Annotated Bibliography of Resources for Educational Reform, Coherent Teaching Practice, and Improved Student Learning

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• Pirie, B. (1997). Reshaping high school English. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Pirie describes an English program that blends philosophical depth with classroom practicality, utilizing reader-response theory and cultural studies as a framework for his ideas. He states that teachers must first develop their own understandings of the central goals of teaching EnglishÑunderstanding about what should be the structure of the English classroom of the future. He defines some of the key issues that teachers will discuss as they begin to develop this vision: How much and what content should be taught? How do teachers develop their own theories of teaching? When choosing classroom strategies what do teachers need to consider? How do teachers address the individual needs of students? How do teachers make the learning personal? He describes situations in which students make their own learnings with the assistance of the teacher; the students are not learners they are "makers" of knowledge.

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