Describes an introductory creative writing lesson in which students gave low grades to passages they later learned were written by William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway. Reports that the students graded mainly on mechanics and grammar (and very little on content). Notes that students began to learn to manipulate the various aspects of writing. (RS)

Argues that the most important thing that teachers can teach their students about writing letters is to write in a way that reflects the writer's personality, ideas, and visions. Notes that student letter writers should also practice thoughtfulness and good manners. (RS)

Argues that high-school writing teachers should not write, contrary to current composition pedagogy. Argues that for the full-time high-school English teacher, writing is neither a realistic nor a professionally advantageous avocation. (RS)

Describes the training and operation of the "Write Team," a class of high school junior and senior writing coaches who help students with first- or second-draft writing before a teacher evaluates it. (RS)

Argues that Nadine Gordimer's "July's People" challenges high school students to examine the not-so-hypothetical possibility of the overthrow of South Africa's political structure and the consequences for the novel's female protagonist. (RS)

Presents the comments of six teachers concerning ability grouping, also known as "tracking." Reports that no reply on the issue supported tracking. Argues that cooperative learning, teaching teams, and the class-within-a-class are the most effective ways for helping students achieve academic success. (RS)

Describes "Writing!,""Challenge," and "International Readers' Newsletter," three new classroom magazines. Describes "Literary Cavalcade," a classroom magazine preferred by teachers in a 1988-89 survey of instructional materials. (RS)

Summarizes Riki Levinson's "Watch the Stars Come Out," and Ted Conover's "Coyotes," two novels which capture recent American immigrant experiences. (RS)

Cites research that suggests that to promote literacy, teachers should attend to the context in which reading and writing is being demanded; that the forms and patterns of specific discourses should be made explicit; and that the assumptions which shape what teachers do should be examined critically. (RS)

Discusses how powerful the letter is as a form and vehicle for writing, particularly because the language of letters is the closest to natural speech and represents casual spontaneity associated with conversation. Suggests practical ways of including letter writing in the classroom and provides sample letters as illustration. (KEH)

Describes how a film and a book containing a collection of letters written by soldiers stationed in Vietnam can be successfully used in the reading and writing classroom. (KEH)

Describes a group writing assignment in which high school seniors voice their most common concerns in an open letter to their parents. (KEH)

Argues that bulk mailings can successfully be used in the classroom to teach reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Provides examples of activities addressing salutations, alliteration, connotations, rhetorical appeals, sentence structures, close reading, and vocabulary development. (KEH)

Describes in detail a successful unit of study done on the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" that both satisfies particular curricular demands and suits the temperament and interests of young adolescents. (KEH)

Describes a sixth grade reading workshop in which every class begins with a five-minute minilesson focusing on reading strategies and in which students choose their own books from a variety of sources. Discusses the required assignments in which students write at least one letter per week in a reading dialogue journal. (KEH)