The primary author hosted a series of focus groups with early intervention (EI) professionals in a large midwestern urban area. Participants were asked to share their experiences supporting families who live in poverty and also receive EI services. Although positive experiences and successes were discussed, many EI professionals noted that when…

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of active learning techniques applied in Vocational English Course on students' achievement and attitude. In the research, quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group model was used. The participants included the students majoring Tourism Management at a state university in…

This paper draws on practitioner inquiry and participatory action research methodologies to recount how five K-12 educators, who inhabit a range of positionalities and levels of teaching experience, engage in a collaborative professional development program, called Teaching Out Loud as they draw upon critical literacy theory and practice to…

This qualitative study traces different articulations of the public, emotional honesty, and economic advantage in the literacy sponsorship of detained writer Lil' Purp by "The Beat Within," a publication for incarcerated youth and adults. Findings are compared to "The Beat"'s own account of Purp's progress, revealing a set of…

With the advent of online synopses, e-guides, and Internet study aids, millennial college students have many ways to evade direct interactions with the texts assigned in humanities classes. As a result, fewer and fewer of them are developing the analytical and close reading skills that college instructors value so highly. In this essay, the author…

This case study examined a Romanticism unit within a Year 9 English class in Sydney, Australia. It considered whether popular culture could build connections between students' lives and Romanticism, and whether the process of remixing "high" Romantic poetry with "low" popular culture could foster student engagement. Thematic…

This case study explores how a research-practice partnership worked to cross-pollinate culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) over the course of a 9-week spoken word poetry unit in a seventh-grade classroom. The unit reflected CSP's commitment to linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism (e.g., centering…

Future teachers often manifest a low confidence in their own writing and do not see themselves as writers. Developing an identity as authors requires ample opportunities for writing that sustain preservice teachers' discourses and cultural models. As writing across the content areas is considered a powerful way of learning, creating spaces for…

In order to establish veracity, qualitative researchers frequently rely on member checks to insure credibility by giving participants opportunities to correct errors, challenge interpretations and assess results; however, member checks are not without drawbacks. This paper describes an innovative approach to conducting member checks. Six members…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts seem to relegate fiction and poetry to the back shelf. This change in emphasis, favoring nonfiction, has an impact in the classroom. After districts and schools realign the curriculum, many English teachers feel compelled to put away some of their fiction and poetry units. One way to…

In this paper, we explore the intersection of critical literacy pedagogy, queer pedagogy, and transgender topics by turning our attention to the learning that supported the writing of an acrostic poem about Title IX and transgender students. We examine how this writing, in turn, created additional content and context that spurred others' learning.…

These two pieces represent a new approach to the presentation of ABER [arts-based educational research] inquiry projects. They are part ABER writing and presentation mixed with more conventionally scholarly voiced writing. "Trois Chaises" is all at once a theoretical examination of ABER practice, a presentation of one ABER practitioner's…

This paper addresses how professors in a Social Work and Human Services Program in the Southeastern United States include voices of the oppressed and vulnerable through art forms to develop analytical thinking to prepare human service practitioners. This pedagogical practice is based on Gardner's discussion of Multiple Intelligences. The authors…

Literature helps us understand and make sense of the world around us. It is a part of education, which broadens one's mind about how to understand, transfer knowledge and provide meaningful and authentic learning. Thus, this article aims to highlight how some elements of isiXhosa children's poetry can be used to help pre-service teachers to teach…

Color blind discourse often draws on sentiments such as, "When I look at you, I do not see color," or race should not matter since we are all human, we are all the same underneath. In other words, the desire to view others as individuals is often constituted on the back of the desire to understand the notion of the individual as one who…