Students are active in shaping the implementation of any curricular intervention. At Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD), more than 1,500 students in Grades 1 to 6 were recipients of the William & Mary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum units. In this article, we share students' perceptions related to the following three…

This article explores one teacher-researcher's consideration of how the 50-year anniversary of the Dartmouth Seminar continues to influence and hold relevance for the teaching of English in Australian secondary schools. Particular attention is paid to the influence of John Dixon and the Personal Growth model of English. The author, an early career…

Recently a dichotomy has developed in the field of TESOL between native English speaker teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaker teachers (NNESTs) with some in each camp promoting one over the other, but this only separates rather than unifies our profession. In this article I suggest that it is not in anybody's interests to continue with…

The authors present adaptability as an important component of reading teacher effectiveness. They demonstrate recent conceptions of teacher effectiveness that value the complexity and unpredictability of classroom instruction. Using an example from a middle grades classroom, they illustrate how effective teachers adapt their instruction to enhance…

When asked by a principal to design a workshop for ELA and ESL teachers on addressing new ESL regulations, the author suggested that they offer professional development that might inspire teachers to try new practices that could help their students grow as writers. The author decided to devote a workshop not to rules and regulations, but to…

The introduction of a new mandatory policy for the teaching of English at the higher education level in China, College English Curriculum Requirements (CECR, published in 2004), had the intention of modernising and improving the quality of English teaching at the tertiary level in China. The policy had a focus on student-centred approaches to…

Middle school and high school students have a conception of what the basic demands of logic are, and they draw on this understanding in anticipating certain demands of parents and teachers when the adolescents have to defend positions. At the same time, many adolescents struggle to "write" highly elaborated arguments. Teaching students lessons in…

In this final article, the authors look at how research on effective instruction for English Learners translates into schools and districts--in other words, where the research meets the classroom. The authors begin by discussing some models for school and district support for English Learner programs. Then, drawing examples from actual schools and…

English language arts classrooms are especially rich sites for both explicit and implicit collaborations among those who inhabit those spaces. In these venues, Bakhtinian "heteroglot voices" (Bakhtin 278) saturate the oral and written discourse that students produce as they engage in discussions and as they write in a wide variety of genres,…

In this article, the author describes how she used integrated course design to design a course that would help special education teachers satisfy the "Highly Qualified Teacher" (HQT) requirement established by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in the area of English/language arts. The approach she chose was based on principles advanced by Fink…

Based on the various metaphors we use to describe the work of teaching, high school teacher Jeremiah Hill articulates a new model--the teacher as creative professional. Hill urges educators to transform the "culture of teaching" by moving away from traditional expectations for classes and embracing connections that we discover among disciplines.

Describes a teacher's use of videotape of a series of lessons to show that setting and negotiating assessment criteria with students was good practice. Discusses guidelines for enhancing standards of good teaching practice. Highlights this visual case model in the hope that colleagues will see its merits as a vehicle for articulating teaching…

Teacher educators have come to appreciate that the teaching of difficult subjects combines knowledge of content and knowledge of generic teaching methods. A study was conducted, therefore, to explore the potential of cases to carry pedagogical content knowledge. A case was developed describing how an expert teacher goes about teaching…