The author, who teaches the English Methods class in the credential program, knew from entries in students' Writer's Reader's Notebooks (Rief) that they were struggling with the articles assigned about a five-paragraph essay. Following a discussion of form-first instruction and CCSS assessments, this article provides concrete suggestions for…

If the average teenager was asked how he or she feels about reading ancient poetry, the response would probably be something akin to an eye roll or grunt of disgust. Young students generally have a visceral response to this sort of curriculum decision; it makes them shudder. One of the biggest challenges facing English teachers is to connect…

This article describes the implementation of blogging in ninth-grade pre-advanced placement language arts classes to support strong writing practices. In particular, the writing workshop's elements of student choice, continuing revision, discussion of craft, publication, and process orientation meshed well with digital composition. Blogging in the…

This study introduced developmental adolescent readers to literature circles to balance literacy instruction based on students' needs. Providing students with the option to choose accessible novels to read, discuss, and connect with helps them experience the world of literacy as well as explore their own world in a way that most developmental…

In this article, the authors examine how one of the authors used Kendrick Lamar's autobiographical hip-hop to provoke mandate-compliant analyses of complex social, racial, and political realities. This unit also offers a compelling example of "critical compliance" (Gorlewski, "Accountable") as a strategy for resisting dominant…

The author argues that, by revolutionizing the literary canon, we are revolutionizing the English classroom, and urges us to shift from focusing exclusively on required texts to equally acknowledging the urgent need for consciousness and activism from our students.

Why do educators teach literature? The author thinks they can hear the answer in the voice of Huckleberry Finn and David Copperfield and Holden Caulfield and the omniscient narrator in "Beloved." It's the wonderful sound of those words, the gorgeous flow of those well-crafted sentences, and the marvelous way Twain and Dickens and Morrison and…

"Research for the Classroom" publishes mini-studies of ELA classroom practices and suggests ways in which high school and middle school English teachers may study the effectiveness of their pedagogy. The author of this mini-study notes that it takes around six minutes per day of instructional time for students to remember most of the…

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…

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.

The classroom dynamic has become a competition of whose information is more important: the quickly accessed and popular digital texts or the perhaps less popular print texts. Whether or not teachers or school systems sanction the reading or teaching of popular culture texts in the classroom, students are reading--are even bombarded with--messages…

This article describes an instructional lesson the author developed to help students use parody to read and write original poetry. The author begins this article with an introduction to parody and a rationale for using it as an instructional strategy. Then, he describes materials and procedures he used and he shares samples of student writing. He…

This article provides a forum for students to share their experiences and lessons learned from English class about working with other people. The first author thinks it is a good idea to have split-level classes because it opens up new opportunities to meet people and teaches one many good lessons about working with other people. The second author…

When it comes to writing, the most advanced secondary textbooks for English and most state rubrics for judging writing do not deal with what is involved in critical thinking in writing. Rather, they opt for vague discussions of "persuasive writing." Those who know the needs of college writers and who are familiar with the new ACT and SAT writing…

One of the most important challenges a teacher faces is motivating his or her students to complete reading assignments and to complete them carefully. After all, if students bring to class a basic understanding of the text up for discussion, much deeper learning can occur than if the teacher is forced to spend time explaining the reading to…