From beloved heartwarming Christmas melodies to intense songs of angry political and social protest, music is one of the most emotionally charged forms of expression. Although the psychological research behind that statement is fascinatingly complex, the layman’s explanation is quite simple: music is a powerful combination of both lyrics and sounds. These two elements work … Continue reading Using Concept Albums to Engage with Layers of Theme by Susan Decker
New Kinds of Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors: Destigmatizing Mental Health in Our Classrooms through Young Adult Literature by Rebecca Chatham-Vazquez
A review of Kia Jane Richmond's Mental Illness in Young Adult Literature: Exploring Real Struggles through Fictional Characters. ABC-CLIO, 2019. After meeting Kia Jane Richmond at the Annual NCTE Convention in Baltimore in 2019, I knew I had to read her work. Rather than starting with a short article—of which she has written many—I began … Continue reading New Kinds of Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors: Destigmatizing Mental Health in Our Classrooms through Young Adult Literature by Rebecca Chatham-Vazquez
Beyond Color: Strategies for Introducing Diverse Books, and Some Book Recommendations Too by Rosalind Hudson and Hiawatha Smith
Reflection Pause for a moment and reflect on your response to these thought-provoking questions: Introduction The world is rich in diversity, and it is crucial for students to learn about and engage with this diversity. Diversity encompasses much more than the representation of “color” and the well-known non-dominant groups; it reflects the broader pluralistic world. … Continue reading Beyond Color: Strategies for Introducing Diverse Books, and Some Book Recommendations Too by Rosalind Hudson and Hiawatha Smith
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
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
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World: A Cautionary Tale of Totalitarian Ideology by Shahin Hossain
In Texts and Pretexts, first published in 1932, while discussing his concern regarding the present and future, Aldous Huxley asserted, “Personally, I must confess, I am more interested in what the world is now than in what it will be, or what it might be if improbable conditions were fulfilled” (6). In the same year, … Continue reading Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World: A Cautionary Tale of Totalitarian Ideology by Shahin Hossain
Shoes, Rap Music, and Guns: Transitional Objects as Objective Correlatives in Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone by Tanya Stafsholt Miller
When a person has gone through extreme trauma, writing about it can have a healing effect. The act of shaping the words on a page puts the trauma outside the self and becomes an entity of its own that can be shaped and molded. Some trauma victims use writing to expunge emotional baggage—writing it down … Continue reading Shoes, Rap Music, and Guns: Transitional Objects as Objective Correlatives in Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone by Tanya Stafsholt Miller
“It’s Not the Teacher’s Job”: Talking About Death and Death-Related Grief with Picture Books in Classrooms by Jongsun Wee and Heather J. Fye
Introduction Death was not taboo in children’s literature before the 20th century (Clement and Jamali 5), but its presence disappeared from after World War I to the 1970s in Western children’s literature (12). Death is still a controversial topic and difficult to talk about. Some adults may avoid discussing death as they wish to guard … Continue reading “It’s Not the Teacher’s Job”: Talking About Death and Death-Related Grief with Picture Books in Classrooms by Jongsun Wee and Heather J. Fye
Opposites Attract: Binary Opposites in Alice Sebold’s Lucky by Tanya Stafsholt Miller
The cover of Alice Sebold’s memoir reads, “In the tunnel where I was raped, a girl had been murdered and dismembered. I was told this story by the police. In comparison, they said, I was LUCKY.” By juxtaposing the incongruous words “rape” and “lucky,” Sebold invites readers to ask, what does it mean to be … Continue reading Opposites Attract: Binary Opposites in Alice Sebold’s Lucky by Tanya Stafsholt Miller
Educating with Little Tree: Reshaping The Education of Little Tree’s Cultural and Pedagogical Value in English Classrooms by Chris Drew
At a recent conference session on literary diversity in classrooms, I and other attendees were encouraged to pass around a selection of books, examine them, and discuss their possible classroom use. A school librarian next to me picked up a copy of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and we began … Continue reading Educating with Little Tree: Reshaping The Education of Little Tree’s Cultural and Pedagogical Value in English Classrooms by Chris Drew
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