This article discusses "Rhetoric of Storytelling," a course that looks at the purposes of storytelling across different rhetorical traditions, beginning with Ancient Greek and Roman traditions and traversing African American, Indigenous Latin American, American Indian, feminist, and Latinx rhetorical traditions. The course operates from…

Environmental forensics is the application of knowledge from geosciences and chemistry in a legal setting, e.g., to determine the origin and consequences of contamination events. Teaching environmental forensics requires reactivating prior knowledge from different fields of natural sciences, filling knowledge gaps, and connecting pieces of…

In this article, the author describes two lessons in which students applied the scientific knowledge learned from studying offshore oil drilling to construct a fact-based argument on the topic and then communicate it to their policy makers, since public commentary was solicited. The students practiced using their scientific knowledge to…

It is commonly observed that during classroom or group discussions some students have greater influence than may be justified by the normative quality of those students' contributions. We propose a 5-component theoretical framework in order to explain how undue influence unfolds. We build on literatures on persuasion, argumentation, discourse, and…

Disciplinary literacy encompasses not only the ability to read the texts of a discipline, but also to engage in the practices and discourse of that discipline. At the center of the discipline of history is inquiry. For these students to move from their ninth grade expectations about history toward the authentic discipline of history, they would…

"How in the world are we supposed to apply the Common Core writing standards to teaching English language learners?" The authors propose a tentative answer to a question that has been troubling educators of late. Educators, they suggest, need to keep in mind three crucial elements: Students should (1) begin by reading more informational…

A team of 4th-grade teachers in California's Sacramento City Unified School District collaboratively examines student writing products using a rubric that outlines elements in high-quality persuasive writing. The teachers analyze how they taught and assigned the written work in relationship to what the students produced. They focus on what a few…

In 2008 the author co-curated (with Pilar Tompkins Rivas) the art exhibition "Vexing: Female Voices from East LA Punk" at the Claremont Museum of Art in Claremont, California. Part of his motivation, as a scholar, was to generate discourse about the punk scene in East Los Angeles from 1979 to 1984 and to stimulate further research in…

America's Promise's ReadyNation initiative has released this brief, which "makes the case" to business leaders on why investing in early childhood should be important to them. The brief includes "how-to" tips, helpful statistics and more.

The authors describe several types of classroom assessment techniques (CATs) and cognitive scaffolding procedures that they have developed over the years. They then bring the procedures together in a sample lecture/group learning class presentation.

Lauren Gallant is committed to making social justice issues part of her U.S. history teaching. An avid user of Teaching Tolerance materials, she's always in search of tools "that help illuminate the subject matter and the human condition." But the Simi Valley High School, Calif., teacher has a typical challenge: There is little time for…

Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) with Dolores Huerta in 1962, dedicated his life to grassroots organizing to persuade lawmakers and the public to help improve the working conditions of migrant farm workers. In October 1992, the author had been teaching a unit of study on civics to her sixth grade bilingual students in…

Schmoker asserts that the kinds of skills students need to succeed in college--skills like clear thinking, effective writing, and the ability to analyze international and policy issues--are equally needed for non-college-bound youth. He maintains it is possible--and necessary--to provide an intellectually challenging and culturally enriching…

View Park Preparatory High School, a charter school serving low-income urban students in Los Angeles, makes critical thinking the center of its literacy curriculum. The school's literacy program has a single, measurable goal: By graduation, every student will be able to write a 500-word sustained argument free of mechanical error, reflecting his…

Addresses whether or not the Spaniards were cruel by discussing such issues as the Spanish conquistadors of the 16th century, the presence of the Spaniards in New Mexico and California, the missionaries, and the Spanish naturalists of the late 18th century. Explains that some people protected and helped the Native Americans. (CMK)