Michael Hand maintains that punishment is necessary for school children to insure compliance with the important rules -- those he calls moral and scholastic. I make three arguments against this position: First, Hand fails to separate the sorts of behaviors legitimately classified as interfering with teaching and learning from more trivial rules,…

This paper highlights how the application of principles of formative assessment and a generous reading protocol changed my perspective on disappointing student work and led to course adjustments to positively impact student learning.

Two literacy leaders acknowledge the challenges of teaching LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) issues in the classroom. While children come from a variety of family structures, it is necessary to acknowledge that a gay individual was once a child sitting in a classroom. An argument against marginalization and an advocacy for inclusion of…

Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer (LGBTQ) representation in composition readers remains limited and is frequently nonexistent. In addition, the LGBTQ-related materials that do find their way into composition readers are often problematic. In this essay I explain why WPAs and composition teachers should be concerned about LGBTQ representation…

In this article, I (1) argue for approaching processes, events-in-the-making, by means of process categories--to learn, to teach--not by means of categories that denote differences in state and (2) exemplify doing and writing research consistent with process philosophy. To understand process we must not think, research, and write them in terms of…

Accountability demands place tremendous pressures on high schools to meet specific standards. To satisfy demands, grading policies are becoming more liberal. Grade inflation is the result and a growing concern. This controversial subject contains a number of dangers. To combat the trend, teachers must realize the impact of grade inflation and take…

No Child Left Behind and its draconian test regime started more than 10 years ago, and in many states the testing juggernaut was already well under way. Due to a combination of their own constrained vision and current educational policy, in most cases students have this testing-is-the-only-option pedagogy reinforced when they get into classrooms.…

Counsels teachers to become aware of their students' family life. (Author/RH)

Student teacher and former investment banker working in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, describes his experience and reflects on the strength of human spirit and collective action. (PKP)

A movement in late 20th-century rhetorical theory asked teachers to encourage writing on personal topics as well as formal, impersonal ones. Thus, to traditional writing goals (pleasing, persuading, and instructing) the exorcism of often deep emotions was added. This movement forced teachers to read and evaluate student writing in a more…

Examines cybernetics as a model which provides framework with which to view communicators and the communications in the ESL classroom because it implies the kind of feedback the learner can assimilate and act upon. (Author/BK)

Secretary of Education, William Bennett responds to the five preceding papers which evaluate his teaching of a social studies lesson on Federalist Paper No. 10 to high school students. (MT)

Discusses the importance of two criteria often neglected on software evaluation forms: (1) the match between the instructor's objectives for a class and the objectives of the computer program and (2) the ease of transfer of the skills learned in the program to other situations. (AEA)

Reviews various approaches to critical response/evaluation, including New Criticism and belletrism, and discusses the relationship between grading and responding. Asserts that a teacher's response to students' written efforts offers the student a repertoire of critical values and a model of critical reading. (MM)

Examines the criteria which must be met for an explanation given to an elementary school student to be considered satisfactory. Types of explanations described are descriptive, prescriptive, aesthetic, and analytic. Criteria include suitability to content and the explanation's relationship with the student's previous knowledge level. (AM)