Describes a writing assignment in which students read only the first two paragraphs of Charles Dickens's novel "A Tale of Two Cities" and then, after some brainstorming and prewriting, write a paragraph or two modeled on those, explaining the confusion and turmoil of the present day. Notes how Dickens's expressions become more familiar…

Describes three assignments the author uses when teaching Chaucer (suitable for college or college prep high school classes) in which students learn what iambic pentameter is by writing two rhyming couplets, a ten-line conversation in rhyming couplets, and a creative project of at least 25 rhyming couplets, all in iambic pentameter. (SR)

Describes how the author and her high school English students begin their study of Thoreau's "Walden" by mining the text for quotations to inspire their own writing and discussion on the topic, "How does Thoreau speak to you or how could he speak to someone you know?" (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)

Describes the activity of soliciting material for and publishing a student-generated literary magazine. Demonstrates the ways in which the magazine was later used by various teachers for their class activities. Argues for the benefits of publishing student writing. (HB)

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)

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)

Argues that the historical development of written narrative during the past century confounds traditional distinctions between fiction and nonfiction. Argues that students need to develop cognitive complexity. Outlines a sequence of assignments intended to destabilize students' assumptions about the difference between reality and fantasy, fiction…

Courtroom scenes in literature seem to have a special magic with students (probably because of all the trials seen on television, fiction or non-fiction). Students in a composition and literature course at the University of Nebraska, after reading Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles," wrote "closing arguments" for either…

Describes the approach used with high school advanced placement English classes to a nature-writing project based on the work of Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard. (SR)

Describes the evolution of an assignment in a college-level English class in which students present to the class their analysis of lyrics to a favorite song of theirs (on a particular topic). Shows how students thereby are eased into interpretation, critical examination, and some of the principles of literature. (SR)

A rationale and procedure for promoting outside reading and assigning book reports. (RL)

Uses examples from the author's experiences writing books for young adults to show the power of literature to see through someone else's eyes and feel through their skin. Offers suggestions for teachers for ways students can take part in the life of the language, shape it, and discover the vitality of the printed page. (SR)

Describes a class writing exercise for high school and college English classes (which functions well early in the first semester), which emphasizes a basic idea (that close inspection of a subject will reveal that there is a lot to say about it) by having students describe in detail a person's face, first as a class and then individually. (SR)

This paper presents four introductory activities designed to help students with their reading problems, motivate them to read, and help them turn their interpretations of literature into effective compositions. The paper presents samples for each of the four activities ("Opinionnaires," Scenarios, Simulations, and Role Playing),…