Many secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers are aware of the recent bills aimed at controlling which texts are available to students, how those texts are taught, and classroom discourse on issues like racism and rights for members of LGBTQIA+ communities. In the face of book bans and attempts to control classroom discourse, this article…

Textual production is a human dialogical business--an aspect of humanness and mutual connectedness--that is too easily forgotten and yet it has important implications for teaching. Using dialogue can result in learning where receptiveness and openness to new possibilities are valued above such things as task completion and the fulfilling of…

Sometimes an enthusiast might confuse enthusiasm for competence. Related experiences and a sense of commitment can suggest that mentors are positioned to do something well, even when they have had no genuine preparation for the task. In this article, the author warns them that their experience as teachers by itself may be insufficient preparation…

Without the benefit of having experienced many years of teaching, it is hard to emulate the experienced colleagues one admires. In her second year of teaching, the author seems to have captured some of the wisdom that comes with many years of teaching. Her advice reveals many of the practices that distinguish veterans from newcomers. Teachers who…

The word "data" connotes math, science, and technology: digits and quantifiable units. Data imply objectification--reducing ideas, and perhaps even students and teachers, to products that can be measured and compared. Ironically, however, this conception of data is itself reductive, and it minimizes the richness and potential of data.…

Some days it is difficult to remember why we love being teachers. For those difficult days, high school teacher Tim Gillespie maintains a list of fifteen reasons to keep teaching. He shares his list to remind us of the "greatest pleasures and highest callings" that we can experience as English teachers, believing that we can sustain ourselves and…

Describes in diary form the transition from being a lawyer to becoming an English teacher. Discusses volunteer teaching, serving on the school board, student teaching, teacher models, and the first year of teaching. (EL)

Describes the five stages through which teachers pass in their professional lifetime (the "honeymoon," competence, power, maintenance, and conversion). (RL)

Presents the comments of eight teachers addressing the issue of encouraging promising students to consider teaching as a profession. (KEH)

During his own student experience, it was an especially gifted teacher that moved the author, and gave him a sense of direction, a direction which he refers to as self-discovery that would characterize his own pursuit of an education. What motivated him to postphone retirement, is the freedom to teach in ways that he feels are effective and that…

Discusses and reviews the book "Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students and Their High School" by Samuel G. Freedman which prods the reader to examine the educator's role in society. Reflects on the book from a teacher's perspective. (MG)

Presents the comments and insights of seven experienced teachers concerning changes in teacher certification. (KEH)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher by narrating the experiences of one teacher's childhood and explaining how these experiences shaped the teacher's professional outlook. Concentrates on the qualities of thought and habit that teachers should bring to the teaching profession. (HB)

Consists of a humorous depiction of an English teacher's convention, satirizing current trends in the profession. (DF)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher. Concentrates on the qualities of thought and habit, especially hope, that one should bring to the teaching profession. Notes that schools can be horrible places where people, both teachers and students, behave horribly. (HB)