Pressure for students to produce writing perfection in the classroom often eclipses the emphasis placed on the need for students to practice writing. Occasions for students to choose, challenge, and reflect--to actually risk risking--are too often absent from conversations among students and teachers in countless English classrooms. Tom Romano…

Too often, the school leaders who construct a school's master schedule and decide the teaching assignments for new teachers assign the newcomers the most difficult schedules. The difficulty might include multiple preparations for classes with the neediest and most-challenging students, and moves to three or four different classrooms throughout the…

The author's career in professional education is intertwined with the history of language arts education in the United States and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The author joined NCTE in the 1960s, though she was already teaching for about 10 years with a well-developed constructivist perspective on teaching and learning.…

The author began teaching in 1959, so he has been in the profession for half of the National Council of Teachers of English's (NCTE) first 100 years. In this article, the author details the work of NCTE in his lifetime and forecasts needs for the second century. For the author, NCTE means: celebration of successes and collegiality; conversations…

Those who are involved in the current Common Core Standards should buckle up for a rocky ride. Some of the same issues that churned within the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) during the standards movement of the 1990s (1989-1997) are here once again. The author's buckle is pulled tight, having already had his standards report…

The idea of joining a conversation through reading and writing is not new; in his 1941 book "The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action," Kenneth Burke suggests that the acts of reading and writing are like entering a parlor where others are already conversing. The author explores the place of professional debate within NCTE and…

Support for the Learning and Teaching of English (SLATE) is a vital part of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), serving as the "action wing" for members. Along with providing expert testimony at state and national hearings, SLATE's presence in the intellectual arena has most often taken the form of newsletters and "Starter Sheets,"…

In this article, the author offers an appreciation of the writers and their books that have shaped her teaching and thinking. Her face-to-face encounters with these books prompted her to question her own beliefs about literacy, about authority, about language, about writing, about literature. She was surrounded by the living animations of the…

Using his own experiences as a reader, the author advocates for increased attention to diverse literatures. Since joining National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1997, the author has worked with members who include preservice, beginning, and experienced educators and scholars; they have formed committees and founded groups for…

No moment of teaching is an island, entire of itself. Every move the author makes, every decision to speak or keep silent, every utterance emerges out of a larger ongoing professional conversation, as unfinished now as it was a hundred years ago when that first "English Journal" ("EJ") appeared. His specific moves as a teacher are turns at talk in…

NCTE's core values, posted on the website (http://www.ncte.org), are writing, literature, diversity, integrated language arts, knowledgeable and caring teachers, advocacy, and public education ("NCTE Core Values"). In this article, the author focuses only on writing, diversity, and advocacy, considering just a few ways in which the organization…

"Missing Chapters: Ten Pioneering Women in NCTE and English Education" is the first historical text to explore the impact women have had on English education. It is true that women have been a vital part of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) since the Council's founding in 1911 when 13 of the 34 founding members were women. As part of…

Reading through her files, the author takes a journey back in time to 1991 when a few lesbians and gay men met in a conference room at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention in Seattle to discuss issues relating to their lives and their teaching. It was at this meeting that NCTE first discussed forming a new group…

In 1974, Ohio repealed its sodomy laws; Massachusetts Representative Elaine Noble became the first openly gay individual elected to a state legislature; and the National Gay Task Force collaborated with US Representatives Bella Abzug (D-NY) and Edward Koch (D-NY) to introduce the Equality Act of 1974 to ban discrimination against lesbians, gay…

A member of the first cohort of Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color (CNV) and now its director, the author details the importance of fostering the work of scholars of color. As recognized by CNV, the presence and scholarship of scholars of color are essential, especially in public debates on education, advocacy, and social (in)justice.…