Synectics, the making of analogies, was used with learning disabled high school seniors to provide them with a creative process that aids in developing a deeper understanding of literature. After studying Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the students completed a six-step process and produced a short writing assignment. (VW)

Describes an activity in which students must invent graffiti that might have been written by one of the characters studied in the class's literature assignments. (HTH)

Discusses well-written, moving children's stories that can be used to promote children's writing. (RL)

Explains how to involve students in a composition unit that requires them to complete writing assignments from various points of view. (DF)

Suggests student writing exercises before, during, and after reading Shakespeare's Henry IV. Cites specific passages, followed by discussion and writing questions centered on the conflict between Henry IV and his son, a "generation gap" theme to which students can easily relate. (HTH)

Notes how important it is that any critical writing assignments should take into account the individual reading, and that the teacher's role is to steer discussion that stems from a class of individual readings. Explores some of the aspects of Jane Austen's novel "Emma" to which students readily respond. (HTH)

Proposes ways of blending the study of literature and the teaching of writing. Suggests assignments that involve writing or rewriting literature, writing about literature, and writing in response to literature. (MM)

Presents exercises combining sentence generation from prescribed conjunctions with analysis of literary characters. (MM)

Describes a unit in which gothic novels are first read and then used by students as models for the writing of an entire "gothic" novel of their own. (JL)

The "Future Problem Solving" exercises (originated by E. Paul Torrance at the University of Georgia) can be used as a method to teach literature. The process used in future problem solving entails all the higher level processes, involves both critical and creative thinking, as well as cooperative learning, and lends itself to the…

Describes how "Gulliver's Travels" was used with 11- and 12-year-olds to stimulate writing activities. (SRT)

Argues that paragraph form congruent with the patterns and habits of thinking develops from the writer's sensitivity to the impact of visual images on the reader's mind. (MM)

Shares some approaches and suggests poems that can be used to inspire discussion and creative writing in bilingual classes. (RL)

Proposes the newspaper as a source of plots, characters, and motivations that can be used by students for short story material. (FL)

Notes that syllabus requirements for British secondary school literature courses tacitly create a course in writing as well. Presents ways in which this writing component can be implemented, without isolating it from the literature component. (HTH)