English Journal - Volume 88, Issue 4, 1999

Argues that lists of great books ought to reflect both the comic and tragic sides. Discusses problems of censorship and of translation when presenting comic works to classrooms full of teenagers. Describes how the author approaches the teaching of Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata,” offering students a bowdlerized text and inviting them to improve it.

Describes how the author uses the character George from the television comedy “Seinfeld” to offer her students a challenging inquiry into cultural studies in relation to television character analysis. Describes how the author uses a particular episode to discuss the relation between George’s workplace travails and broader issues of cultural disillusion.

Describes how one high school English teacher used humor when teaching Shakespearean tragedy. Describes how this improved students’ attitudes and appreciation of the tragedies, helped them appreciate literature devices in the plays, and helped them review prior to their exam.

Describes how high school students can give J. Alfred Prufrock (from T.S. Eliot’s serious poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”) a “makeover” so he can acquire more self-confidence. Shows how this makeover exercise can lead students to a deeper general understanding and appreciation of complex literary characters and of a poem, story, or play.

Describes how one high school English teacher uses puns on a regular basis to augment his vocabulary reviews. Argues that doing so aids in developing students’ vocabulary, since it compels students to pay closer attention and gives many students a chance to display their creative-thinking skills.

Compares the effects of different types of humor in the classroom: humor drawn from literature, humor at the expense of literature, humor that puts someone down, humor that builds up or shapes identity, and humor as a classroom-management tool. Shows how teachers can use laughter as a conduit for students to find humor in what they read and write.

Lynn Langer Meeks describes her use of Brian Cambourne’s theory of literacy learning—immersion, demonstration, expectations, responsibility, approximations, employment, response, and engagement—as a way to make it more likely for her students to learn.

Argues that the IRA/NCTE Standards should provide a starting point for both local and national discussions of what it means to have standards, what effects standards can have, and how to go about developing them. Offers a set of questions that teachers might consider regarding what their own standards might be.

Argues that computer technology has decentered high school English teachers. Describes a private high school with full computer access for every student; addresses issues this raises in the English department; describes three cyber activities used in the author’s American literature classroom; and discusses the advantages of this decentralization.

Describes how a middle school English/language arts teacher had students paint in watercolors their responses to the novel the class was reading. Describes how this approach signficantly improved the rate and quality of student participation, and brought out new voices and fresh readings of the text.

Offers (from the perspective of a first-year teacher) five guidelines to student teachers to help make their student teaching semester more useful and enjoyable. Includes a response from a veteran English teacher.

Presents 10 short articles written by high school and middle school teachers about specific picture books they recommend and how they use them in their classrooms. Concludes with an extensive list of picture books containing examples of specific literary devices.

Offers a brief description of the Third International Conference for Global Conversations on Language and Literacy, held in Bordeaux, France, in August 1998. Gives brief summaries of five conference presentations or sessions.

Discusses how alien students and teachers are to each other, especially when it comes to literature. Argues that these differences are at the root of many difficulties faced in helping students become readers and appreciate literature. Offers brief descriptions of 10 new or overlooked young-adult books worth reading.

Argues that humor is an invaluable teaching tool in English classes. Describes how the author and her students: found humor an important means of discovering profound truths in Shakespeare’s dramas; enjoyed the epic “Paradise Lost”; worked with satire in Chaucer; and used humor in students’ own creative activities.

Available in print version only.