This article employs the use of black textualities to reimagine an English classroom designed to cultivate critically conscious students. The author argues that a critically conscious classroom engages students in self-determination, citizenship formation, and strategic activism, and further argues that black textualities are perfect for…

A writing invitation the author has found useful is to ask students to identify indelible educational moments. They all have them, some positive, some damaging. The moments don't need to have taken place in school. They could involve outdoor as well as indoor schooling: a moment when they realized betrayal for example; a moment when they knew they…

This article considers how relationships in the English classroom are influenced by the types of literacy activities, the role of the teacher, the tone of oral comments, and the types of writing students share with peers.

This article shares what the author has learned as a high school English teacher and researcher from speaking with teachers and high school and college students over the past five years about what sort of feedback has been most helpful in students' development as writers. When examining the data and looking for overlapping themes in responses, six…

Because we live in an increasingly globalized world, teachers are tasked with cultivating social and cultural competencies in their students to prepare them to act as responsible global citizens. This article explores how including diverse global literary narratives in the English language arts (ELA) classroom is an important step toward preparing…

Teachers know that the most valuable learning occurs in classrooms where a sense of community exists. Community encourages rich learning because of the interactions among many individuals, not the limited, two-way exchange of ideas or information that is often the case when students fail to form a community. But what makes a community?…

This article explores problems with the trend of business language making its way into schools and provides strategies for how to address this issue.

This article focuses on writing instruction and seeks to: (1) define the expectations of first-year composition (FYC) programs; (2) consider the factors shaping high school writing instruction; and (3) explore the gap between the goals of each. The authors have interviewed secondary writing teachers and college first-year composition instructors…

Luis J. Rodriguez believes that the spirit of learning is not nurtured or encouraged in schools because the spirit of teaching is absent. Learning is not just about books but it happens in all kind of ways that should be nurtured with spirit.

Pearl Amelia McHaney provides focus essays for students to develop their thoughts and contribute to meaningful class discussions. Teofilo Ruiz provides three principles to educate his students as per them.

The effects of subversive teaching on the students and the problems created by being subversive are discussed. Subversive teaching is essential for the growth of the students, but only to a certain extent in developing their perspectives.

The primary aim of the writing class should be to create a nourishing environment in which students can discover themselves and their natural instincts for communication. (DD)

Reports the lessons a high school English teacher learned when she switched to teaching in a middle school. (JL)

Recounts one Black student's writing development during the first semester of a freshman composition course. Provides background on how the course was organized. (RL)

An English teacher discusses the advantages and disadvantages of discussion-based teaching approaches, student understanding, and student achievement. It is noted that the discussion-based approaches in the classroom have a direct impact on students' development as readers.