Describes a method for analyzing "Tom Jones," emphasizing an historical approach which also reveals much about the culture of eighteenth century England. (RB)

Suggests that students who have found "Shane" to be an exciting literary experience can be motivated to read other heroic literature such as "Beowulf" if the teacher presents it with an eye toward motivation. "The Odyssey" might follow os another epic poem. (TJ)

Presents a rationale and framework for teaching values using quality works of literature. (HTH)

Suggests giving literature/composition students a set of declarative statements that enable them to define a thematic statement and then write a focused, fully developed analytical essay. Includes such declarative statements from the novel "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" by Anne Tyler. (HTH)

Discusses a classroom exercise designed to introduce the themes prevalent in a survey of American literature. The exercise explores issues familiar and applicable to the students' lives, such as cultural attitudes toward masculinity, femininity, community, and heroes, thus making the literature more relevant to student interests. (HTH)

Describes two writing assignments that may be used to make Shakespeare more approachable and understandable: first a paraphrase of a passage, and second a memo to an actor interpreting the same passage. (TB)

Suggests that transactional analysis is a useful tool in providing insight into literary works and in offering a precise vocabulary with which to share observations, and gives a sample analysis of Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello." (JM)

Describes how literature teachers can enliven Shakespeare's "Macbeth" by performing Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking episode (Act 5, Scene 1) with their class. Provides a lesson plan to set up and discuss the performance. Notes that this lesson lets students view a Shakespearean play from both theatrical and academic perspective. (MM)

Suggests teaching Bernard Malamud's novel, "The Natural," because it is a work of a powerful imagination; can be used to stimulate searches into history, literature, and myth; and can be a catalyst for student writing. Describes several approaches to studying the book. (TJ)

Describes an activity in which students must invent graffiti that might have been written by one of the characters studied in the class's literature assignments. (HTH)

Describes the use of a crossword puzzle for testing students for content in a Greek mythology course. Includes a sample crossword puzzle. (TJ)

Because Robert Lowell's poem "Hawthorne" focuses on Puritan New England, both as a setting and a subject, and shows the dark side of human nature, and Hawthorne as the alienated artist with a definite place in American literature, it is a most appropriate conclusion for a teaching unit on Hawthorne.

Suggests stimulating the visual imaginations of student readers of Shakespeare by examining plays from new but related perspectives--for example, discussing "As You Like It" transposed to the Appalachian area. Also suggests a writing exercise in which students describe and justify choices for props, sets, and costumes for similar…