The elusive concept of style is all around us – from those HGTV buzzwords like “Dutch colonial” and “farmhouse” to the revolving door of fashion trends like vintage, couture, and athleisure. However, despite our constant engagement with style, our students have a difficult time identifying an author’s particular style, often simplifying their observations to bland, … Continue reading Using Film to Teach Style by Susan Decker
Offering a Hand Up: Insights and Aid for First-Generation Students by Whitney Jacobson
*Essay adapted from a 2022 MCTE Spring Conference presentation I have taught at the university level for over nine years. I’m the editor of Confluence (formerly CLArion), the annual newsletter of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I’m also an assistant editor of Split Rock Review, a … Continue reading Offering a Hand Up: Insights and Aid for First-Generation Students by Whitney Jacobson
Meg Carney Is Still Climbing by Burke Scarbrough
The morning I became a real college professor, I met Meg Carney. She was one in a cohort of fifteen undergraduate teaching majors who were sizing up their newly-hired advisor and instructor. They were now in the business end of their degree program; liberal education and literature courses were giving way to classes about teaching … Continue reading Meg Carney Is Still Climbing by Burke Scarbrough
Introducing the MEJ Archive
58 years of Minnesota English Journal When I began editing MEJ in 2017, I was discovering the journal for the first time. I had lived and taught in Minnesota for only five years, and apart from a shelf of back issues that I carried to the recycle bin as I moved into Linda Miller Cleary's … Continue reading Introducing the MEJ Archive
Meeting Students Where They Need: A First-Year Reflection by Kassandra Rood
Don’t finish the book if you hate it. Find something you like. Pencils are on my desk. If you’re tired, rest your eyes. Yes, you can eat food here. All phrases I never thought I would say in my classroom. This is an English class; of course they have to finish every book they start. … Continue reading Meeting Students Where They Need: A First-Year Reflection by Kassandra Rood
Re/Defining Curriculum: Poetry as a Pedagogical Tool by J. Scott Baker, Savanna Alfonso, Brittany R. Brinkman, Daniel Gebur, Mallory Morris, Tyler J. Rummel, and Lidiah K. Zipp
Introduction Over the last seven years, working in two Midwest teacher education programs, I have become concerned with how many preservice teachers (PTs) see “curriculum” as tangible items, not a process. For many PTs, curriculum is exclusively state or federal standards or a textbook they are required to follow; so, my challenge as a teacher … Continue reading Re/Defining Curriculum: Poetry as a Pedagogical Tool by J. Scott Baker, Savanna Alfonso, Brittany R. Brinkman, Daniel Gebur, Mallory Morris, Tyler J. Rummel, and Lidiah K. Zipp
Story Train: A Strategy for Retelling, Summarizing, and Sequencing by Jongsun Wee
Reading is not an easy task for young readers. Children need to practice various reading strategies to become skillful readers. A lot of reading strategies have been shared with educators through professional books and websites.[1] Simple keywords searches on the internet will also bring many resources for teachers, including how-to videos and downloadable worksheets. Indeed, … Continue reading Story Train: A Strategy for Retelling, Summarizing, and Sequencing by Jongsun Wee
Establishing Contact: The Idea of Writing Center Studies by Jennifer Forsthoefel
In the physical writing center space, we encounter the mass differences that exist across the student and faculty population as well as the disciplines these populations are housed in. As a result, writing centers have made possible in the past, and create new possibility in the future for, teaching and learning across varying disciplines, positions, … Continue reading Establishing Contact: The Idea of Writing Center Studies by Jennifer Forsthoefel
Teaching Animal Farm in Central America by Taylore Lenway
In high school, I decided that I wanted to be an English teacher, and I followed that goal to the University of Minnesota Duluth. I cannot speak highly enough of the preparation I received, through word and example, at UMD, and despite the many curveballs thrown by COVID-19, I completed a fairly normal student teaching … Continue reading Teaching Animal Farm in Central America by Taylore Lenway
Education in the Time of Pandemic: Projects to Engage Student Inquiry by Joaquin Muñoz and Abigail Eck
The purpose of this article is to describe curricular adjustments made to a course in response to the Covid-19 pandemic which began in the United States in 2020. We intend to approach this paper in a collaborative spirit, as student and teacher, to describe the distinct experiences of implementing the adaptations we describe. While developed … Continue reading Education in the Time of Pandemic: Projects to Engage Student Inquiry by Joaquin Muñoz and Abigail Eck
MEJ 