Discusses 10 brief lessons using the daily newspaper that can add a variety of interesting and worthwhile activities to the English classroom. (RS)

Describes and analyzes the composition textbooks, or first books of compositions, all written between 1838 and 1855, which were all markedly different from the best-known writing texts of the period. Provides a broader account of how writing was taught in the mid-nineteenth century in America. (HB)

Questions whether the discourse of community tends to deny full participation to people who differ from the consensual values of the majority. Argues that participation in an ethical discourse community must be guided by an ethics that directs people to value their differences. Reviews critiques of community. Presents an alternative discourse. (HB)

Responds to an article in the same issue by Ann Ruggles Gere entitled, "Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms: The Extracurriculum of Composition." Gives two examples of "extracurricular" readers and writers that have been neglected by historians: African-American literary societies and community-based writing groups. (HB)

Examines the growing influence of Mikhail Bakhtin in a variety of fields. Describes two dominant strains that permeate Bakhtin's philosophical project: phenomenology and Marxism. Argues that the ambivalence displayed between these two poles in Bakhtin's work suggests an ambivalence in the larger arena of literary studies. (HB)

Examines the connection between the fields of English instruction and philosophy. Questions the feasibility of philosophical categories in today's classrooms, and proposes a "postneopragmatism" for teachers. Argues that teachers cannot let philosophy and theory intimidate them. (HB)

Considers the emergence of English Romanticism in the early 19th century as the advent of new ways of thinking and knowing. Compares the cognitive skills of romanticism with the development of adolescent cognition. Shows how English teachers can tailor literature instruction to foster the insights of romantic understanding. (HB)

Reviews and critiques a new writing textbook by LaRene Despain: "Writing: A Workshop Approach." Considers especially the types of writing assignments advocated and the kinds of skills needed for researched argumentative essays. (HB)

Examines the deliberations prior to the Challenger disaster from the perspective of three major approaches in recent scholarship in rhetoric as applied to technical communications: positivism, postmodernistic social constructionism, and classical Aristotelianism. Champions an approach based on Aristotle's "Rhetoric." (HB)

Considers what makes up the sensibilities and personal traits of a writer. Describes how one writer learned to express herself through a particular writing workshop. Outlines the reasons writers write and lists some tricks of the trade. (HB)

Describes the sensibilities and temperament that make a successful, daily writer. Questions why writers write. Attempts to define what it is that makes a writer write. (HB)

Describes one key goal of writing instruction as being to help students develop successful rituals in their writing processes. Compares two kinds of writers: Beethovians and Mozartians, or discoverers and planners. Relates these two groups to writing instruction, and suggests a combination as a third group. (HB)

Attempts to map out the trends and possible prospects for the field of technical communications and writing. Considers technical communication's changing relationships with various other disciplines, such as schools of business, engineering, and communications. (HB)

Critiques a recent book by Madeleine R. Grumet called "Bitter Milk: Women and Teaching." Shows how Grumet's thesis is useful for writing center workers, insofar as both claim that knowledge evolves in the context of human relationships. (HB)

Provides an account of the recent right-wing backlash in the United States against trends in higher education. Traces the continuing "crisis in English" to historical origins of humanities as a sequestered enclave. Suggests that this conflict will largely determine the future of English instruction. (HB)