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Form, content, and style are stressed in this quinmester program in the creative writing of short stories. The program, which is offered by the Dade County Public Schools, is designed for students who wish to improve their writing skills in order to compose a structured short story. Among the learning activities suggested by the program are awareness exercises; cultivation of sensory experiences; discussions of books, plays and movies; and character study. A resource list for students and teachers includes textbooks, reference materials, films, filmstrips, audio tapes, and records. (RS)

Ballads, legends, and short stories of the Old West are studied in this quinmester course of the Dade County High Schools. This language arts curriculum course is designed to teach students to separate facts from fiction associated with the Old West and to study the customs and traditions of the frontiersman. Among the suggested teaching strategies are construction of a time line, in depth study of the life style of one group of frontiersmen, preparation of an oral presentation, research papers, and group discussion. Bibliographies of student and teacher resources include textbooks, reference materials, publications, and media resources. (RS)

This study presents the second of four reports of the results of the 1970-71 National Assessment of Literature. The educational attainments of nine-year-olds, thirteen-year-olds, seventeen-year-olds, and adults (ages 26-35) were surveyed according to the subjects' ability to become engaged in, find meanings in, and evaluate a work of literature. Respondents made verbal remarks about poems and stories; these remarks were taperecorded and classified according to four categories developed by Alan Purves and Victoria Rippere: engagement-involvement, perception, interpretation, and evaluation. The respondents also wrote essays about stories or poems; these essays were classified as inadequate, barely adequate, adequate, or superior. The bulk of this report consists of sample responses to the exercises; judgments about the worth and implications of the responses are left to the reader. (Some charts have poor reproducibility due to type size; pages 179-231 containing statistical data of results are omitted because of nonreproducibility due to type size.) (DI) Primary type of information provided by report: Results (Topical).

Response to literature is the reader's response to the particular function of each element in a work; he is, or becomes, consciously aware of the ways in which aspects of the work interact to form the whole. Thus, response to narrative techniques--setting and exposition, dramatic moments, characterization, point of view, pattern and design, and words and language--is the special focus of the study. After reading two of the six short stories selected, 165 students from advanced high school English classes completed a multiple-choice comprehension test which was developed for each story and which identified and eliminated students who had read the story carelessly or with little understanding. Then, to provide information about response to particular aspects of the stories, each student selected from an inventory of eighteen comments those most like his own responses. The analysis of responses to one short story are presented. Through the method developed for this study, insight was gained into student response to particular stories. Also, this study leads to new possibilities for describing those responses and for facilitating deeper and more articulate reactions to particular literary works. All six inventories are included in the appendix. (TO)

Twenty-seven articles covering many phases of the language arts at all instructional levels, with an emphasis on the issues of individualization, are collected in this book. The broad scope of topics is revealed in such titles as "From Collages to Poetry,""Individualized Response to the Short Story,""Students Grade Themselves in Writing,""Inside the Classroom Without Walls,""Teacher-Student Dialogue,""How Much Editing in the Primary Grades?""Hawaii's Peer Tutoring Experiences,""Open Lab: Seeing Kids as People,""Homework: A Starting Point for Individualization," and "What Can We Really Individualize?" (This document previously announced as ED 045 666.) (MF)

Ideas for stimulating student writing and for publishing a school magazine to provide that writing with an audience are presented in this book. Creative writing programs and literary magazines for both elementary and secondary grades are discussed; the role of the literary magazine in the English program is evaluated; and the value of a student publication as a teaching device is described. A college magazine ("The Galleon," published at McMurry College, Abilene, Texas) and a yearly anthology (the "Oklahoma High School Anthology") are examined in detail. The critical ability of high school students and the necessity for maintaining a magazine's literary quality through imagination and continual evaluation are concluding topics. Appended materials include an annotated bibliography on writing, the results of a survey of high school literary magazines, suggested criteria for evaluating literary magazines, and an analysis of typical problems in college-level manuscripts. (This document previously announced as ED 025 517.) (LH)

This study is an exploratory attempt to discover how blacks perceive their interactions with whites, in this country. For this purpose it was necessary to examine materials written by black authors and aimed at black readers. It was decided to select such magazines appearing between 1965 and 1969 that had a wide circulation among black readership. The study was restricted to 36 short stories which contained some interactions between black and white characters. Each interaction was viewed as involving an initiator (Actor) and an object (Recipient) toward whom the interaction was directed. The Actor and Recipient together constituted a role-pair. The results indicate that blacks perceived whites initiating the interactions more in general than the blacks. However further analysis revealed that the blacks were seen as initiating more interactions when they were in the role-pairs of female-male, employee-employer, person helped-helping profession, citizen-police official, citizen-public official, and female-female; whereas whites initiate more interactions when they are in the role-pairs of male-female, employer-employee, helping profession-person helped, police official-citizen, public official-citizen, teacher-student, and male-male. (Author/JM)

This study presents the third of four reports of the 1970-71 National Assessment of Literature. The educational attainments of nine-year-olds, thirteen-year-olds, seventeen-year-olds, and adults (ages 26-35) were surveyed according to their ability to recognize literary works and characters. Five types of exercises were used: (1) an illustration of a well-known nursery rhyme, story, or poem; (2) parodies of famous poems; (3) allusions to some literary work or character; (4) a disguised myth or story pattern; and (5) straightforward questions about specific works and characters. Sample responses to the exercises and detailed results are included. The authors state that the ultimate goal of this study was to discover whether people could use their knowledge of literature to confront new situations, either in literature or in life. The judgment about what the presence or lack of this literary knowledge means is left to the reader. (Statistical data, pages 125-98, removed because small type size prohibits reproducibility.) (DI) Primary type of information provided by report: Results (Topical).

