This essay focuses on the ability of the political cartoon to enhance history instruction. A trend in recent years is for social studies teachers to use these graphics to enhance instruction. Cartoons have the ability to: (1) empower teachers to demonstrate excellence during lessons; (2) prepare students for standardized tests containing cartoon…

Offering activities for secondary school students and amateur creative writers, this book demonstrates how teachers can break out of "high culture" stereotypes that make students think poetry has no connection with real life. Part one discusses the essentials of poetry and the roles of poets from ancient oral cultures to the present. The…

Based on constructivist theory (emphasizing meaning generation rather than communication), the study described in this report clarifies and elaborates on the definition of the term "expressive writing." First, the paper offers a rationale for the study and a discussion of the research methodology, which combined analysis of texts and…

One of the most effective vehicles for testing students is new material, but it is frequently difficult to find selections by authors with whom students have no familiarity or about whom an abundance of critical material does not exist. The works of Lawrence Ferlinghetti provide an excellent source not only for testing knowledge, but also for…

An English instructor at the University of Central Arkansas observed three problems students encounter with the often formidable writings of John Milton and developed strategies for alleviating those problems. The first problem was the difficulty posed by the vocabulary and syntax of "Paradise Lost." The instructor discussed with the…

A stylistics-based approach to teaching poetry in the English as a foreign language classroom is examined. Since students may not have the linguistic skills to appreciate a poem, an analytical framework is proposed that includes the elements of repetition, confusion, and surprise. Reference is made to two poems, "In a Season of Unemployment"…

A study was conducted to examine children's ability to deal with a particular form of figurative language, the simile, and the changes occurring in this ability as a result of regular, planned exposure to the form. Before and after an eight-week reading tutorial program, 17 children in the experimental group and 10 children in the control group…

Noting that while laboratory investigations of recordings of children's spontaneous verbal creations or repetitions of traditional forms in their natural play habitats have indicated that they do engage in systematic explorations of language structures in their play, this paper points out that there have been no investigations of whether such…

The reading habits by which students formulate a critical analysis of a literary work should focus attention on the choices that a writer makes when putting words on paper. These choices include sound, diction, language, imagery, organization, metaphors, sentence structure, transitions, allusions, and patterns. Discussing these choices does not…

In the absence of guidelines for "a purely literary study" of the Bible at the secondary school level, this discussion is offered as one English teacher's approach to teaching the Old Testament. Among the unit's major purposes are to increase students' appreciation of the literary and ethical values of the Bible and to acquaint them with material…

Linguistic cues evoke prestructured beliefs in people's minds regarding the nature and causes of public problems. Political language can shape people's opinions and thereby shape events. There appear to be two beliefs or myths that people use to explain social problems: the first sees the sufferer as responsible for his own plight in a basically…

Historical incidents, photographs of sheet music, cartoons, and advertisements are employed to study language in this textbook. The text, suggestions, and quoted material in the book are to be used not only for the study of language but also as sources for writing. It is recommended that journal entries, more fresh and spontaneous than formal…

A simple metaphor about a dipper and a bucket and decades of research to show how even the briefest interactions affect relationships, productivity, health, and longevity, is used in this book. In the short time since the book's release, educators and administrators have already discovered that creating a positive environment can have a powerful…

We report on one aspect of a longitudinal study which seeks insight into the ways in which spreadsheet experience and teachers' pedagogic strategies shape pupils' construction of meaning for algebra. Using data from stimulated recall interviews we analyse the evolution of meaning for variable through the mediation of the variable cell and the…

This study had two purposes: (1) to determine when children distinguish ambiguous from precise messages and when they can resolve ambiguity through additional questioning, and (2) to identify whether implicit messages were more difficult to identify than explicit ones. All children found ambiguous messages significantly more difficult to…