Helping Students Get Comfortable with Grammar
  Mary Ann Goetzel

Years ago I taught sixth grade English, and I have to admit I used the old methods: "drill and kill" exercises, memorization of rules of grammar and punctuation, and dull, unimaginative writing assignments. I just didn't know how to spark interest or to get across to my students the importance of the subject matter. Since then, as a substitute teacher for the past 17 years, I have been responsible for carrying out the lesson plans of other teachers. I haven't had to concern myself with what works or does not work in the classroom; I have simply presented the lessons as they were laid out for me. However, that experience afforded me the unique opportunity of observing first hand a variety of different teaching methods.   full text

Editors' Note:
  Karen Heise

Regardless of era, contemporary views about literature and literary theory evoke strong reactions. Postmodernism chides the arrogance of intellectualism but also ridicules the defenselessness found in ignorance. It assumes the information it demands we not take earnestly. Postmodernism understands itself as coexisting with various other ideological concepts. Both postmodernism and modernism attempt to place order and theory on everything; however, such terms described by general descriptions or defined too specifically lose meaning. I shall not attempt to define postmodernism but will examine several subsystems within a postmodernism theoretical framework in order to reveal the timeless nature and usefulness of postmodern mentality in both American literature and the classroom.   full text

Teaching Inequalities
  Michael Hays

Zero-Tolerance
  Dennis Connor

John Steinbeck's Morality:
  Alana Pieper

Peeper's Pond
  Elizabeth K. Haller

The heavy whooshing of the air conditioner does nothing to subdue the hard, crunching sound of my tires against the narrow dirt road. The length of a long, thick branch settled atop two smaller branches jetting about two feet out of the ground is the only defining parameter of the space allotted for vehicle parking. As I check the rearview mirror in a habitual, precautionary manner prior to pulling into a parking spot, I notice a billowy beige cloud trailing behind my car. Upon stepping out of the car, I am struck by two things: the beauty of my surroundings and the dry smell of the dirt cloud filling my nostrils. Except for the space just beyond the parking branch--wherein lies a small open field of grass with three trail markers, placed in a seemingly indiscriminant manner around its borders--large trees with plentiful green leaves encompass the scope of my sight...  full text