Describes how a teacher achieved professional renewal through teaching adult education class in a federal prison. Notes that it may be easier to create hospitable space and a sense of community in an inmate classroom than in any other kind. (RS)

Describes the development of a teacher's renewed interest in teaching after transferring from a K-12 school to teaching the eighth grade. Discusses six points concerning the characteristics of eighth grade students. (RS)

Describes the experiences of a university professor teaching high school English for one week. Notes the lack of time for individual instruction and the benefits of meeting students daily. Proposes that any professor responsible for teacher education should be required to teach in the public schools at least every two to three years. (RS)

Describes how a teacher energizes his teaching by participating in a writing group consisting of three other English teachers from another school district. Discusses how participation in the writing group counters the alienation of the classroom. (RS)

Describes a teacher's experiences in working with student teachers. Notes that the experiences have been continually rewarding but not always easy. States that the teacher feels renewed, revitalized, and reassured after working with student teachers. (RS)

Argues that the continuation of teacher education through additional college work will make teachers aware of a greater number of options to help solve the increasingly complex problems associated with literacy learning. Describes the author's experiences upon going back to school for an advanced degree. (RS)

Describes a teacher's experiences during a sabbatical year in Germany. Reports that, after being a student for a year, the teacher felt a new bond with her students. Notes that learning a new language gave the teacher a new understanding of what learning involves. (RS)

Describes the experiences of a secondary teacher participating in a six-week National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowship at Oxford, England. Reports that the teacher went back to her duties renewed through change. (RS)

Describes a writing activity in which students compose their own versions of the yellow, diamond-shaped signs which frequent the rear windows of automobiles. Notes that such "environmental writing" became a personal challenge for the students to represent in a few words the essential concepts and ideas about reading and responding. (RS)

Describes nine prewriting activities using supermarket tabloids as the model for producing a newspaper on mythology. (RS)

Argues that students must be attuned to the fact that language serves those who are in power and excludes those who are not. Describes an exercise demonstrating this arrangement that uses a simple "degrees of meaning" list. Notes that students realize that linguistic rules are only as strong as those who impose them. (RS)

Presents an extended review of Eleanor Wilson Orr's "Twice as Less: Black English and the Performance of Black Students in Mathematics and Science." Argues that the work sustains the fantasy of intellectuals that the basic injustices of society are subject to relatively simple technical correction. (RS)

Describes how eight English teachers' hobbies enrich their teaching. (RS)

Reviews "The Elements of Literature," a high school literature anthology series. Concludes that the series is particularly strong in grades 9 and 10 although the selections for grades 11 and 12 are conservative. Recommends not purchasing the entire series with all its ancillary materials. (RS)

Reviews five books of research on teaching, including teaching with a word processor, peer response groups, mastery teaching, and teaching adolescents. (RS)