This report discusses the results of an evaluation of eleven high school elective, ungraded English courses offered by the Mount Diablo School District in California. The courses were evaluated by classroom teachers and administrators on the basis of modifications of nine of the twelve hypotheses derived from studies by Squire and Applebee regarding the characteristics that should be found in superior English programs. The courses were: the literature of fantasy, black literature, Russian literature, literary classics, Bible as literature, short story, developmental reading, the film, speed reading, humorous literature, and applied English. Appendixes include (1) a description of the ungraded English programs, (2) the evaluation assignment, (3) the nine hypotheses used in evaluating the courses, (4) the procedure for evaluation of the courses, (5) the classroom observation form, and (6) the student responses to the English courses. (DI)

Sinologists concerned with methods of teaching literature are exposed to an interpretive and structural approach to the field. Problems encountered in translating the Chinese short story into English are illustrated by several examples. A method of analysis of the thematic structure of a story is examined on three levels: (1) overt plot and theme structure, (2) patterns of literary allusions integral to the plot, and (3) less obvious patterns of verbal imagery and action related to the specific theme of a particular story. (RL)

The Chicano culture is searching for appropriate expression in art forms and literature. The Chicano novel and essay, often written in English, seem directed toward the North American public. The short story is the most varied in viewpoint and most versatile in form. Poetry captures the Chicano sensitivity. It is almost impossible to note the variety of forms, different languages, and mixtures of language in poetry. Drama is experimental and seeks to be didactic, using sarcasm and irony. The art forms most capable of changing the stereotype are written in English. Those forms most capable of reaching Chicanos are written in popular language or in Spanish. (VM)

This curriculum guide is intended to introduce elementary school students to Greek mythology. The authors suggest that the selections be presented by the teacher as lively and imaginative stories; the more abstract aspects of the myths should be largely ignored until students reach the junior high school level. In addition to the myths themselves, the guide also includes suggested teaching activities, questions for class discussion, and numerous illustrations. (See related documents CS 200 500, CS 200 502-CS 200 508.) (DI)

This curriculum guide is intended to introduce elementary school students to folktales and fairy tales. Three categories of tales, each containing four examples, are included: "Encounters with Wee Folk,""Foolish Use of Wishes," and "Unlikely Success." The folktales and fairy tales in this unit are described as "wonder tales," tales that occur in magical lands inhabited by real as well as magical people. The guide includes suggested teaching activities, questions for class discussion, and numerous illustrations. (See related documents CS 200 500-503, CS 200 505-508.) (DI)

This curriculum guide is intended to introduce fifth and sixth grade children to narrative prose and verse. The guide includes analyses of, suggested activities for, and questions about Rudyard Kipling's "The Cat That Walked by Himself," Jack London's "The Story of Keesh," Ernest Thompson Seton's "The Springfield Fox" (adapted by Ardis E. Burton), MacKinlay Kantor's "A Man Who Had No Eyes," Pearl Buck's "The Old Demon," Will F. Jenkins'"Night Drive," William Saroyan's "Locomotive 38, the Ojibway," Robert W. Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee," Alfred Noyes'"The Highwayman," Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat." and Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe." (Not all of the stories and poems discussed are included in the guide due to copyright restrictions.) (See related documents CS 200 500-CS 200 507.) (DI)

This curriculum guide is intended to introduce elementary school students to Norse mythology. Nine myths are included: "The Creation,""Yggdrasil,""A Meeting of the Gods,""The Fenris Wolf,""Thor's Journey,""The Theft of Thor's Hammer,""The Death of Balder,""The Punishment of Loki," and "Ragnarok: The Sun Sets on Asgard." The guide also includes suggested teaching activities, questions for class discussion, and numerous illustrations. (See related documents CS 200 500-501, CS 200 503-508.) (DI)

This curriculum guide is intended to introduce elementary school students to fables. The authors suggest that the fables not be studied as a unit, but that they be used periodically along with other genres of literature. The guide is organized into the following categories: (1) fables with animals, (2) fables with people, (3) inanimate objects, (4) animals wearing other animals' skins, (5) anthology, and (6) proverbs. In addition to the fables themselves, the guide also includes suggested teaching activities, questions for class discussion, and numerous illustrations. (See CS 200 501-CS 200 508 for related documents.) (DI)