The tension between teachers' desires to instill independence in students, and students' desires for teachers to provide answers, is a complex one. This article explores a lesson that, with virtually no guidance from the teacher, enhances student independence, engagement, and insight.

Thomas Nunnally equates five-paragraph format essays with square cucumbers found at farmer's markets: they have an established structure but no argument. The real square cucumbers are students who need a formula to write competently. By providing students with a real audience, a teacher can show that he or she takes students' desires -- and…

When schools in Arkansas and most of the country shut their physical doors and moved to remote instruction in March 2020, Rachel Evans, Christian Goering, and Seth French planned to engage in a multifaceted experience that bridged personal narrative writing, songwriting, and podcasting. Undaunted by the shutdown, they offered Evans' ninth-grade…

According to the author, prior to a move, their classroom was overflowing with stuff on the walls, on the shelves, under the tables, in the file cabinets, and in the folders upon folders in their computer drive. It wasn't just the author's physical and virtual spaces that were full; their curriculum units were packed with lessons and activities,…

As an educator, according to the author, the most important objective is to know what they want students to take away with them after the unit ends, the enduring understandings that will stay with them long after they leave the classroom. The author states they wanted their students to understand that writing is a journey, one that starts with the…

Through a case study of a seventh-grade ELA teacher, this article examines New Literacies pedagogy and more specifically a digital video project amid high-stakes testing pressures that often place limitations on teaching and learning.

The American edition of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" has significant changes from the original British version, and every word of a Harry Potter book in translation derives from a translator's decision-making process. Focusing students on British-to-American cultural translation problems in the Harry Potter series encourages…

During the last several years as a teacher educator mentoring new teachers, the author has worked on two programs of research that included ways of focusing early-career teachers on students and their learning. These research programs shed light on needs of new teachers and ways mentor questioning and processes of classroom inquiry can have an…

This article presents the first installment of "Professional Writing in the English Classroom." The authors begin by answering the obvious question: What is professional writing? It isn't remedial writing, and it involves much more than writing memos, business letters, and resumes (although it certainly includes those genres). Professional writing…

In this article, the author discusses several comprehension strategies for high school English teachers. These include: making connections; questioning; visualizing and inferring; determining importance; and summarizing and synthesizing. The author also outlines a lesson guide that illustrates how teaching comprehension strategies can be used to…

In this article, the author discusses how she developed an innovative, interdisciplinary unit in eighth-grade English that links with the history teacher's Civil War studies. When constructing lesson plans, the author needed to rely on her sympathetic connection with students. To determine the best way to help students learn, the author had to ask…

This article presents the story and reflection of Jennifer Ritter who shares two critical elements in the process of induction into the world of teaching English. She reminds teachers that the matching of student teacher and cooperating teacher is seldom the result of the extended scrutiny of the attributes of the prospective teacher and the…

The article asserts that setting minimal requirements for all grades and drawing appropriate lesson guides (some models of which are provided) is a more meaningful and humanistic approach to learning than the setting of rigid behavioral objectives. (Author/JB)

Encourages teachers to try to introduce a new novel or two into their curriculum. Gives four specific ways that teachers can relieve pressure on themselves as they prepare to work with a new novel and four specific ways to prepare for introducing a new novel. Provides approaches to introductory activities in the classroom. (TB)

Discusses expectations, and the results of those expectations, that a teacher may set for a new class. Suggests that a willingness to abandon the lesson plans and respond to the needs of the class is necessary. (MS)