English Journal - Volume 89, Issue 5, 2000

Argues that teachers of writing can readily become forces for peace in our schools and, by extension, in society at large. Argues that returning to personal story at the center of the writing curriculum, accompanied by deep listening, will promote peace and well-being, voice and sense of self, and respect and caring as well as powerful literacy in English classrooms.

Describes how and why a high school English teacher changed her classroom to allot more time for creative writing, to teach a research paper from a personal perspective, and to extend student appreciation of voice and conflict beyond the literature studied in class. Describes how this fostered opportunities for individual growth and transformed her classroom.

Describes a number of class activities and student projects that the authors have used to teach the language and literature of peace in seventh- and eighth-grade reading and language arts classes, via theme-based units, interdisciplinary projects, and original theatrical student productions that celebrate language and literacy through the arts.

Discusses the merits of implementing a character education curriculum through teaching literature according to themes. Argues that a reflective approach, emphasizing students’ engagement with the issues and the resolutions they come up with for considering moral dilemmas, will be more effective than a didactic approach. Describes a unit on success, part of an American literature class for high school juniors.

Describes the author’s experience writing a novel which she believed was a love story, but came to realize was a story about domestic violence. Argues for a strong role for young adult literature in examining the realities of abusive, confining relationships. Notes that young people have been helped in dealing with their own dilemmas by seeing themselves in such stories.

Describes how one high school English teacher developed and taught a unit that would give students the opportunity to see how violence and nonviolence affects their lives. Notes the unit involves discussing the lives and careers of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., viewing film clips and film, reading, writing in journals, and writing a bill of rights for students.

Argues that, under the weight of the culture of materialism, superficiality, and rampant consumerism fueled by sex, drugs, and violence, it is difficult yet critically important for individuals to carve out a space for the pleasures of concentration, and for finding an internal anchor. Describes how a teacher has used silence in support of these goals.

Argues that the English classroom is a fitting place to integrate anti-violence teaching into the academic curriculum. Describes how English teachers can teach conflict resolution strategies, instill respect for cultural diversity, provide an atmosphere for cooperative learning while acknowledging controversy, and heighten empathy and respect by integrating

Argues that a curriculum of peace must include ways to define human problems. Describes how the author taught a literature course called “The Healing Word: Literature About Coping with Death and Illness” that used literary selections and a film series to examine physical healing, mental healing, and healing from grief.

Relates the author’s experiences as a teacher with a high school student, a soft-spoken Japanese young woman, who taught the author and her fellow high school students much about understanding, forgiveness, and peace.

Argues that English and Language Arts teachers can counter the lessons of hate, violence, and bigotry by offering lessons that promote understanding and caring, through choices for reading and writing of literature that represent all ethnic groups. Discusses the author’s experiences teaching for many years in Mississippi, addressing the heritage of racial divide by including literature by African American writers.

Argues that English teachers should open classroom doors to the world’s violence in order to examine, interpret, and reduce it, focusing critical inquiry on the subject of violence. Describes how, in the author’s English classroom, the study of violence in popular culture compels critical inquiry as students research what they know about violence in popular culture.

Cangelosi describes her students in the alternative high school where she teaches and how she teaches them assertive communication as a replacement for aggressive behavior.

Offers recommendations from six different English teachers of novels, short stories, or poems that they recommend or have used successfully in the classroom to discuss issues and dilemmas of peace.

Looks at the missions and goals of the International Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English, a global multicultural network promoting communication and cooperation for international exchange of teaching practices, literature, literacy, curriculum development, and research in English. Suggests some criteria to look at when developing an international curriculum.

Offers advice from middle school educators (a principal, a supervisor, and a teacher) on job interviews for teaching positions: how applicants are selected from the stack of applications, what happens during an interview, and what truly makes a difference.