Textbooks and grammar worksheets do not adequately convey to students how readers or listeners are shaped by the language of the writer. The best way to help students understand the emphasis of a dash or another device is to see one used during a suspenseful moment in a dramatic selection. It is up to the teacher to select dramatic works that…

Reviews "Author's Insights" (edited by Don Gallo) in which 12 distinguished writers of young-adult books have their say about how literature and writing ought to be taught in secondary schools. (SR)

Presents an interview with an author who has written many children's books, covering her life and opinions on writing, writing for children, and teaching writing. (JL)

Interviews W.P. Kinsella about his views on a number of subjects, including how he began his career as an author, how he creates his stories, and why students should study modern writing. (DF)

Argues that the best journalistic prose has a claim to literature. Observes that some leading literary figures started as journalists. Identifies authors whose use of symbolic detail, interposition of narrative voice, and sensory description are particularly notable. Suggests that the challenge of teachers and students is to dare to employ similar…

Both student and adult writers need to learn how to imagine clear and full contexts for their writing. These contexts include awareness of audience, knowledge of purpose, and creation of the proper voice befitting the purpose and audience. The critical necessity of these three elements in writing can be taught and learned most effectively through…

Shows how students improve their powers in writing nonfiction when they are asked to solve writing problems similar to those facing major novelists. Advocates teaching literature by teaching writing, and vice versa. (RL)

Discusses two recently published books and a multimedia kit that all deal with technology and the English class. Notes that an interest in artistic, creative approaches and in using multimedia to convey stories and ideas permeates all three works. (SR)

The ability to question and the desire to be exact can be nourished by students' reading and writing responses to Thoreau's works. (RL)

Discusses ways to help returning women students succeed in the writing classroom: establish a learning environment free of fear of failure; provide opportunities to tell their stories; build a sense of community; use expressive writing to introduce students to academic writing; and use womens' literature. (SR)

The articles in this journal issue explore the use of literature in instruction and, particularly, the characterization of women in literature. The titles of the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "George Orwell and the Politics of Misogyny" (Robert Keith Miller); (2) "Women and Huckleberry Finn: A Literary Criticism" (Linda Roehrig…

This small book is a handy guide for bringing the work of author Alice Walker into the classroom. It includes biographical information, ideas for literature circles using Walker's short stories, sample writing lessons using Walker's poems, suggestions for teaching "The Color Purple," and a wealth of resources for further investigation of…

Presumably the differences in multicultural texts are in part or entirely attributable to the race, gender, sexual orientation, class, and nationality of the writer. As college populations have changed to resemble more closely the writers of "multicultural" literature, instructors have become more interested in teaching literature…

Intended for high school and college literature instructors, this book contains materials for intensive semester-long seminars on the lives and works of three American authors: Ernest Hemingway, J. D. Salinger, and John Steinbeck. Each seminar revolves around seven papers the students are required to write and defend aloud in front of the rest of…

Intended for junior high and high school English teachers, the articles and features in this journal focus on adolescent literature and the young adult audience. Articles in the journal discuss (1) politics as an emerging topic in young adult novels, (2) teacher attitudes and practices relevant to the use of the young adult novel in secondary…