Despite the familiar American scene of lined-up students being ushered out of school buildings while their classmates lay wounded or dead inside, and despite repeated calls for restrictions on the guns used in such shootings, nearly twenty years after Columbine, the gun lobby retains a powerful grip on the nation's politicians - using money and…

One way to merge imagination with problem-posing and problem-solving in the English classroom is by asking students to respond to "cultural and political vignettes" (CPVs). CPVs are cultural and political situations that are presented to students so that they can practice the creative and essential decision-making skills that they will need to use…

Drawing connections between Chaucer, Eminem, and social issues, New York City high school teacher Tom Liam Lynch helped students become familiar with "The Canterbury Tales." Students wrote poems of rhymed couplets about today's social and political issues, created illuminated manuscripts, and recorded a rap CD. A book and album were…

Describes the activities in a high school English class aimed at bringing attention through the media to a local political issue. Outlines how teachers can initiate students into acts of social and political activism by writing letters. Narrates how one teacher got students directly involved with a local sewage-treatment problem. Includes an…

Describes one teacher's approach to teaching students how to write research papers by involving them in providing practical proposals to significant problems faced by their schools. Gives a step-by-step outline for producing the final research essay. (HB)

Discusses the political relevance of Miller's play about Salem witch trials to (1) the McCarthy era hearings, and (2) current cases between religious fundamentalists and school curriculum boards. Summarizes the history of these events and relates them to an interpretation of "The Crucible." (JG)