English Language Arts Teachers Research Articles

Mental Health Literacy in the Middle School English Language Arts Classroom: Perspectives from Teachers and Social Support Staff

ABSTRACT Background The prevalence of mental health challenges among adolescents warrants innovative school-based approaches that support students’ mental health literacy (MHL). Purpose In this qualitative case study, we interrogated the experiences of three eighth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers and two of their school’s social support staff as they conceptualized, developed, and delivered a novel MHL unit of study within their existing curricular framework. In doing so, we sought to better understand the experiences of these school professionals to inform future iterations of the unit. Methods We explicated focus group data to identify themes that emerged regarding participant goals, experiences, and outcomes as they related to unit planning, delivery, and recommendations. Results Generally, practitioners advocated for increased collaboration with each other to overcome professional apprehension and streamline efforts, a need for such a curriculum to enhance student wellbeing, and having access to more school-provided resources. Discussion Themes are contextualized within the current landscape of school MHL programming, and suggestions are highlighted to advance this ELA curriculum-based work. Translation to Health Education Practice Health Educators’ expertise can supplement the ELA curriculum with targeted MHL lessons for students, alleviating teacher role confusion and advancing the goals of the unit by providing psychoeducation.

Adopting a languaging approach for teaching about the climate crisis in English language arts

Purpose This paper posits the need for English language arts (ELA) teachers to foster students’ use of languaging about their relations with ecosystems and peers, leading to their engaging in collective action to critique and transform status-quo systems impacting the climate crisis. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews the current theory of languaging theory and research that focuses on the use of languaging to enact relations with ecosystems and others and voice emotions for transforming communities and reducing emissions contributing to climate change. Findings This review of languaging theory/research leads to identifying examples of teachers having students critique the use of languaging constituting status quo energy and community/transportation systems, respond to examples of characters using languaging in literary texts, using languaging in discussing or writing about the need to address climate change, critiquing languaging in media promoting consumption, using media to interact with audiences and using languaging through engaging in role-play activities. Originality/value This focus on languaging in ELA classrooms is a unique perspective application of languaging theory, leading students to engage in collective, communal action to address the climate crisis.

Project TRANSLATE: Collaborative Translanguaging across ELA Settings

In this article, three teacher educators share how English language arts teachers can implement collaborative translanguaging in secondary settings.

Invited Reflection: Small Talk about Big Ideas: The Benefits of ELATE Membership

In this piece, three leaders of English Language Arts Teacher Educators (ELATE) reflect on their individual experiences with ELATE before collectively exploring the benefits of membership in the professional organization.

A Guide to Strengthening Teacher Allyship amid Anti-LGBTQ+ Policy Efforts

This article serves as a guide for novice ally English language arts teachers and for teachers who wish to strengthen their allyship efforts in the English language arts classroom.

Collaborating to Create and Implement Culturally Sustaining ELA Curriculum

Two English language arts teachers, an instructional coach, and a principal work to implement their new curriculum with a focus on responsiveness to students, rather than fidelity to a script.

Navigating tensions: A critical policy analysis of expectations for English educators in Georgia

We compare the institutional standards and expectations for English language arts (ELA) educators from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the leading professional organization in this field, and the state of Georgia. By conducting a critical policy analysis of documents from NCTE and the Georgia Department of Education (GADoE) we sought to understand the tension between standards set for training English education students in institutions of higher education and the standards those teachers would be required to use in Georgia K-12 schools. We analyze these documents through Cooper et al.’s (2004) policy analysis framework, which questions the normative, structural, constituent, and technical dimensions of policy development. We found that the ideological beliefs and values embedded in the policies and documents from NCTE and GADoE have developed divergent sets of expectations for ELA teachers in Georgia, particularly around how teachers respond to oppression in our society; how we understand the overall purpose of ELA instruction; and the scope of responsibilities for educators. We end by presenting implications for educators working among these two sets of policies, in recognizing where these expectations may overlap as well as diverge.

