Discusses a letter-writing assignment in which students write five letters over the course of the semester to anyone they wish about material they read in their U.S. literature class. Describes how the assignment elicited writing in which the students were personally invested, leading to their greater involvement in the class as a whole. (SR)

Describes a take-home midsemester exam in American Literature in which students express their knowledge of authors by transporting them to the present-day setting of their community college. (MG)

Describes a writing assignment (designed as an alternative to a traditional literary analysis paper) for a sophomore-level introduction to short story course, in which students assemble their own thematic anthology of short stories with introduction, headnotes, and annotated bibliography. (SR)

Describes how the author, in 3 to 4 50-minute class sessions of an entry-level composition course, uses popular culture to help students understand and appreciate the use of irony. (SR)

Presents six teaching suggestions from classroom teachers regarding creative scenarios with literary figures, lemons in the classroom (to aid descriptive writing), conferences using a computer, organizational patterns in writing, an epistolary icebreaker in composition, and using five-minute writings as review. (SR)

Discusses the teachable qualities of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice." Examines the vigorous diction, plausible characterization, and comic vision that make the novel so effective in stimulating students' thought. (SR)

Describes how the author came to develop an elective community-college course called "AIDS: A Literary Response." Discusses the course curriculum and course materials, literature and films, class assignments, formal paper assignments, notebooks of materials, and the impact of the life stories shared with the class by visitors. (SR)

Explains how whole language classes differ from traditional developmental classes and illustrates how both African American and Caucasian students benefit from a whole language approach. Makes a case for the importance of using African American literature as well as other literature. Describes reading and writing assignments. (TB)

Describes a first-year college composition course and the daily preparatory writing assignments, "inquiry response papers," that form its core. Describes how these assignments, in which students respond to their homework reading, have led to a collaborative, dialogic classroom where students realize and express their own voices, and have fostered…

Describes a writing assignment in which students study and imitate the language of a minority author. Discusses how the assignment helps negotiate conflicts when students resist multicultural literature, as their creative responses mediate between themselves and works they might otherwise find foreign and antagonistic. (SR)