After watching his fifth-grade son perform in "The Taming of the Shrew," Ben Lathrop realized that having learned the play through performance, his son found the experience enjoyable. Moreover, his acting decisions (movements, gestures, vocal inflections) demonstrated that he had at least some understanding of his lines, suggesting that…

Today, "Night" is probably the most commonly taught work of Holocaust literature in the United States, read by middle school and high school students alike, even though US adolescents were not the author's intended audience. This article offers suggestions for teaching "Night" in ways that engage students, challenge them to…

Students' attitudes are shaped by what they read. Their perspective determines what each reader chooses to focus on and be aware of while reading. If there is a lack of guided reading or prior experience with a particular topic - such as disability - students may not be aware of its presence in a text, and they may not recognize negative character…

The author describes two students creating narrative versions of an event from Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" to portray conflicts in characters' interactions to address the issue of sex abuse. Through rewriting events in texts, students gain a sense of how use of dialogue can serve to portray larger underlying tensions between…

Having students read news articles or novels, watch television snippets, engage in class discussions, essay-writing, emailing, and drafting letters are excellent ways to broach any number of society's systemic and oppressive social maladies. Engaging in these activities in the English language arts classroom can serve as a catalyst to encourage…

In this article, the author discusses how teachers can develop empathy in students through reading and writing about literature, which contributes to their development as citizens in a global community. By choosing texts that trigger empathic reactions, English teachers can help students better understand others' experiences with oppression and…

At the risk of painting with too broad a brush, it is a rare thing in education scholarship to speak directly to the problem of whiteness. As one of the primary conduits for racial stratification in society, the structure of schooling provides heavy doses of racialized harm, but much of this harm is obscured through the race-blind, well-worn…

In this article, the authors describe how an embodied arts-based approach to teaching the story of Anne Frank enhanced eighth graders' experiences in three middle school classrooms. The article begins by framing the theories that guide the authors' perspectives on embodiment and drama-infused instruction to promote literacy learning. This is…

This author argues that developing the practice of empathy is fundamental to becoming an expert teacher.

In this article, the authors consider how to use poetry to develop empathy for asylum seekers among their students in Malta, where asylum seeking is a present and divisive issue.

Using memorials and related nonfiction print and nonprint texts, students explore elements involved in creating a memorial and learn to think critically about the relationship between these elements.

This article discusses how literacy and literature goals merged in a media project designed to encourage high school students to build new connections with the poetic elements of Shakespeare's plays "Romeo and Juliet" and "Julius Caesar." Using the free software Animoto movie maker, students were challenged to look closely at…

Choosing a text that offers students the chance to empathize with a character from a sociocultural background different from their own and that is based on an understanding of universal challenges all adolescents face offers the opportunity to change minds. The preservice teachers who field tested the use of "Moon at Nine" in middle…

In a values-based education model, ethical vocabulary is introduced to young children with the expectation that embracing these values will elicit positive dispositions and self-regulation. Such an approach has been reported to improve student and teacher wellbeing, academic diligence, the teaching and learning environment, student-teacher…

English teachers have those favorite characters in the literature they choose to study with their students, from the classics of Lennie and George in "Of Mice and Men" to more contemporary characters such as Arnold in "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" who was "born with water on the brain" (Alexie 1). The author loves allowing…