Muses on whether a literature teacher's primary function is to instill an appreciation of literature in students or to involve students in the act of reading. (SR)

Presents nine short pieces written by teachers describing how they relate the visual arts to language learning in their classrooms. (SR)

Presents descriptions of the seven books selected for the 1991 Honor Listing. (SR)

Presents a list of 18 books chosen by teachers, college professors, and publishers as the best young-adult novels of the 1980s. (SR)

Presents a description of a favorite innovative textbook (published in the 1970s) for an English methods course, entitled "Montage: Investigations in Language." (SR)

Reviews "Author's Insights" (edited by Don Gallo) in which 12 distinguished writers of young-adult books have their say about how literature and writing ought to be taught in secondary schools. (SR)

Investigates the rising phenomenon of teacher research among secondary English teachers. Discusses costs, benefits, kinds of opportunities, and ethical and monetary considerations. Includes a 12-item annotated list of published reports of such research. (HB)

Questions traditional composition techniques and their effects on student thinking and problem solving. Demonstrates how one high school English teacher responded to these classroom issues by reading relevant research and supplementing it with a study conducted on her own students. (HB)

Asks the reader to try to make sense out of one student's response to Adrien Stoutenberg's poem "Reel One." Presents the student's reading and an analysis of the student's reading. (HB)

Argues that a prevalent mistake made by teachers preparing writing curricula and assignments is dividing writing into classes or modes. Suggests alternatives to classifying writing. Envisions writing as a discourse act and assignments as performance of such acts. (HB)

Presents a conception of writing assignments as a navigation through five writing "events" that students experience through individually imposed writing tasks. Describes the five events within each assignment. Concludes with positive student evaluations. (HB)

Describes the experience of helping a student revise a personal, expressive piece of writing into a transactional essay. Discusses the pros and cons of such guidance. Concludes with a strong defense of conferencing. (HB)

Describes the development of a writing assignment using the four discourse types to write about a single, physical object. Reviews specifically how this assignment was carried out to completion by students. Defends the assignment as a framework for the study of writing. (HB)

Disputes the claim that narrative writing is of lesser value than expository forms, and argues that narrative holds great potential for use in writing curricula. Describes a summer science institute for minority students in which narrative was utilized. (HB)

Describes a writing assignment for high school English in which students argue persuasively on a current issue of their choice. Extends this assignment by having students revise the papers into letters to periodicals or politicians. Urges introducing students into active social discourse. (HB)