What if the literacy and social justice work educators are trying to do via literature is being foiled by its often tragic seriousness? What if the emotion work students are being asked to do when engaging with such literature is debilitating for some of them? One might argue that many students' reluctance to read and their lack of success at…

Without the benefit of having experienced many years of teaching, it is hard to emulate the experienced colleagues one admires. In her second year of teaching, the author seems to have captured some of the wisdom that comes with many years of teaching. Her advice reveals many of the practices that distinguish veterans from newcomers. Teachers who…

The essay is the most intimate of reading experiences, in which the reader is invited to eavesdrop as the writer works through a thought or excavates a memory. The writer can be explicit, in the first person, or just implicit, as the person behind the words, but he or she is absolutely, powerfully present. It's as if, for those few thousand words,…

In this time of high-stakes tests and school accountability, English classrooms have been pushed to become increasingly serious places. Combining NCLB pressures with desires to use literature to do important cultural work--such as fighting ethnic, gender, and social-class discrimination--virtually bans humor from the classroom. This is unfortunate…

Explains how Louis D. Rubin's theory of the "Great American Joke" (the gap between our cultural ideal and the everyday facts of American life and society) can be used to help students understand humor in an American literature unit. (SR)

Stacey Brown energizes high school students with "brain-twisting" writing prompts, word games to hone vocabulary and spelling skills, and art to show complex ideas. Additionally, reading aloud to her class models fluent reading, expands students' vocabularies, builds community, and stimulates student-led discussions about the novel. (Contains 1…

An experience on teaching a drama class and staging performances with available resources is described. Some of the more challenging circumstances are highlighted and it is demonstrated that a sense of humor and community support is needed for the show to go on.

Argues that lists of great books ought to reflect both the comic and tragic sides. Discusses problems of censorship and of translation when presenting comic works to classrooms full of teenagers. Describes how the author approaches the teaching of Aristophanes'"Lysistrata," offering students a bowdlerized text and inviting them to improve it. (SR)

Explains a method of teaching students the differences in usage between "good" and "well" and between "bad" and "badly." (MM)

Advocates incorporating humor in the classroom (as a means of assessing students' learning and understanding) by deliberately establishing a classroom environment conducive to original expression and risk-taking, and by the juxtaposition of curriculum material. (SR)

Sketches the way one English teacher used silent film to engender creative writing in a school for American Indian students. Advocates the use of humor in cross-cultural educational settings. (HB)

Describes how one high school English teacher used humor when teaching Shakespearean tragedy. Describes how this improved students' attitudes and appreciation of the tragedies, helped them appreciate literature devices in the plays, and helped them review prior to their exam. (SR)

Describes how high school students can give J. Alfred Prufrock (from T.S. Eliot's serious poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock") a "makeover" so he can acquire more self-confidence. Shows how this makeover exercise can lead students to a deeper general understanding and appreciation of complex literary characters and of a…

Describes how one high school English teacher uses puns on a regular basis to augment his vocabulary reviews. Argues that doing so aids in developing students' vocabulary, since it compels students to pay closer attention and gives many students a chance to display their creative-thinking skills. (SR)

Argues that humor is an invaluable teaching tool in English classes. Describes how the author and her students: found humor an important means of discovering profound truths in Shakespeare's dramas; enjoyed the epic "Paradise Lost"; worked with satire in Chaucer; and used humor in students' own creative activities. (SR)