Argues that students of all ages respond to the mystery, possibility, and adventure of science fiction and fantasy and should not be discouraged from reading in these genres under the pretense that they are "less grown up" than more "realistic" genres. Reviews a number of good science fiction books published from 1994-95. (TB)

Describes an activity in which high school students who are reading "Romeo and Juliet" compile information on major characters and create a collection of cards similar to sports cards, to help them understand each character and that character's motives. (SR)

Describes how a high school English instructor used the Valdez oil spill to illustrate the meaning in Samuel Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." (PRA)

Provides five responses to Edward Lasky's article, "A Modern Day Albatross: The Valdez and Some of Life's Other Spills" in the same issue of this journal. (PRA)

Describes how a high school English teacher uses a Groucho Marx scene to help his students learn to read the subtext in Shakespeare plays of social context, characters' goals and desires, and obstacles standing in their way. Offers examples of skits students perform which make these subtexts explicit. Notes these skits spark debate and close…

Discusses the limitations that 9- to 11 year-olds face when attempting to understand character perspectives. Describes how teachers can use "Story Maps with Character Perspectives" to help young readers comprehend stories, interpret characters, and grow in understanding other people. (SR)

Describes using book character cards (in trading card format) as a way to share books. (SR)

Language arts are at the forefront of education these days. Instructors at all levels are being encouraged to teach writing in their courses, even if those courses cover subjects other than English. Literature instructors have long used fiction to teach composition. But because the novel reflects a broad range of human experiences and historical…

The legacy of the New Critics, including its historically male-dominated canon of poets, continues to hold influence, in part because its methods of reading preside over many college classrooms. New Critical readings stress careful explications, based solely on the evidence offered in the lines of the poem. This way of reading encourages careful…

With over 125 references to music, John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" almost cries for popular music as part of its instructional delivery. The teaching of popular music within the classroom responds to many of today's accepted practices: reader response, writing instruction, humanities exploration, multiliteracy, multiple intelligences, and…

The gender issue is relevant to classroom learning in more ways than one. Increasingly in the United States, young boys are saying that school is stupid and they do not like to read. This phenomenon cuts across all demographic groups: it affects affluent white boys in the suburbs no less than it affects black boys in low-income neighborhoods. In…

Mark Baker in "NAM: The Vietnam War in the Words of the Men and Women Who Fought There" (1981) tells a war story, and war stories tend to elevate the masculine combat adventure as inherently more profound, and therefore more valuable, than other experiences. However, now that the emotional considerations of war are no longer being…

Report of an address delivered by Jose Schraibman in a Subject-Field Meeting, Annual Conference of the National Association of Independent Schools, February 1969.