A Short Introduction to Climate Literacy is an informational zine produced by the Center for Climate Literacy at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, with text by Dr. Marek Oziewicz and illustrations by Emma Ambrosi. The initial idea for this zine was to provide a brief and accessible way for the general public to learn … Continue reading A Short Introduction to Climate Literacy by Marek Oziewicz and Emma Ambrosi (Introduced by Emma Ambrosi)
Integrating Social Studies Through the Read-Aloud by Hiawatha Smith and McKenzie Rabenn
Before reading this article, we encourage readers to think and reflect openly and honestly on the two questions presented below. Introduction Knowledge of social studies and the world is crucial for every citizen and thus should be an essential component within schools. In recent years, there has been a notable decline in elementary content area … Continue reading Integrating Social Studies Through the Read-Aloud by Hiawatha Smith and McKenzie Rabenn
Cross-Cultural Competence and Caring For: An Autoethnographic Study on Building Teacher-Student Relationships in an Urban High School by André Borka
Introduction At the end of the day on the last day of school, all the teachers line up outside of the exit doors and clap for students as they leave for summer break. It was my first “last day of school” as a teacher. As I stood, clapped, and cheered for the students, one of … Continue reading Cross-Cultural Competence and Caring For: An Autoethnographic Study on Building Teacher-Student Relationships in an Urban High School by André Borka
Reading Worlds and Words: Building and Sustaining Culturally Diverse Learners’ Vocabularies by Terrance Kwame-Ross
Introduction Helping culturally diverse learners become conscious of the power of building, constructing, and sustaining a personal storehouse of words and vocabularies is the end goal of vocabulary teaching and learning in language arts. When learners become comfortable and competent in recognizing and knowing when, where, why, and how words work and understand how to … Continue reading Reading Worlds and Words: Building and Sustaining Culturally Diverse Learners’ Vocabularies by Terrance Kwame-Ross
A Review of Brett Pierce’s Expanding Literacy: Bringing Digital Storytelling Into Your Classroom by Marly Schrom
Screen time during students’ downtime has become inevitable. As a first year teacher, I started the year knowing there would be times when my students would have downtime in class, and I wasn’t going to fight them using their devices. After all, I did the same thing when I was in high school and I … Continue reading A Review of Brett Pierce’s Expanding Literacy: Bringing Digital Storytelling Into Your Classroom by Marly Schrom
A New Co-Editor, and a Note on Documentation of Sources in MEJ
The 2023 issue of Minnesota English Journal marks my seventh year as Editor—about as long a tenure as any past editor of the journal. I love this work; helping brilliant and passionate contributors reach our large and growing audience is a pleasure that sustains me through all the challenges that come with this role. Still, … Continue reading A New Co-Editor, and a Note on Documentation of Sources in MEJ
A College Class Responds to Book Bans by Kathryn Van Wert
Assembled here is a selection of final projects from ENGL 4395: Banned, Burned, and Challenged, an upper-division special topics course offered at the University of Minnesota Duluth in spring 2023. We studied frequently challenged texts from the last seventy years, including classics, memoirs, graphic novels, and young adult fiction, and we explored the controversies surrounding … Continue reading A College Class Responds to Book Bans by Kathryn Van Wert
Four Poems by William Tecku
THE BAYFRONT BLUES FESTIVAL Deaf to the singing day the Aerial Lift Bridge rings its bell.A steel girder curtain of sky rises.Upstage from Lake SuperiorGreat Lakes boats and oceangoing ships promenadeunder the bridge and cymbal ride into the harbor. Shy as guys who trip up to girls to ask them to dance,green, red, and white … Continue reading Four Poems by William Tecku
Help Minnesota Teachers Do Better: Fund Culturally Sensitive Training by Tanya J. Stafsholt Miller
A quote attributed to Maya Angelou reads, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better” (qtd. in Treuer). The Minnesota public education system has made significant strides toward improving the education of Native American students. At different intervals throughout history, attempts have been made to improve the … Continue reading Help Minnesota Teachers Do Better: Fund Culturally Sensitive Training by Tanya J. Stafsholt Miller
Hunger Would Be Creation: Leveraging Diverse Brains by Bryan Boyce
In 2015, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a policy about when to execute people with intellectual disabilities that was crafted on an 80-year-old work of fiction. I’m an English teacher. Our class motto my last year teaching K-12 was “reading and writing are opportunities to decide how we live our lives.” It’s hard … Continue reading Hunger Would Be Creation: Leveraging Diverse Brains by Bryan Boyce
MEJ 