While text selection is indeed a crucial choice that transmits explicit and implicit messages to students about what literature is and why it matters, it remains one element that needs to be put into conversation with a broader set of considerations in order for educators to fully grapple with the nature and purpose of rigorous and transformative…

A digital platform is a networked infrastructure that allows people to engage in various kinds of interactions: social, economic, political, educational. Digital platforms can play a fundamental part of today's English language arts (ELA) classroom. Students read, write, view, connect, and interact with, on, and through a kaleidoscope of digital…

While social values outside of academia are changing from nationalism to globalization, much of English studies remains entrenched in nationalist discourses. Editor Bruce McComiskey and his contributors argue that English studies must shift from a national (petrified, zombified) to a global (cosmopolitan, planetary) orientation in order to remain…

This statement is a response to several recent and historical exigencies that have demonstrated a need for a broader conversation about citation justice in rhetoric, composition, and writing studies. This position statement aims to encourage scholars to engage in citation justice in all areas of scholarly production, with the specific goals of:…

Racial literacy is a skill and practice by which individuals can probe the existence of racism and examine the effects of race and institutionalized systems on their experiences and representation in US society. Students who have this skill can discuss the implications of race and American racism in constructive ways. Racially literate teachers…

It is the policy of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) that it demonstrate sensitivity to the concerns of people of color and they be represented on all Council-sponsored programs, and that a similar policy be urged on affiliated organizations (conferences, assemblies, and affiliates). To this end, the following actions are to be…

A subcommittee of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Executive Committee wrote the "NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing" in 2004. In over a decade since, the everyday experience of writing in people's lives has expanded dramatically. Increasingly, handheld devices are important instruments for people's writing,…

On June 19, 2015, the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of NCTE posted a statement sending love to the families and the people of Charleston in response to the racist murders at the historic Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The statement also expressed belief that early childhood educators have a clear responsibility and…

Instructional materials are essential tools in the English language arts classroom. They allow students to interact with words, images, and ideas in ways that develop their abilities in multiple literacies such as reading, listening, viewing, thinking, speaking, writing, and technology. Because selection policies should reflect local interests and…

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has long-established positions on class size for English language arts teachers. Today public schools employ 250,000 fewer people than before the recession of 2008-09, while enrollment has increased by 800,000, and class sizes in many schools are at record highs (Rich, 2013). Research shows that…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA), designed to make students college and career ready, were released in June 2010, and have since been adopted by 45 states seeking to be eligible for Race to the Top funds offered by the US Department of Education. The states that signed on with the CCSS agreed to fully…

This document is a compilation of the four issues in the 23rd volume of "Classroom Notes Plus." Each issue of "Classroom Notes Plus" contains descriptions of original, unpublished teaching practices, and of adapted ideas. The August 2005 (v23 n1) issue includes: Sharing Responses to Literature via Exit Slips (Barb Wagner); Letting Learners Teach…

The recent pedagogical "boom" in English studies and the seeming omnipresence of the term pedagogy have not been matched by a correspondingly radical shift in how educators prepare professors of English. Instead, Shari J. Stenberg argues, "professing" remains primarily defined by conceptions of research. Stenberg insists that pedagogy will not be…

This document is a compilation of the four issues in the 22nd volume of "Classroom Notes Plus." The August 2004 issue includes: Celebrating Our Names (Nitza Agam); Group Resume (Jennifer L. Alex); There's Much to Learn from Listening (Ann McKenna); Roll Call Turns into Brainstorming (John R. Banks); Create Your Own Museum (Jennifer Collison);…

John S. O'Connor offers exciting new approaches to teaching poetry in middle school and high school classrooms with more than 25 high-interest activities designed to sharpen students' writing and self-understanding and heighten their awareness of the world around them. In the process, he demystifies poetry for teachers and students by using…