A teacher and author shares vital ways to help students counter climate despair with hope, agency, imagination, and activism.

In a nation and political climate where models of communication and respect for another's ideas are difficult to find, the authors take seriously their charge to support educational practices that prepare students to critically engage in a free and democratic society. As part of a summer high school outreach program, they sought to develop a…

The emergence of quality multimodal texts such as graphic novels may provide new vistas that allow adolescents access to more complex readings of difficult texts. This is especially true for the large number of graphic versions of Shakespearean text that have recently come on the market. However, it is still unclear as to what students actually…

Emotional literacy has an important place in the English curriculum because emotions cannot be separated from reading, writing, and thinking critically with language. Teachers can use the study of literature, writing, and language to reframe emotion from being something that creates victims and victimizers into feelings that can be critically…

In 2006, the author entered the crucible of trying to use graphic novels in her classroom to promote her students' artistic sensibilities. In this article, she discusses benefits and some problems--including access, content, and expense--of teaching graphic novels.

Standard histories of NCTE attribute the organization's beginnings in 1911 to rebellious teachers who opposed college entrance requirements imposed upon them by elite colleges and universities. This narrative offers an appealing account of NCTE's history. In this article, however, the author pursues a different line of historical inquiry by…

In scouring the earliest editions of "English Journal," one of the most fascinating details one uncovers is that the issues facing Shakespeare teachers today are similar to those issues that faced Shakespeare teachers 100 years ago. The earliest contributors to "English Journal" were far more in line with contemporary educational scholars than one…

Despite extensive preparation in high-quality programs, novice teachers face a daily deluge of moments when their understandings about teaching are called into question in the living context of their new classrooms. These encounters often challenge new teachers' ideals about what teaching truly entails as well as their abilities to succeed in…

Here, the author looks at four diaries, more specifically three conventional diaries and a blog: "The Diary of a Young Girl," by Anne Frank; "Zlata's Diary," by Zlata Filipovic; and "Last Night I Dreamed of Peace" by Dang Thuy Tram. "Baghdad Burning" is the transcript of a web log, a blog, by a young Iraqi woman who went by the pseudonym…

At 12:30 p.m. on December 8, 1941, in front of a joint session of Congress, one day after Japanese planes struck Pearl Harbor and killed 2,402 Americans, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared December 7 a date that would live in infamy. He spoke of rage and betrayal, hardships and determination. Thirty-three minutes after he finished…

An oxymoron is a simple contradiction, a juxtaposition of two inharmonious terms, such as "fiend angelical" in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." At first glance, literature and professional writing seem to be polar opposites; however, when one views them together, one can see unique, often interesting possibilities that add…

In contemporary contexts, young people are accustomed to life story; indeed, their lives are saturated with constructions of their stories and those of others, whether created by themselves or their "friends" on social networks. Multimedia outlets convey often detailed stories of more-famous others, whether celebrities or those experiencing…

During an observation of a novice teacher in a high school English classroom, one of the authors (Amy Vetter) was reminded that all students are capable of resistance. After attempting to engage students in what she considered to be a thought-provoking anticipation guide and discussion-starter for "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers, several…

The daily demands of teaching leave little time for English teachers to contemplate the history of the profession. However, as they celebrate the centennial anniversaries of both the founding of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1911 and the first publication of "English Journal" in 1912, they are presented with a prime…

Emphasizing the deficiencies of standardized assessments in measuring what counts for learners, the author highlights the complexity of assessment as well as the significance of the teacher-student relationship in learning.