This booklet offers 10 ideas to transform instruction in reading and heighten literacy for all students. The booklet states that these principles and ideas, interrelated and built one upon the other, are based on solid research findings and practical experience and that they are already being used in classrooms across the country. The 10 ideas…

This booklet presents the Written Response part of the English 30 Grade 12 Diploma examination in Alberta, Canada. After instructions for students, the booklet presents the first part of the examination in which students respond to Thom Gunn's poem "Tamer and Hawk," which addresses the nature and effect of a ruling passion in an…

"Animal Farm" is a political allegory of the USSR written in the form of a fable. Its stinging moral warning against the abuse of power is demonstrated in this casebook through a wide variety of historical, political, and literary documents that are directly applicable to George Orwell's novel. Included in the casebook are passages from…

Charles Dickens' novel, "A Tale of Two Cities," does not waste a word in telling a touching, suspenseful tale set against the background of one of the bloodiest events in history, the French Revolution. This casebook's collection of historical documents, collateral readings, and commentary will promote interdisciplinary study of the…

The Children's Book Council of Australia Awards contain several categories for the best books published for children in 2002. This PETA guide looks at all categories, with the exception of Older Readers. The purpose of the guide is to suggest ways of exploring each shortlisted book, focusing on its significant aspects. It points out that children…

This collection of Peace Corps stories is designed for use by grades 7-12 language arts teachers. The collection is divided into two sections, (1) Peace Corps Stories; and (2) Curriculum Units. The first section contains nine Peace Corps texts around which the lesson plans are organized. Representing a variety of literary genres (personal…

Although "Othello" has been one of William Shakespeare's most popular plays, its performance history has been marked with risk and tension because of the play's focus on racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality. The controversies surrounding conflicting attitudes toward race and religion, love and marriage, and war and the…

A study examined personal written responses of novice white teachers to address methods, patterns, and implications of teachers' responses to powerful and provocative multicultural children's literature. Ten children's books were read orally and 150 responses from 15 graduate students in an elementary education course were analyzed qualitatively…

This book challenges the current penchant in United States education for "dumbing down" and anthologizing literature for secondary learners. The book provides a rationale for teaching the classics to all high school students. It offers a wealth of ways for English teachers to do what they yearn to do in their own classrooms: teach "the good…

One advantage of writing center tutorial groups over individual tutoring is that in groups students have the opportunity to become readers of others' writing and to provide feedback to their peers. In such groups, it is assumed that the tutor as facilitator serves as an interactional and linguistic model for students. To test this hypothesis, over…

This paper, two of four on literature and the young child, focuses on two ways the simple act of a parent reading to a child during the early years helps the child grow into a successful reader. The two ways are: reading to the young child helps him or her build a rich vocabulary which in turn will help strengthen his or her memory skills; and…

This paper, three of four on literature and the young child, investigates two more ways that a parent's simple act of reading to a child during his or her early years helps him or her grow into a successful reader, namely: reading to the child will help him or her broaden the range of experiences; and reading to the child will help him or her…

Parents can help foster their children's success as readers by reading to them as much as possible. This paper, four of four on literature and the young child, discusses two ways that parents can help, stating that: reading to the child helps him or her develop and appreciate humor; and reading to the child helps him or her cope with uncomfortable…

The combination of biblical scholarship and pedagogical inquiry of the Biblical "wisdom" texts (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Solomon, and the Synoptic Gospels) are the focus of this book. Inferences about teaching and learning that can be drawn from these texts are discussed. Acknowledging that the practices of…

In this study of elementary school children's responses to two children's books, a participant-observer presented reading material to the children and studied their reactions. Spontaneous responses and variations in solicited verbal responses at different age levels and the implications of nonresponse are considered. (PP)