Violent writing is a real, yet rarely understood phenomenon in the secondary and post-secondary classroom. The 2007 Virginia Tech shooting tragedy sensationalized violent writing as a marker of disturbed and violent persons. However, violent writing comes in multiple forms and is composed for multiple reasons. As secondary schools wrestle with…

This article argues that exploration of media coverage of a story like the Boston Marathon bombings, including online comments posted by readers, can support youth in reflecting on and thinking critically about a tragedy while offering opportunities for literacy pedagogy consistent with the goals of the Common Core State Standards for English…

Digital tools have the potential to transform instruction and promote literacies outlined in the Common Core State Standards. Empirical research is examined to illustrate this potential in grades 6-12 instruction.

Inside a ninth-grade classroom, we witness one teacher's very intentional instructional attempts that resulted in her students being able to convey well-crafted reasoning and text-supported evidence to mount persuasive arguments. Through personal examples and Internet resources, the teacher concretized pathos, logos, and ethos. The teacher and…

Although reading fluency has been identified as a critical element in successful literacy curricula for elementary students, fluency has been relatively neglected beyond the elementary grades. Prior research has shown that word recognition automaticity (one component of fluency) is strongly associated with overall reading proficiency among…

When the authors taught Walter Dean Myers's postmodern young adult novel "Monster" to ninth graders, they assumed the students would like the text, as its format and style resemble that of popular television crime shows. The authors also assumed the students would be savvy readers of the text, capable of understanding and integrating postmodern…

The thing about digital literacy is its inherent squishiness. Educators argue whether the tool or the purpose matters most. They debate whether something being "electronic" constitutes "digital." Does it need a screen? A keyboard? More than that, teachers must decide what it means to read and write digitally and how to assess those skills. Just as…

In 2006, a secondary English and feminist studies teacher created a course and designed a study around a reading exchange for eighth-grade girls from two vastly different communities. Girls from a school in a northeastern state read young adult novels and wrote about their reading and related topics with girls from Washington, DC on a wikispace…

In previous columns in this department, scholars have taken to task the decontextualized and dehumanizing policies of recent and current federal education policies in the United States. While deconstruction of these policies is crucial, these moves must be followed by reconstruction. In this edition of the Adolescent Literacy Policy column,…

This article reports on findings from a school-based action research project with aboriginal adolescent students attending an alternative school in Canada. As a Freirean response to these marginalized students' school failures, the researcher engaged students in a critical multiliteracies approach to language and literacy learning. Based on…

The authors provide a rationale for the critical study of film texts in the English language arts. For struggling or reluctant students, film offers an accessibility that the printed text may not. Students who are intimidated by, or impeded from, accessing print text are able to discuss film with acuity and insight. The study of visual texts can…

Can daily access to laptop computers help students become better writers? Are such programs affordable? Evidence from the Inspired Writing program in Littleton Public Schools, Colorado, USA, provides a resounding yes to both questions. The program employs student netbooks, open-source software, cloud computing, and social media to help students in…

To date, nearly all one-to-one literacy instruction is delivered in person, often in university-based reading clinic settings. This traditional tutoring format, however, has not met the needs or fit the schedules of many adolescents. Distance technology, accompanied with research that confirms literacy instructional components do remain intact,…

Four classes of ninth-grade students in an international school in East Asia used a set of web-based technology tools to evaluate two competing webpages about the Taiwan Straits. The findings highlight the ways these students developed disciplinary literacy in social studies by drawing upon cultural resources and contextual knowledge as they…

Because of an interest in the concept of opportunity to learn (OTL) in the English language arts from the perspective of students, the authors surveyed over 1,800 students in grades 9-12. OTL was defined as perceptions of access and exposure to reading and writing content, as well as curriculum tasks and materials. The findings uncovered three…