English Journal - Volume 97, Issue 3, 2008

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

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

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

“Teacher to Teacher” provides a forum for teachers to share ideas, materials, and activities.

Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides, vigorously defends his novel against censorship and praisesthe work that English teachers do every day.

High school teacher Julie Gorlewski considers the complexities of multicultural education and the challenges of realizing its potential as a social movement. She explains how students became “powerful users of language” by writing to the editors of their literature anthology to question what appeared to be censorship through alterations to text and an image.

Deborah Vriend Van Duinen and Marilyn J. Wilson confront normalized notions of “correct” English. They offer suggestions for teaching about marginalized voices and introducing students to the complexities of English dialect variations.

High school teacher J. Arias recommends valuable activities that teachers can use to “build communities of respect, tolerance, and acceptance” for language diversity in schools. Many of the activities are directed toward helping native English speakers empathize with and better understand English language learners’ experiences with language acquisition.

In a montage of genres, Helen Collins Sitler illuminates the subtle yet powerful, often detrimental messages we send to girls that silence their public and private voices and diminish their opportunities to question and learn.

Scott Snair proposes a mnemonic for students to use when critically examining written opinion. The acronym, RATTKISS, represents a “step-by-step method for understanding and evaluating written opinion.”

Suzanne M. Kauer believes we must honor all voices in the discussion of what books students should read; she refuses to simplify the issue of censorship by dismissing the multifaceted concerns parents have for saying no to certain books. Kauer advocates doing more listening—asking parents questions to better understand their perspectives—and thinking about and articulating our reasons for what literature we deem important to teach.

ReLeah Cossett Lent provides practical advice for ensuring that books are kept on shelves and in classrooms for students to read. She outlines steps for creating professional learning communities that engage with censorship issues and prepare schools to deal with book challenges in thoughtful, supportive ways.

Preservice teacher Jayme K. Barkdoll interviews John Green, author of the Michael L. Printz Award–winning young adult novel Looking for Alaska. Green recalls his experience as a young adult and shares his ideas about reading and writing young adult literature.

This article comes from a speech that Richard Peck gave at the Colorado Language Arts Society Regional Spring Conference in 2007. At our request, he prepared this excerpt for English Journal readers.

Street fiction is a popular new genre of novels that focus on contemporary urban life. Marc Lamont Hill, Biany Pérez, and Decoteau J. Irby introduce this genre, describing what it is, who writes it, and who reads it. They also offer critiques of the genre and strategies for linking street fiction to the English classroom.

Four teachers share their lessons for drawing students into a critical examination of race, class, gender, and sexual identity. They strive to heighten students’ awareness of ways literature “and gendered patterns in the world foreground or silence groups of people or issues,” and they offer students and teachers tools for change.

High school teachers Simao J. A. Drew and Brenda G. Bosnic help familiarize students with gender role analysis and feminist theory. Students examine classic literature and contemporary texts, considering characters’ historical, literary, and social contexts while expanding their understanding of how patterns of identity and gender norms exist and are perpetuated in current contexts.

“Research Matters” provides teachers with review and application of research that illuminates the daily concerns aymnd activities of English language arts teachers and classrooms. This month's contribution is "One More Thing: Can We Teach Process Writing and Formulaic Response?" by Richard Argys.