually disempower students' reading experience. Bases the claims on original research on how 288 readers read a short story. Considers how teachers might more profitably talk about theme. (HB)

Defines five areas of proficiency that students who join the work force of the early twenty-first century will need. Considers the implications of these seen in the context of the English curriculum. (HB)

Describes how two English teachers revised their instruction in light of their discoveries about the needs of the workplace. Provides details about several facets of the new curriculum, including writing/reading workshops, research papers, and mentor/community service projects. (HB)

Considers how English teachers, by building a complementary relationship with the workplace, can prepare students better for success in the coming century. Focuses on ways of revolutionizing writing instruction with real world problems. Discusses three examples of real workplace projects demonstrating the notion of writing as problem solving. (HB)

Describes a program called "Writing for the Public" that allows students to revise and rewrite documents such as memos, instructions, or brochures. Shows how one high school English teacher instituted the program in his senior class. Provides some student response to the program. (HB)

Gives seven responses from practicing English teachers concerning ways that they have implemented the writing of various kinds of letters by students into the English curriculum. Demonstrates the efficacy and success of such methods. (HB)

Considers ways of implementing collaborative learning techniques into the teaching of William Shakespeare in the high school English curriculum. Argues for allowing students to predict the action after viewing only one act of a play. Shows how group work enhanced students' thinking processes. (HB)

Describes a classroom collaborative activity in which students are asked to write one-act plays based on three characters, two of whom know each other, and a third who affects the other two. Presents details of carrying out the assignment, and evaluates student response. (HB)

Provides a number of classroom activities, including skits, which foster creative thinking and bring vigor to the classroom setting. Relates how, in one class, students were given the opportunity to collaborate on skits in lieu of the final exam. (HB)

Details a unit of study in a seventh-grade English class based on collaborative story-writing activities. Describes how the unit, based on a mystery surrounding a fictitious character called "Admiral Brundage," uses drama, argument, and collaboration to improve students' thinking and writing skills. (HB)

Presents five excerpts from student essays (resulting from extensive in-class coaching and computer lab time) that were based on an article from the December, 1991, issue of "English Journal." (HB)

Presents seven responses by practicing teachers in response to the question, "How do you accommodate students with different learning styles in your classroom?" (HB)

Provides eight citations and annotations, including plotlines and thematic overviews, of autobiographical writings suitable for English instruction purposes for middle-school students. (HB)

Provides seven responses of practicing teachers to the question, "What work has been the most helpful to you in considering gender issues in the teaching of English?" Describes the books and gives citations. (HB)

Reviews a recently published picture book, "Beyond Words." Describes how the book might be used in the teaching of English to middle-school students. (HB)