Describes how the authors' collaboration has been exercised through the construction of shared language and activities based on understandings of social action. Outlines three stages of their shared professional relationship: collaborating on projects guided by shared values; role-switching in their collaborative enterprise; and collaborative…

Considers challenges facing today's young English teachers. Discusses how the reality of the classroom can be overwhelming for a new teacher, especially if there is dissonance between a new teacher's professional ideals and that of the existing educational environment. Lists ways to encourage development of National Council of Teachers of English…

Discusses a recent national survey of English language arts educators regarding middle school English. Learns that many respondents to the survey lacked knowledge about middle schools as sites for literacy learning. Notes that few English educators felt they had the necessary resources available to them for developing courses and field experiences…

Reflects on the study of literary themes in a reform to develop "thinking based curricula" for lower income urban youth. Mentions the need to broaden students' worlds and discusses implications for middle grades teacher education. Suggests the need for preservice teachers to have plenty of ongoing workshop practice in shaping and critiquing…

Addresses several relevant questions of interest to middle grades language arts teachers and teacher educators concerning English language learners. Suggests that rather than preparing English language learners to enter the bottom of the "hourglass economy," educators should be providing all students the necessary tools to become the future…

Presents an annotated bibliography of the most recent middle school literature as it relates most directly to English language arts. Consists of only book-length publications published from 1990-2002. Presents annotations of 32 titles categorized into three related sections: general middle school issues; resources for teaching middle school…

Argues for a particular future for middle school literacy teacher education. Envisions a future that positions literacy as a tool for navigating and reconstructing boundaries across discourse communities, with the ultimate goal of teaching early adolescents how to participate in and construct a just and democratic world from the complex world into…

Analyzes the on-line teacher network, Write for Your Life (WFYL), that sought to facilitate transformative experiences for its K-12/university participants that would result in changed practices across the network, and in increased learning for the students of those practitioners. Analyzes the dialogic "web" the teachers spun across five years.…

Considers how those who seek a teaching license in English language arts are assessed and the role that the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) plays in these processes. Hopes that the Conference on English Education's Commission on Teacher Candidate Assessment will provide a forum for the membership to discuss, learn, and think…

The Conference on English Education's Commission on the Preparation of English Teacher Educators, meeting over the course of a decade to discuss issues involved in the development of new faculty as English educators, articulate in their report a vision for the type of individuals they hope will complete graduate programs in English education and…

Through a detailed case study of one preservice teacher's development, the author examines the tension between basic skills and whole language discourses in literacy education. The author frames "the basic skills/whole language binary" as a "social imaginary,"--"an image that exists within the popular imagination or unconscious" and a force that…

In this article, the authors reflect upon their professional "journey through oracy" by offering a review of literature on "talk"--an exploration of the various ways in which "talk" has been explored by theorists and researchers in the last century. By interweaving into this review a collection of reflections on their own published work, the…

Although he may not have spoken quite as eloquently as the Bard of Avon, Ernie Page, the author's methods instructor at Penn State, once said that teaching English was less a subject and more a predicament. He was alluding to the many complexities and range of subject matter that constitute teaching the English language arts. In the 30 years since…

Considers how many teacher educators feel caught between the need to comply with state and federal laws governing the approval of their teacher education programs and the desire to resist what many feel to be another example of "testing gone wild." Presents a conversation with Alfie Kohn on high stakes tests for teachers and for students. (SG)

Discusses how in 1999, the authors interviewed faculty, administrators, and students involved in teacher education to learn how the Massachusetts teacher test was affecting the business of teacher education. Argues that the most significant effect of the teacher test has been on admissions, as teacher education programs have begun linking…