English language arts (ELA) teachers and researchers have trialed methods for supporting youth who advocate for alternative and more just climatic futures (Beach & Smith, 2024; Datta, 2023). However, many educators are encountering legislation that muzzles critical talk in classrooms. Understanding that schools are not separate from society…

How does the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) help teachers and students foster cultural memory? In this article, the author underscores three areas of NCTE that have facilitated the integration of his experiences and cultural background into his teaching mission. First, NCTE has published groundbreaking research in this area: most…

Presents a rationale for a multicultural curriculum. (DD)

Discusses reasons for including black literature in the regular high school curriculum. Paper presented at the annual NCTE Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, November 1970. (Editor/RB)

Article is based on a speech given at the NCTE Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, November 1970. Describes Methods, experience, and results of a pilot project in African literature at a senior high school in Kansas City, Missouri (Editor/RB)

Describes an elective English course in which students attended community cultural events. (DD)

Calls for a better understanding of Mexican culture through the study of the poetry and of its writers through history. (CRH)

Guidelines are suggested for a multicultural literature program that will make students aware of and appreciate differences in humans. (JH)

Notes that "cultural literacy" is sweeping the United States, but asserts that it is a terrible idea. Identifies and discusses six specific things that are wrong with the cultural literacy movement. (RS)

Discusses problems of present and future urban educators, specifically in the inner-city, and makes specific reference to the fact that the problems involve ethnic and racial differences. (Author)

Argues that the educational system is fundamentally incapable of serving the fastest growing school-age population--limited and non-English speaking children and the culturally diverse. Discusses six specific recommendations for secondary English teachers to prepare for this fast-growing population. (RS)

Describes in detail the author's experiences in turning E. D. Hirsch Jr.'s book "Cultural Literacy" into a game for high school students. Outlines an assignment for which students research terms from Hirsch's list, put them in context, and justify their presence on the list. (RS)

Links the teaching of contemporary folklore with writing instruction. Finds that the study of folklore can help students learn to write well and to think analytically. (RBW)

Recommends that English classes require more reading, especially more reading of works in modern English reflecting cultural diversity, to promote high school students' cultural literacy. (MM)