English Journal - Volume 104, Issue 4, 2015

Members of the Secondary Section Steering Committee comment on topics of importance to English language arts educators.

Poetry as an experience, particularly an emotional one, necessitates that a poem resonate in the inner life of a reader rather than in their academic mind.

“Speaking My Mind” invites readers to speak out about controversial issues relevant to the teaching of English language arts.

In this article, the author shares how specifically teaching author’s craft can open or allow a space for poetry to emerge from students’ writing.

This article explores using Ancient Greek poetry by Sappho as a springboard for students to study Western poetry and create their own poetry.

Students are encouraged to generate interpretations of peer work using digital audio technology to record and then reconfigure that work.

When a teacher who fears writing poetry is forced to teach the skill, she discovers a new writing passion and a better way to reach her students.

How can students build new connections with the poetic elements of Shakespeare’s plays? In this digital movie project, students explore close reading and thoughtful selection of imagery to create deeper understanding.

In this article, a team of university-based researchers and ESL teachers describes how English learners in a high school responded to Poetry Inside Out—a poetry- and translation-based literacy curriculum.

In this article, an instructional coach and a classroom teacher describe a two-week instructional unit that integrates poetry and digital storytelling tools.

The author details the pedagogy that empowered his high school students to use poetry as a part of a theatrical inquiry into race and whiteness.

In this article, the authors consider how to use poetry to develop empathy for asylum seekers among students in Malta, where asylum seeking is a present and divisive issue.

In this article, the author works with members of a spoken word poetry group to develop ways to integrate spoken word into classroom and school communities.

Through the careful observation and analysis of a poetry unit that focuses on the work of one poet, Seamus Heaney, the authors provide mindful strategies to make familiar the processes of reading and appreciating poetry.

Speaking Truth to Power seeks to explore the experiences and possibilities that arise when educators speak Truth to power.

“Lingua Anglia: Bridging Language and Learners” discusses critical, transformative, and powerful ways to support students’ acquisition of Standard English.

This column serves as a space dedicated to conversation about Young Adult Literature and to celebrate adolescents, their reading, and their experiences by reviewing the texts that engage them.

“Continuous Becoming: Moving toward Mastery” offers suggestions, ideas, and experiences to help novice and veteran teachers discover their own roadmaps toward mastery.