Describes a course on values in twentieth-century literature. Discusses the teaching of James Joyce's "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" and other works. Describes the students' reactions. Asserts that twentieth-century literature should be addressed in a way that encourages students to grow and develop. (PRA)

Asserts that sharing postmodern works with students makes them aware that fiction continues to evolve and authors continue to experiment. Discusses several postmodern novels and suggests using passages as well as entire works with students. (PRA)

Asserts that the key to incorporating music effectively into the English classroom is to provide a context for the music. Describes a teacher's introduction to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" that demonstrates one way to use music and which helps accomplish the goals of the literary unit. (PRA)

Asserts that an effective approach to mythology should illustrate the connection among international myths, folktales, and legends that continue to be told in current literature and media. Explains how sample units on mythology could implement two phases of instruction: an introductory unit, and a reacquaintance with the themes of the first unit…

Describes the positive experiences of a teacher who motivates her students by having them listen to audiocassettes of literature and by asking them to produce audio versions of the literature that they are studying. (PRA)

Describes a project in which students compiled an anthology of a community "at rest" similar to Edgar Lee Masters'"Spoon River Anthology." (PRA)

Contains the responses of 19 English teachers who were asked the questions: "If you could invite any living person to write an article for the 'English Journal,' who would it be?" and "What would you hope they would write about?" (PRA)

Reviews and recommends nine books by Gary Paulsen, an author who writes for teenagers. (PRA)

Reviews in detail "Mind Matters: Teaching for Thinking" by Dan Kirby and Carol Kuykendall, which offers a new approach to teaching thinking skills. Discusses the questions posed by the book, such as "What is thinking?" and elaborates on the theoretical groundings as well. (PRA)

Describes a cultural exchange program that brought high school writing students to Russia in the spring of 1991 for a writing workshop. Discusses how the writing workshop led to the exchange of folklore, games, social conventions, and ideas between Russian and U.S. students. (PRA)

Offers a rebuttal to the cooperative-learning practices described in an earlier article in this journal which presented a Middle East history unit. Discusses students' basic lack of historical background, student expectations, the unit's organizational problems, and the way in which the students were overevaluated. Presents a rebuttal by the…

Asserts that writing assessment should reflect current composition pedagogy, and offers a design to assess process writing. Discusses the development of the scoring criteria and the selection of range finders, as well as the standardization of training and scoring procedures. (PRA)

Describes the difficulties in assessing writing improvement in high school students based on national reports. Discovers that students' fluency, their use of dialogue, and their ease in moving between the abstract and the concrete is increasing. Suggests the resources of the National Assessment of Educational Progress might yield the information…

Asserts that a student-writing portfolio can be a powerful tool for writing instruction. Describes how students compile a portfolio, and the types of writing included. Discusses the use of collaboration in the writing process and methods of assessment. (PRA)

Outlines an assignment in which a teacher used portfolios as the basis for a final examination to give students a chance to assess their own writing and their progress. Discusses the success of the assignment and the teacher's surprise at the students' insight into their own strengths and weaknesses. (PRA)