Describes the experience of a high school English teacher as she respectfully "witnessed" one student's anguished questioning, search, and finding her (the student's) sexual orientation. Relates how the teacher was a supportive listener and offered the student literacy as a means of finding and creating herself. (SR)

Describes how a high school English teacher in Toronto took a class for gifted students called "Third World Literature" and reshaped it into a class on "Postcolonial Literature." Discusses students' initial resistance; describes the activities and projects by which students engaged with this literature; and notes their eventual enthusiasm for…

Argues that English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching should begin with meaning through immersion in literature and incorporate language study. Describes offering an inclusive sampling of North American literature. Notes specific picture book, drama, short story, novel, and poetry titles. Discusses ways to meaningfully engage ESL students in…

Discusses why two high school teachers in Kentucky teach the novel "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, discussing their beginnings, their experiences, their approach, and their goals and criteria. Discusses prereading, reading, and postreading activities. Discusses concerns raised by teachers regarding student maturity and parental approval, and outlines…

Voices the lament and the anger of a lone black teacher in an all-white school district in Wyoming trying to teach the "other" while simultaneously representing the "other." (SR)

Argues that English teaching in the United States suffers from a monocultural teaching force, even as student bodies become increasingly diverse. Tells how one teacher of color came to literacy and later to teaching, often against challenging odds. Argues that English teachers should examine their assumptions about "potential" and about what…

Argues that multicultural young adult literature can help to break down prejudices and broaden narrow minds. Notes that good books about people from various ethnic groups engage readers in the compounded conflicts of adolescence while helping teenagers discover that they have much in common with their fellow human beings. Notes briefly nine young…

Argues that when introductory activities to the classics begin with background information, it can upstage or confine the life of the story, and shows little faith in the students as readers or in the literature itself. Suggests sometimes letting the literature begin, and then helping students make sense of it. Discusses examples from "To Kill a…

Offers four avenues to teaching classic literature. Describes how the author helps students connect with classic literature through assignments that look for connections between literature and: (1) art and music; (2) dramatic interpretation; (3) video/technology; and (4) other literary works. (SR)

Describes how, giving an exam that included working with uncontextualized poetry, a teacher inadvertently discovered that the least accomplished students were the biggest risk-takers; the so-called best students were ironically self-limited by their own drive to succeed; tracking only encouraged this lack of risk-taking; and the less good students…

Describes how an English teacher slowed down her class and took out certain activities, in order to put in reflection. Relates how she now requires (and teaches) students to reflect on what the things they read actually mean to them, their beliefs and their lives. Shows students relating to the classics in vivid ways. (SR)

Argues that the Bible is a classic in a class by itself, and discusses why secondary students need to study it. Notes legal interpretations that guide Bible teachers and students. Describes how secondary English teachers are successfully teaching the Bible in several schools across the country, and discusses literary allusions, bible versions,…

Describes two gaming strategies which teach poetry using quotations extracted from six Shakespeare plays. Discusses selecting plays and quotations, games for matching quotations, and providing synopses and introducing characters. Describes in detail learning objectives, player distribution, adjudicator role, procedures and rules, and debriefing…

Describes how, at a school in Texas, Shakespeare becomes a teaching vehicle for learning-disabled students as they engage in a year-long class that studies Shakespeare and his times, as well as produce an entire play. Argues that the experience works so successfully because it is student-centered, collaborative, and experiential. (SR)

Argues that the 1996 film of "Romeo and Juliet" (starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes, and transposed to inner-city gang culture) is a gripping presentation of Shakespeare's story of star-crossed lovers in an impulsive, hot-headed, violent world. Suggests that the film is practically guaranteed to make students love Shakespeare. (SR)