Teaching controversial issues poses challenges for teacher candidates, stemming from apprehensions about potential backlash and gaps in content and pedagogical knowledge. The prevailing emphasis on tested subjects such as mathematics and reading/writing in elementary school education often sidelines social studies and science, limiting…

Few public schools in Massachusetts offer a sex-positive, inclusive sexuality education curriculum at the elementary school level. One Massachusetts public elementary school identified the need for such a program that addresses communication, sexuality, gender, and consent. The LETS! Teach, Affirm, Learn, Know (T.A.L.K.) curriculum was developed,…

A study examined curriculum decision-making in the classrooms of accomplished teachers of English in grades 9 through 12, focusing on aspects of structure, content, and ways of knowing and doing that combined to create a sense of a "curriculum" rather than a series of disconnected lessons. Four classrooms were studied each semester for…

As part of a federal grant to develop an across-the-curriculum ethics program, ethics instruction was integrated into English classes at Colorado's Community College of Aurora (CCA). In the English classes, students were first asked to read case studies from CCA's ethics handbook detailing specific ethical problems. In subsequent classes, students…