Parents, educators, and students have criticized the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for expecting students to regurgitate evidence from assigned texts rather than think for themselves. This article argues that this popular critique is accurate and that…

Pupils need to express themselves in creative processes and products in the language arts curriculum. Too frequently, teachers require behavior which involves conformity on the part of learners. Specific objectives many times delimit pupils' opportunities to express original ideas that come from within the involved learners. Many activities can…

Writing is a fundamental skill for students to develop. A learning environment should be in evidence which assists students to achieve more optimally in writing. Writing activities should be interesting, purposeful, meaningful, and provide for individual differences. Students need stimulating learning opportunities involving a variety of purposes…

Counters six arguments against humor in English classes. Presents arguments in support of studying humor in English classes, noting its usefulness and benefits. (SR)

Uses examples from the author's experiences writing books for young adults to show the power of literature to see through someone else's eyes and feel through their skin. Offers suggestions for teachers for ways students can take part in the life of the language, shape it, and discover the vitality of the printed page. (SR)

The popular "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series of books demonstrates the tremendous desire of people in all walks of life to tell their stories. A professor of reading/language arts methods for students in a program leading to teacher certification reads to his classes every day from a wide variety of materials, including stories from…

Three teachers (one university professor, one secondary teacher, and one K-12 language arts coordinator) formed a writing group to generate texts about the phenomenon of student autobiographical writing in the classroom. The paper discusses the benefits of autobiographical writing to students and describes teachers' experiences with student…

Shares ways in which teachers who use a basal reading series can go beyond the manual and integrate the whole language approach into the language arts program. (MG)

A goal of this double issue of English Teaching: Practice and Critique is to collectively consider what we mean when we talk about knowledge about language. How have our understandings changed over time? What are the implications of these new understandings for pedagogy in the field of language teaching? These are necessary and important…