When teaching a Drama and Theater class the author's students chose August Wilson's "Fences" to focus on the teaching of "dramatic" texts. As the author reread Wilson's play, she noticed that within the first pages is the n-word, used in conversation between two African American men, two friends, and it became an immediate…

It is essential that language arts teachers attempt to incorporate nonprint materials in their classrooms, such as music, film, and art, to involve, engage, and motivate a new generation of students. Using music in the classroom has shown to be effective from the elementary school level all the way to the university level. Using various forms of…

Chosen spaces are community organizations and programs, elective classes, and/or extracurricular clubs that students choose to participate in and have the agency to refuse their membership in. The youth's chosen spaces represent an alternate possibility for what English language arts (ELA) education could look like and how it might better sustain…

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…

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets--an excellent moment to focus on them, as well as on those written by others before and after 1609. Because these authors share an enthusiasm for poetry in general and the sonnet in particular, they want to encourage teachers to include…

Explains how a teacher's trip to Africa reinforced his commitment to a multicultural literature program. Recommends several books that might be incorporated into thematically-driven multicultural units such as "traditional tales,""rites of passage/search for identity,""cultures colliding," and "colonialism and…

Argues that English and Language Arts teachers can counter the lessons of hate, violence, and bigotry by offering lessons that promote understanding and caring, through choices for reading and writing of literature that represent all ethnic groups. Discusses the author's experiences teaching for many years in Mississippi, addressing the heritage…

For David E. Kirkland, the New English Education locates English language arts in the realities of youth, where texts emerge from students' lives, and the notions of reading and writing in English classrooms are open to revision. Kirkland reflects on how "postmodern Black experience, especially as seen in hip-hop, gives English teachers one way of…

Discusses the quality and value to students of recent Broadway plays. Noting that dramatic output is limited in size and content, recommends the use of an international English-language repertory for the education of young students. Cites British, Australian, Canadian, Caribbean, African and South African authors. (JG)

Profiles writer David Haynes, and discusses his four novels (an award-winning young adult book and three novels for the adult market). Concludes that Haynes' success as a novelist is due to his characters, a healthy dose of humor, and his realistic depiction of a wide range of African American characters without resorting to sensationalism or…

Describes the Linguistic Affirmation Program (LAP), a comprehensive nonstandard language awareness program for students not proficient in Standard American English, that facilitates the acquisition of Standard American English without devaluing students' home language and culture. Notes its six research-based critical instructional approaches.…

Describes how a high school English teacher went looking for and found Mexican-, Filipino-, African-, European-, and Native-American Literature, in order to bring all her students' worlds and voices into the classroom. Argues that all students must be included in an education that socializes them to a multicultural rather than a monocultural…

Describes how four teachers from different subjects in a New York high school developed an interdisciplinary curriculum unit on Sub-Saharan Africa that integrated English, Studio in Art, and Global Studies for ninth graders. Shows how the unit helped students see connections between subjects. (HB)