Describes the author's first teaching job as a reading teacher at a maximum security detention center for youthful offenders. Describes how the author shed some naivete on the way to learning that what students were primarily learning was trust--in themselves and in others. (SR)

Offers and explains three pieces of advice for using the Internet in language arts classes: become a student (have students train teachers to use the Internet and have student interns in computer rooms to assist teachers); "morph into a cybrarian" (create an on-line library of World Wide Web links related to class projects); and empower students.…

Presents a piece of short fiction which tells the story of a skeleton in a high school biology room and a look at the lives of the students and the teacher who observed her. (SR)

Presents an essay describing the rude misbehavior of two sets of high school students in two distinct cultures: white prep school boys whose transgressions are written off as harmless, and urban African-American and Asian-American students whose off-putting behavior gets no such exemption. Suggests that this misbehavior and the reaction to it turn…

Presents six brief articles by six Arizona teachers offering their reflections about practices, strategies, and vision as they make changes toward a multicultural curriculum. (SR)

Sketches out several projects and assignments that focus on the family and suggests some contexts that can be used to give them structure. Suggests that this is an appealing way to end the school year, offering strong material to keep students involved. (SR)

Offers a review of a book by John Gaughan, "Cultural Reflections: Critical Teaching and Learning in the English Classroom," a book filled with teaching ideas and insights that challenge English language-arts teachers to immerse students in text and topics that are important in their lives and to genuinely consider students and communities in…

Describes the Athens Writing Project, how it began, and the role it has served and continues to serve. Discusses the issue of voice, and describes a reflective writing sequence used in the project. (SR)

Describes some of the activities of the New York City Association of Teachers of English designed to reach out to new colleagues. Describes a survey of the needs of new teachers, as well as in-depth interviews with 11 new K-12 teachers. Discusses plans for supporting new teachers based upon these findings. (SR)

Discusses and reviews World Wide Web sites of use and interest to English teachers. Discusses particular sites to browse, such as ERIC, KIDLINK, and some teacher discussion forums. Notes particular sites on the Internet for use in English Humanities classes; books online; famous author home pages; library links; writing sites online; literature;…

Examines the origin of the term "attitude," and how its meaning has changed over the centuries. Discusses theoretical definitions of the term by I. A. Richards and by Kenneth Burke. Discusses its role in the learning process, and how an explicit attention to attitude in the language-arts classroom might help students become better readers and…

Presents the core requirements for teachers of English in Israel, which outline the core knowledge and performance that graduates and practicing teachers should shave mastered. These requirements are divided into five domains, and each of the domains includes standards. Both knowledge and performance benchmarks are defined for each standard.…

Provides a rationale for content-based instruction and demonstrates how project work can be integrated into content-based classrooms. Outlines the primary characteristics of project work, introduces project work in its various configurations, and presents practical guidelines for sequencing and developing a project. (Author/VWL)

Discusses project work, describes what it is, why it should be used, and how its aims are defined. Highlights classroom management during project periods and provides a list of project goals that relate to domains and benchmarks of the English-as-a-Foreign-Language curriculum in Israel. (Author/VWL)

Describes a performance-based task, within real-life contexts structured specifically for a ninth grade English-as-a-Foreign-Language class. The task--a book project--was used as an alternative assessment of the acquisition and application of English studies as a foreign language in Israeli schools. (Author/VWL)