Describes an exercise to elicit student interpretations of Robert Wallace's poem, "Ungainly Things." (MM)

Four principles are presented for teaching children, across age and grade levels, to write and enjoy writing: interrelating literature and writing, teaching writing as an intellectual rather than a mechanical process, emphasizing process over product, and teaching writing as a holistic process rather than a set of isolated skills. (PB)

Describes the use of character journals (a written diary kept by the reader who assumes the role of the main character) with a group of eighth-grade students. Shows how students think more about what they are reading and come away with a better sense of their own identity. (SR)

Combining freshman composition and introduction to literature courses can make students active participants in what they read. In one course, students were instructed to read a literary work for a class. When the class met, the students were to write the name of the assigned story, the author, and anything they wanted to write about the story.…

Outlines a course which uses dominant metaphors to connect the arts (particularly art, music, and literature) and which features discussions and student response journals ("thought-logs") to tap the pattern-perceiving potential of the right brain. (MM)

The reader-response journal has proven useful in the literature-based composition class; it is also useful in the literature survey at the sophomore or junior level of college. Survey courses have a standard protocol that students have come to expect. In these classes, the teacher is an expert who lectures on historical background, trends, and…

Teaching models, derived from theory and research, are static, and lack responsibility. Models substitute an abstracted notion for teachers. Literature can be viewed as a field of play, where meaning opens, rather than as a body of knowledge. The teacher's challenge consists of posing questions that allow students to formulate their takes on a…

Suggests teaching Paul Zindel's HARRY AND HORTENSE AT HORMONE HIGH in conjunction with Charles Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS to ninth graders and Homer's ODYSSEY, and teaching HARRY AND HORTENSE in conjunction with CATCHER IN THE RYE to seniors. Provides discussion questions for HARRY AND HORTENSE. (MM)

Describes how, in an American literature survey class, the characteristics of literary periods are underscored by seeing them reflected in contemporary visual arts, via a creative writing assignment, and by cooperating with the local museum. (SR)

Discusses a pilot project in New York City that affords high school students the opportunity to participate in their community's literary life and to have live encounters with contemporary writers. Provides samples of writing by students involved in the program. (KEH)

Advocates using literature logs and literature discussion groups as an effective way to develop a community of readers. Looks at the different kinds of comments and questions that a class of fifth graders wrote in their literature logs. (SR)

Outlines the importance of a literature-based curriculum that encourages higher-order thinking skills. Discusses the reader-response approach to language arts teaching as a valuable instructional process, that emphasizes the connections between what is in a text and the reader's previous knowledge and experience, thus fostering higher-order…

Contemporary poetry can be of value in the study of composition as a model of careful, concise, and effective use of language. Students can observe and, hopefully, imitate the poet's precise use of (1) vocabulary, (2) supporting materials, (3) introductions and conclusions, (4) transitional words and phrases, and (5) a variety of types of diction…

Written in narrative form, a study examined the impact of using writing as a learning tool in an upper-division college course in Seventeenth Century literature. The study investigated: (1) student writing samples of both informal and transactional writing forms; (2) the impact of writing-to-learn on course objectives; (3) the impact of informal…