The language of leadership includes the ability to communicate effectively, a teacher's curricular goals and innovative practices, to a school district's administration, personnel, colleagues, students, parents, school board members, and other community constituents. This article focuses on explicitly teaching the language of leadership to novice…

It's lunchtime, and the author is sitting with Abigail, who is the English department chair, and several other teachers in her department during a heated discussion about the latest school mandate: a planning calendar audit. At East High School, a diverse high school on the outskirts of a large metropolitan city in the southeastern United States,…

In this article, the authors examine (second) author Elma's teaching and learning, as it has been and continues to be shaped by her experiences in education. The authors interrogate her experiences in teacher education and in the K-12 system, considering the closed doors that she has encountered. The authors discuss how these experiences have…

In 2002, when the authors began their three-year study of the problems new teachers face ("Supporting Beginning English Teachers"), No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had yet to have a significant impact on the lives of most classroom teachers. When they were interviewing beginning teachers, they had no idea that Jonathan Kozol was also in the…

Offers five tips to the English teacher for improving public relations: (1) understand the community, (2) be informed, (3) educate administrators, (4) involve the public, and (5) use plain English. (RL)

Explains the steps teachers must take to develop special courses: developing, testing, presenting, and carrying out or accepting the rejection of, the basic proposal. (MM)

Describes how one teacher continued to teach after becoming pregnant, even though this was against school policy. Reminds teachers that Henry Thoreau claimed it is moral to disobey an immoral law. (HB)

Discusses how eight English teachers have dealt with recent censorship issues in their schools. (RS)

Describes the author's experience as a classroom teacher working for six years on school reform as a member of her school's site-based decision-making committee. Discusses a sense of belonging to a professional committee, teacher-initiated integrated curriculum, frustration in coping with rotating principals, growing expectations to assess student…

Describes the Multicultural Advancement Program at the author's school. Illustrates how the teachers within the program sing its praises, but it appears that they are always in a defensive position repeatedly compelled to validate themselves. Presents a response to the teachers' fears, and a final remark by he teacher. (SG)

Presents seven high school teachers' descriptions of how cooperation and communication among English teachers is promoted in their departments/school districts. (MM)

Discusses the case of Cecilia Lacks, a seasoned high school English teacher from St. Louis, Missouri, who was fired for failing "to censor her students' creative expression." Discusses the author's experiences as a demonstration teacher in which lively and imaginative classroom discussions were greeted with disdain by the school principal for…

Presents a high school English teacher's experience taking maternity leave and deciding to return to teaching on a part-time basis. (MM)

Gives an autobiographical account of an English teacher-turned-administrator, who determined to teach writing by writing, at first in his own classroom and later promoting its use system-wide. Illustrates the strong influence an administrator can have on teaching practice and curriculum. (SR)

Provides a set of guiding principles for a philosophy of creative educational supervision. (JT)