Intended for administrators and policy makers, as well as teachers, this digest examines the current state of humanities instruction and the evolving place of humanities in the high school English classroom. The digest first explores differing definitions of the humanities, and discusses reasons for the decline in emphasis on humanities…

Describes how Michigan's English Language Arts Assessment (ELA) takes parts of the old fifth-grade writing assessment and fourth-grade reading tests, adds new elements, and wraps everything around a theme. Presents a seven-step activity to help prepare fourth graders for the ELA. Concludes that the overall impact on scores is not known. (SG)

This article provides a pragmatic approach to the development of theme units in a secondary English program for verbally talented students. The article provides a rationale for theme-based teaching, describes the structure of a thematic unit, and provides guidance on teacher development of thematic units. A unit on "losses/gains" is presented as…

A viable solution to the problem created by English curriculum designers whose course selections have failed to stimulate students' interests or to develop their language arts skills is to involve students in curriculum building, offering them a structure under which they may choose courses relevant to their needs. The free choice curriculum…

Lauds the interdisciplinary approach in social studies instruction and specifically recommends a close and cooperative working relationship between high school English and social studies departments. Describes one such relationship, the hurdles overcome during its inception and establishment, and the creation of an interdisciplinary course titled…

The seven units in this second supplement to "Thematic Units" focus on communication skills, offering English teachers contemporary plans for teaching writing, listening, persuasion, and reasoning. The units were selected for their humanistic approaches to student language learning, combining English instruction with topics in the humanities. Each…

The seven thematic units in this guide focus on communication skills, offering English teachers contemporary plans for teaching writing, listening, reading, reasoning, critical thinking, and appreciation of literary genres. The units were selected for their humanistic approaches to student language learning, combining English instruction with…

This text for pre-service and in-service English education courses presents current methods of teaching literature to middle and high school students. The methods are based on social constructivist/socio-cultural theories of literacy learning, and incorporate research on literary response conducted by the authors. "Teaching Literature to…