Describes how pairing Wordsworth's poem ("Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey") with a contemporary novel ("The River Why" by David James Duncan) makes the classic poem come alive for students. Argues that, regardless of the poem, Duncan's novel is ideally suited for classroom study. (SR)

Describes a solicitous yet forthright approach to a potentially controversial American literature unit on the tremendous impact of the Enlightenment on American society and its political system. Outlines the peculiar blending of Puritan morality and Enlightenment ideals that shaped American character. Discusses the vital role of rejecting…

Describes an efficient, open-ended set of instructional activities for high school students that has students analyze song lyrics of R.E.M. (an alternative rock band from Athens, Georgia) for literary techniques, topics, themes, and form as preparation to experiment with reading, deciphering, and mimicking Emily Dickinson. (SR)

Presents a high school student's description in class of her deep connection to Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," and how it offers a glimpse of the vast interior lives of women. (SR)

Describes the discomfort experienced by students and teacher as they explored how blackness is portrayed and understood in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Grapples with fundamental pedagogical questions: how to talk about race with a diverse group of students and how to examine victimization and oppression. Suggests tandem teaching with M. Taylor's "Roll…

Presents first a short article, "Response to the Issue of Ebonics," written by a Pennsylvania high school student. Follows this with an article, "Building Bridges to the 'Language of Wider Communication'" which reflects on ways of using the language children bring to the classroom as a means of building bridges to wider communication. (SR)

Presents two articles which both describe a project that built instructional plans around students' development and interests instead of imposing ready-made curricula, and in which students became active, eager participants in their own learning. Offers at the end a list extracting the principles on which the instruction in these articles is…

Offers a review of nine books, presented in the form of an imagined conversation between the authors (leading scholars in the English-language arts today) as they discuss changes in language-arts curriculum, interdisciplinary curriculum, community-building in the classroom, teaching rather than showing films, and literature as a living tradition.…

Reports what students had to say about teachers, school, kids, and life. Finds that their thoughts fall into four categories: respect, responsibility, response, and relationship. (SR)

Discusses the power of books and literacy, the power of giving students their own books to take home, and young adult novels in which the importance of books is a major theme. Offers brief descriptions of 27 books (mostly novels) whose stories focus on the power of books and literacy. (SR)

Argues that the prohibition against the comma splice has no logical basis whatsoever, and offers numerous examples. Maintains that English teachers should relax prohibitions against comma splices, accept that usage is flexible, and allow students a freedom which more confident writers take for granted. (SR)

Describes the collaboration between a third-year high school teacher and a seasoned education professor, in which the two traded places, coteaching each other's classes for the entire school year. Discusses getting started, what they expected and what they learned, long-term individual effects of collaboration, ensuring success, and collaboration…

Describes a small-scale school/college partnership first from the teacher's lens and then from the teacher educator's lens. Discusses 13 critical issues that have emerged from two years of working together. (SR)

Describes a collaboration between two high school English teachers that linked sophomore and senior English classes in using literacy for real purposes in the "Magazines for Change" project. Discusses the process of collaboration between the teachers, and describes the project itself. Notes the many benefits that resulted, and describes how…

Describes how a high school English teacher and a university instructor of preservice teachers worked together to create cross-age student partnerships, in which the college students responded to the high school students' writing. Describes the project's evolution, benefits to the high school students, to the college students, and to both…