How teachers can use such materials as parallel-text editions, graphic novels, and film adaptations to increase students' understanding of and interest in Shakespeare was the impetus for a classroom action research project that examined the effects of teaching methods on student comprehension and engagement. The author of this article…

Due to prevailing attitudes about the prison industrial complex and African American and Latino/Latina communities, the literary production of urban street fiction has been politely disregarded by our society. Through the use of critical praxis, utilizing urban street fiction in the classroom is a necessary and urgent act of social justice. Street…

For students who sense no fluidity between their academic context and their personal contexts, what's at stake is more than just their scholastic achievement--rather, their development as individual agents who exist in larger social and historical contexts is jeopardized. When teachers and schools neglect to recognize the legitimacy of…

The author critiques covers of "Ebony" and "GQ" magazines in order to expose race and class narratives, and he encourages teachers to help students to become more aware of the ways in which other images "connote cultural information." Because of the prevalence of images in contemporary society, it is imperative that…

Rachel Malchow Lloyd describes the wonderful and quite natural potential for a team of teachers, through their professional conversations and routine planning, to model for less experienced teachers how to prepare for instruction, how to assess its effect, and how to assume a professional stance consistently in the daily execution of…

Larissa Pahomov teaches students English and Journalism at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school opened its doors to students just seven years ago and was designed to encourage both inquiry and critical pedagogy. To those ends, there is a thematic curriculum for each grade level--for sophomores, it's…

Deborah Appleman's recent research has focused on teaching college-level language and literature courses for incarcerated men. In this article, she discusses using creative writing as a way to unlock creative potential, to foster students' love of language, and to offer a powerful outlet for self-expression in a class she teaches with…

In the years since 2008, when the "Success with ELLs" column started, these authors have seen many changes to the educational landscape, not dealing specifically with ELLs, but having implications for their education. Probably, the most significant change has been the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which have no…

There is an educational disconnect between students' individual backgrounds and the instruction that they traditionally receive in school (Darling-Hammond 3). This division is even more severe for black, Latino/Latina, and economically underprivileged students, who often lack the support, experience, or resources to fully engage in…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) urge English language arts teachers to assume responsibility for teaching technical reading, along with literature, poetry, and composition. Ideally, each teacher assumes a share in developing reading proficiency within his or her content area, but state assessments may implicitly compel school districts to…

This article suggests effective approaches to teaching English language learners in ways that can be of benefit to all students in mainstream middle and high school English classes. The five approaches described herein that mainstream ESL teachers can do to make assessments more accurate and reliable, as well as to address heterogeneity, are: (1)…

"Research for the Classroom" publishes mini-studies of ELA classroom practices and suggests ways in which high school and middle school English teachers may study the effectiveness of their pedagogy. The author of this mini-study notes that it takes around six minutes per day of instructional time for students to remember most of the…

All teachers must contend with tough cases on occasion: community events in which there are strong emotions that insert themselves so directly into students' consciousness that they must be dealt with. In this article the two authors, a professor and a graduate student co-teaching pre-service teacher candidates, share their journey through…

"Teaching Young Adult Literature" describes innovative methods for engaging students in reading, writing, and discussing contemporary and classic literary texts written for adolescents. Centered around the concept of change, the authors present YA novels that span across various disciplines. Each book presented will help students…

If emerging teachers are going to be something more than technicians, they need to reflect on their instructional worldviews, the mission of schools, and their role as autonomous professionals. In this article, the author shows how three pedagogical "moves" she made as a holistic mentor helped her student teachers forge and voice…