Student Authority Revisited

As a recipient of the Janet Emig Award for his 1972 article, “Student Authority,’ Small reflects on his first article and revisits the concept as it applies to today’s classroom. He notes that the themese raised in the 1972 piece are still applicable today. The role of the English teacher, Small says, is to help students build on and expand the authority with language that they begin to develop almost from birth. Today’s students have an even greater authority with language due to advances in technology and the explosion of media.