As my (Mariah's) own social media feeds were flooded with fake news and articles about fake news, my thoughts turned to students who must also be grappling with the tricky questions of reliability and veracity in this digital landscape. In English classes, we often ask students to be critical consumers of texts and media. The … Continue reading #StayWoke: Empowering Students to Respond to Fake News by Mariah Morin & Heather Hurst
Centering LGBTQ People of Color with Young Adult Literature in Secondary ELA by Cody Miller & Kathleen Colantonio-Yurko
As English language arts teachers, we believe young adult literature offers an avenue for voices and experiences that are largely ignored by canonical texts. LGBTQ voices are among those omitted from many English language arts textbooks. In the past, we relied heavily on young adult literature to provide our students LGBTQ texts. However, the mostly … Continue reading Centering LGBTQ People of Color with Young Adult Literature in Secondary ELA by Cody Miller & Kathleen Colantonio-Yurko
Centering Students’ Voices in a Public Speaking Genre Study by Burke Scarbrough
Today’s students have access to stirring, powerful text in an ever widening array of forms. As we invite our students to discover the power of the carefully crafted written word, many of those students are even more strongly inclined to celebrate the power of language in oral performance. I’m referring to the genres and media … Continue reading Centering Students’ Voices in a Public Speaking Genre Study by Burke Scarbrough
Public Grammar: Creating Community by Larry Gavin
There are five things most educators can agree on. First, most educators value student questions as a measure of student engagement in the classroom. Actually, questions are frequently the most important thing because they move the conversation forward and verbalize learning. They make learning occur “out loud.” Second, the more heterogeneous, the better. The beautiful … Continue reading Public Grammar: Creating Community by Larry Gavin
Seriously, What’s the Difference? by Jeanette Lukowski
It all began with an article from The New York Times titled “The Community College / ‘Real College’ Divide.” The article was part of an assessment tool being used by the community college for whom I was an Adjunct English Instructor that fall semester of 2016; the Assessment Coordinator was asking all teachers of Composition I … Continue reading Seriously, What’s the Difference? by Jeanette Lukowski
A Few Confessions of an English Teacher by Alexandra Glynn
Preparing for classes rouses up the guilt again. I teach writing, but I don’t do what I tell my students to do. I plagiarize, in a sense, all the time. I don’t read articles; I skim them enough to make them seem read. And when I write, I really don’t consider any of the items … Continue reading A Few Confessions of an English Teacher by Alexandra Glynn
Listening to the Silence: Addressing Anxiety Disorders in Our Schools by Abby Rosen
As teachers, we ask a lot of our students. We demand not only respect for our authority, but curiosity, effort, and perseverance in the face of failure and humiliation. They also ask a lot of us: content mastery, understanding, and the ability to constantly adapt to new challenges. Usually, students rise to our expectations with … Continue reading Listening to the Silence: Addressing Anxiety Disorders in Our Schools by Abby Rosen
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