Responding to Hayley Davis' view of gender in discourse, asserts that she misinterprets Deborah Tannen as claiming that all men are well-intentioned and misunderstood, and that this misinterpretation is a theme appearing throughout Davis' review of Tannen's collection of essays, "Gender and Discourse". (29 references) (CK)

Determines whether the types of open-ended questions and the levels of thinking that the questions called for in commercial Informal Reading Inventories were representative enough to allow users to determine the extent to which students remember, think about, or respond to what they are reading. Finds that Informal Reading Inventories may not be…

Examines the complexities of race and teaching identity and their coupling with desire. Contributes to the theory of critical literacies for English as a Second Language (ESL) by questioning the construction of whitness as it relates to ESL. Draws from a cross-disciplinary bibliography of critical pedagogy and cultural and feminist…

Brings language use and identity together in a critical reading of recent modern language and intercultural communication literatures. Alternative readings legitimize the dual idea of languages and linguists as agents that mark and are marked. Suggests that for identify to be agentic in character, power has to be acknowledged, struggled with, and…

Presents an activity to connect language arts, social studies, and technology in a meaningful way while encouraging students not only to read for details but to "read between the lines" and draw conclusions about a historical figure's inner thoughts and personality. Notes that the biopoem is a simple 10-line poem with a specific, easy-to-follow…

Discusses author's own struggle with understanding Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Comments on two major distractions which interfered with understanding the story. Outlines students' questions about the story. Proposes that teaching good literature involves an exploration of the mysteries of life. (PM)

Maintains that, as guides to critical thinking instruction, traditional definitions of critical reading must be updated to reflect the limitations of language in capturing meaning and the complexity of the comprehension process. Argues that a definition of critical reading should reflect the role of critical thinking during and after…

When creating the instructional program Writing in Response to Reading, teachers in River Forest, Illinois, focused on three types of writing (retelling, extending, and critiquing). To evaluate students, they devised "prompts" (unfinished stories) requiring students to construct an ending to demonstrate their understanding and use of…

Offers nine citations from the ERIC database which point to resources for developing students' critical thinking skills. (MG)

This critique of the current educational system challenges educators to examine potentially dangerous educational practices that foster specialization while ignoring the need to develop critical thinking. Examples demonstrate that, without the ability to interpret the world critically, people are subject to political manipulation, a state…

Suggests that students can improve their writing by being instructed on how to write badly. Applies the criteria of testability, tunnel-vision, excessive vagueness, flying in the face of established fact, and hazy authority to tabloid newspaper stories. Discusses how students can write their own "rotten" tabloid stories by taking these…

Discusses where censorship comes from, taking a positive approach to censorship, how to make censorship work for teachers in the classroom, teaching through controversy, teaching students to become critical readers, and using controversial literature in the classroom. Appends a 24-item list of children's classics and books for young adults often…

Applying "Third World" theories to "First World" contexts is risky. Four problematic tendencies in using the work of Paulo Freire are failure to consider its social context, fragmentation of his texts, reductionism in using his principles and practices, and reluctance to assess his ideas critically. (SK)

Describes how an interdisciplinary course at Bryn Mawr College explores the various biases that are woven into human lives and seen in texts. Students express how they learn to recognize and follow biases from which people write, and in the process, they comprehend a wide range of experience. (EV)

Notes that children's literature in which characters engage with music opens the door for readers to identify parallels of musical experience with the art of creative reading. Considers parallels between responding to literature and music. Concludes that texts that invite readers into the world of music are plentiful and well-written. (SG)