English Journal, Vol. 86, No. 6, October 1997

Table of Contents

Issue Theme: Writing and Rewriting: Issues and Practices in the English Classroom

• Who Says So? Ownership, Authorship, and Privacy in Process Writing Classrooms

  Karyn E. Schweiker-Marra, Mary Broglie, and Elizabeth Plumer

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Presents three articles that examine, through the classroom experiences of the authors, important issues of ownership, authorship, and privacy in process writing classrooms: (1) "Use of Students' Writing as Models in the Classroom" (Karyn E. Schweiker-Marra); (2) Privacy Issues Regarding Workshops" (Mary Broglie); and (3) "Problems of Privacy and Ownership in District-wide Writing Programs" (Elizabeth Plumer).

  Keywords: Secondary, Writing

• Walking, Tinkertoys, and Legos: Using Movement and Manipulatives to Help Students Write

  Linda Hecker

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes how students who are learning disabled can improve their writing skills through physical movement and manipulating visuals. Describes how movement draws on kinesthetic intelligence and manipulatives draw on spatial intelligence to help students understand language structures in nonverbal ways that may be more intuitive than verbal explanations. Shows that manipulatives can also help students organize their ideas.

  Keywords: Secondary, Writing

• Notes from the Wise: Bringing Professional Study Notes into the Classroom

  Diane Jones Skelton

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes a two-week unit in a high school English class which teaches high school students how, why, and when to use professional study notes, such as "Cliffs Notes." Prepares students with the skills to research and write their own notes.

  Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, Writing

• Disconnected

  Monica A. Osei

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Relates the story of how the author connected for the first time, in the 11th grade, with writing, awakening in her something she did not know she had.

  Keywords: Secondary, Literature

• Why I Am a Multiculturalist: The Power of Stories Told and Untold

  Mary D. Dilg

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Explores the many reasons to read and teach multicultural literature, including to know oneself and others, and because people still lead largely segregated lives. Considers the impact of including and excluding lives and cultures. Responds to opposition to including these works, and details the power of multicultural literature to move students.

  Keywords: Secondary, Literature

• The Way to Confusion

  Gary L. McLaughlin

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes the creation and teaching of a high school elective course on American Indian literature, and discusses how a workshop on Native American literature challenged the teacher's beliefs and practices. Concludes that it is important to address the limitations non-Native readers bring to this literature but that those limitations need not confine what students choose to read.

  Keywords: Secondary, Literature

• The Siren Song That Keeps Us Coming Back: Multicultural Resources for Teaching Classical Mythology

  Elise Ann Earthman

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Notes the presence of references to classical mythology throughout modern culture, and offers an annotated list of 43 works of contemporary fiction, poetry, and drama that use mythological sources and that can help close the gap between today's students and the gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters of long ago.

  Keywords: Secondary, Literature

• The Quiet Girls

  Cathleen F. Greenwood

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Discusses some Japanese cultural concepts and student behavior that grows out of them. Suggests a number of classroom techniques that recognize and accommodate these cultural concepts while helping Japanese learners adjust to American classrooms.

  Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy

• Unsettling Drafts: Helping Students See New Possibilities in Their Writing

  Susan Tchudi, Heidi Estrem, and Patti-Anne Hanlon

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Susan Tchudi, Heidi Estrem, and Patti-Anne Hanlon describe a variety of methods for revision through the examples of students working to revise their papers.

  Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, Writing

• Writing Portfolios: Active vs. Passive

  Bonita L. Wilcox

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Defines passive and active writing portfolios, suggesting artifacts to include in an active portfolio and ways to move outcomes from passive to active.

  Keywords: Secondary, Assessment, Writing

• Minimizing Writing Apprehension in the Learner-Centered Classroom

  LaVona L. Reeves

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: “Minimizing Writing Apprehension in the Learner-Centered Classroom” by LaVona L. Reeves lists the characteristics of apprehensive writers and offers a number of strategies for drawing them out.

  Keywords: Secondary, Pedagogy, Writing

• Pamphlets: An Introduction to Research Techniques

  Janet Northrup

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes a four- to six-week project for high school sophomores in which students create pamphlets and in the process learn basic research skills and practice several elements of the research paper.

  Keywords: Secondary, Research, Writing

• RainbowTeachers/Rainbow Students: The Tesoros Literacy Project: Treasuring Students' Lives

  Todd DeStigter

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes a project in a southeast Michigan high school in which Latino English-as-a-Second-Language students worked collaboratively for 10 weeks with at-risk working-class Anglo counterparts from an 11th-grade American literature class. Describes reading and writing activities that centered around the notion that students should search for and value the treasures of their own experience.

  Keywords: Secondary

• Teaching Ideas

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes how an English teacher uses ghost stories in his classroom to further students' interest in and understanding of epics. Presents a short unit in which all the class work focuses on scary kinds of things.

  Keywords: Secondary

• Global Issues: Rhetoric Reconsidered-Here and Abroad

  Bea Naff with Theila Schnaufer

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Describes a project in a third-year Latin class in a high school in the Appalachian foothills in which students (1) identified and analyzed classical rhetorical devices in speeches by Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr.; (2) used rhetorical frames; and (3) wrote their own speeches as part of a year-long writing exchange with senior-level English students in England.

  Keywords: Secondary

• New Teachers: Becoming a Balanced Teacher: Idealist Goals, Realist Expectations

  Jason Farr

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Considers what influences the idealistic preconceptions (or fantasies) of student English teachers. Examines various models, found in journal articles, movies, Socrates and Plato, and in this very journal. Examines two books that helped the author reformulate his ideals and find new, more satisfying models.

  Keywords: Secondary

• Letters to EJ

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Available in print version only.

  Keywords: Secondary

• From the Editor

  Virginia R. Monseau

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Secondary

• One Person's Opinion: Sticks and Stones: Whose Name Is It, Anyway?

  Rosanne Dattilo Nelson

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Secondary

• Resources and Reviews: Making Literature Meaningful for All Students: Practice Meets Theory in Reader Response

  Bonnie Ericson

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Secondary

• Software: Review of Rookie Reporter

  Stephen A. Bernhardt

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Secondary

• Bedside Table: Silent Stories of a Special Place

  Donna C. Neumann

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Secondary

• This World of English

  Daniel A. Heller

  • Show Abstract
  • Hide Abstract

  Abstract: Abstract for this article is currently not available.

  Keywords: Middle, Secondary

* Journal articles are provided in PDF format and can be opened using the free Adobe® Reader® program or a comparable viewer. Click here to download and install the most recent version of Adobe Reader.