Ken Donelson looks back on two classes that taught him that students are willing to share ideas when teachers are honest and reveal their biases and when classroom experiences are based on trust. Additionally, he recalls how important free reading and thematic units became to inciting authentic student responses to literature.

Sees no end to the problem of censorship in the schools and predicts that forms of censorship will not change in the 1980s. (DD)

Describes the qualities of ideal literature teachers and literature programs. (MM)

Presents sample undergraduate student responses to a question (given on the first day of a preservice English methods course) concerning memories of secondary school English teachers. (RS)

Presents a list of seven works of young-adult literature that are judged to be the best and most recommendable works published in 1992. Provides bibliographic information and extensive summary and analysis of each book. (HB)

Discusses use of films and film-making in secondary school English classes, pointing out the value of film study in literature and drama appreciation, and stating that film study is now an established teaching method growing in popularity. (JB)

Suggests using different newspaper accounts of the same news event to help composition students begin to understand that there is more than one correct way to write. (TJ)

Explains how students can be introduced to the delights and problems of lyric poetry by reading A.E. Housman's "Lovliest of Trees, the Cherry Now." (HOD)

Suggests how the "To be or not to be" speech from "Hamlet" as recorded by different artists can be used to demonstrate the possibility of many different interpretations of Shakespeare. (TJ)

Asserts that it is "better to leave kids' reading alone and hope for the best than to inflict adult reading tastes on young people." (Author/KS)

Proposes the newspaper as a source of plots, characters, and motivations that can be used by students for short story material. (FL)

Muses on the attempts that have been made to establish an august list of literary works to be taught in the secondary school and offers a personal opinion of book titles, ninth through twelfth grade, that are defensible on literary quality and are educationally worthwhile. (HOD)

Offers five personal views of censorship that were developed as a result of teaching English and fighting censorship. (HOD)

Offers quotes from articles about English teaching in the United States published in professional journals from 1847 to 1955. Suggests there never was a "golden age" of English teaching. Shows discussion and controversy about teaching writing, about what literature should be allowed in the schools, whether teaching grammar is worthwhile, and…

Lists basic skills which high school teachers should acquire in literature, language, composition, non-print media, and the general English curriculum. (DD)