English Education - Volume 43, Issue 1, 2010

Teacher-written editorial columns in local newspapers can challenge the broad, simplistic conceptions of the profession that have been encouraged by contemporary politics and that obscure the real work of teachers. The publication of such columns written by a diverse group of teachers in the West Texas Writing Project has proved an important tool for fostering a stronger sense of professionalism in individual teachers and for promoting their expertise to the lay public and other educators in their community. It has also afforded teachers new models and tools for teaching writing to their own students. This article argues that English education faculty and teacher educators are uniquely qualified to help teachers develop their political voices and write about education issues for the public, and it provides readers with methodologies for preparing teachers to do so. In addition, an analysis of four teacher-written columns sets out specific roles teachers can envision and assume in advocating for school reform and in taking greater ownership over their work. For teachers such as these, an enhanced professionalism that comes from writing for the public about their education objectives is an important step in developing teacher leadership skills.

This 5-month qualitative study investigates how one high school English teacher situated students as readers and writers within daily, spontaneous classroom interactions. Specifically, the author draws on positioning theory (van Langenhove & Harré, 1999) as a lens to analyze how the teacher navigated improvised responses during three separate literacy events to position students as engaged readers, capable writers, and members of a writing community. This approach construes that literacy learning is an identity process in which language is a powerful medium. Results from the study suggest that teachers must be sophisticated navigators of improvised interactions to facilitate the process of literacy learning. Vetter offers suggestions to teacher educators about how to implement critical analysis of classroom interactions and improvised responses to improve literacy instruction.

In this dialogue with policymakers, Zancanella and Alsup write about Cee’s recent activities related to teacher preparation guidelines.

The authors share how statistics and quantitative methods can inform, compliment, and/or deepen out inquiries.

In this classroom research piece, Groenke explains how she uses an equity audit with her preservice teachers to generate ideas for action research studies they later complete.

Shadiow tells of an event that shifted her perspective on teaching methods courses and repositioned her teaching to focus on student learning.