Perhaps no factor has a greater influence on children's literacy learning than exposure to engaging, authentic, culturally relevant texts. This concise practitioner resource and course text helps K--8 teachers make informed choices about using children's literature in their classrooms, from selecting high-quality texts to planning instruction and…

Describes a teaching technique that capitalizes on the individual meanings a piece of literature can have for different students. Explains how it encourages students to concentrate first on facts that they notice in a text and in the inferences they make based on those facts. (FL)

Discusses ways to teach modern plays and poetry, using a reader response approach that makes the works more accessible to students. (HTH)

Discusses the concept that a philosophical approach to reading "Hamlet" is the easiest for students to comprehend. (DF)

This book offers teachers some information about many of the newest children's books as well as over 125 kid-tested and teacher-approved ways to extend these stories into other areas of the curriculum. It aims to enable teachers to enhance their professional judgment about using literature in the classroom; guide teachers toward getting their…

Noting that too many children leave elementary school without developing the ability to use words imaginatively, this paper presents a teaching approach that uses literature to foster invention in children's writing. The approach described is part of a total composition program that structures writing experiences in which children observe…

Representing Australia, Canada, England, the United States, and Wales, this collection of essays focuses on ways in which teachers can adapt classroom activities and modify writing assignments to encourage personal response and exploration of texts. Essays, their authors, and nationalities are as follows: (1) "The River and Its Banks:…

Explains how to teach F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" in three stages: before, during, and after a close look at the text and outlines the novel's narrative structure. (HOD)

Louise Rosenblatt's reader response theory can be applied effectively to film study in the classroom. Although there are differences between film and literature, the processes that one uses to make sense of literature and film are similar, and Rosenblatt's theory provides not only a valuable addition to film theory, but teachers of film study will…

Based on the experiences of writing lab instructors working with college students whose writing was affected by poor comprehension of difficult texts, this book explores the use of writing about reading to help students become more aware or analytical of their reading processes. The first chapter provides a theoretical context for teaching…

Shows how students can benefit from expressing their emotional responses to literature in writing. (EL)

Notes that syllabus requirements for British secondary school literature courses tacitly create a course in writing as well. Presents ways in which this writing component can be implemented, without isolating it from the literature component. (HTH)

Demonstrates how peer interaction during writing helps children experience connections between reading and writing. Describes children's responses to unfinished pieces, a peer's "published" piece, other students' published books (read aloud by a student other than the author), and to books written by professional authors. (HTH)

This paper is the beginning of a plea for a reconsideration of the way in which educators teach short stories. It is only the beginning because the paper's main purpose is to draw together literary critical perspectives on the short story and then briefly examine their implications for teaching. It is the convenient yet evasive nature of short…

Intended for use in classes in children's literature at the preservice and graduate levels in education or English departments and in library schools in colleges and universities, this book provides a rationale and suggestions to teachers for planning and evaluating a literature-based curriculum. The three-part organization of the book emphasizes…