Developing an empathic analysis: Using critical literacy, dialogue, and inquiry with literature to explore the issues with gender labels

AbstractBook banning and censorship in the U.S. prompts necessary conversations on how critical literacy, dialogue, and inquiry are used in various school and library settings. We share guiding questions alongside three examples of textual analyses centering on gender fluidity with three young adult novels. We believe that English language arts teachers will benefit from seeing examples of how we responded to these texts with critical analysis questions that require students to analyze gender representation and identity within the stories. By developing an empathic analysis, students can engage in this critical work within classrooms and libraries, where reading diverse texts is encouraged.

Literary Discussions in the Modern Classroom: Online and In-person Implementation Strategies

Literary discussions are widely utilized in education, yet their profound impact on students' comprehension requires in-depth exploration. This paper delves into the influence of literary discussions on student comprehension and examines how these discussions can enhance students' understanding and analytical skills. Through literature reviews and case analyses, this study investigates teaching strategies, student engagement levels, classroom ambiance, and other factors involved in literary discussions, revealing the potential mechanisms through which literary discussions influence student comprehension. The paper explores variations in the application of literary discussions across different types of literary works (novels, poetry, drama, etc.) and their relationship with students' creative thinking. Finally, the paper provides recommendations to assist educators in effectively utilizing literary discussions to enhance students' comprehension skills. Students must have the opportunity to discuss literature in ways that provoke deep thought and meaning from each work they encounter. Therefore, English Language Arts teachers and instructors must be creative in finding unique ways in which they encourage their students to experience and respond to literature. This paper discusses a variety of strategies to implement in virtual and in-person classrooms, such as Socratic seminar, Teacher-led as a facilitator, Teacher-led as a promoter of diverse perspectives, Using student-generated discussion questions whole class, Using student-generated discussion questions in small groups, Using Close-ended questions, Using Open-ended questions, Inquiry-based, Making real-world connections to the literature, Literature Circles. These literary discussion strategies can be used for both fiction and nonfiction literature.

Relational Poetic Practice: Affordances and Possibilities of High School Teachers’ Online Poetry Community during COVID-19

Using interpretive phenomenological analysis of oral history interviews, this study explored poetic experiences of nine US secondary English language arts teachers who participated in a month of online poetry writing during COVID-19. The manuscript explores how poetic relationality created space for these secondary English language arts teachers, mostly in rural school districts, to reflect on their realities during COVID-19. These teachers came to understand themselves not just as teachers but also as poets, an understanding that helped sustain them as they taught in digital contexts, during social distancing and school closures.

Decolonizing Middle Level Literacy Instruction: A Culturally Proactive Approach to Literacy Methods (Book Review)

English teachers and educators may find it challenging to identify inclusive instructional approaches and materials that address the needs of their diverse student populations (Wright, 2019). Furthermore, teaching ideas, resources, and pedagogical approaches that value English as a Second Language (ESL) learners’ diverse linguistic and cultural assets requires classroom-level planning that might be unfamiliar to some ESL teachers. Decolonizing Middle Level Literacy Instruction: A Culturally Proactive Approach to Literacy Methods, by Michael Domínguez and Robyn Seglem, will prove useful as it provides writing and reading instruction strategies for preservice and in-service English Language Arts teachers. These strategies can help ESL teachers adapt curricular and instructional materials to the sociocultural contexts of their students, thus providing helpful information for equity and diversity in language education. [First Paragraph]

Training secondary English teachers to engage students in challenging and complex issues with journalistic strategies

ABSTRACT Classroom discussions of social issues, ranging from gun violence and climate change to race and gender identity, have become risky and politicised, dividing parents and educators along ideological lines and leading to censorship. Journalistic teaching and learning in secondary school English classes present one viable solution. However, few professional development opportunities exist to support teachers who lack formal professional or scholastic journalism training to integrate journalistic practices and disciplinary lens into general English language arts classrooms. This study explores teacher experiences and perspectives on student learning building on an innovative professional development and classroom curriculum. Results demonstrate strong evidence for the scalability of this networked learning professional development approach and for the teacher-generated innovations that enhanced student experiences. Teachers perceived substantial improvements in students’ core skills in journalistic learning, such as evaluating bias and credibility of sources, conducting interviews with community members, and writing. Results illustrate a timely and impactful approach to training English language arts teachers in a student-driven, culturally relevant, and practical approach to writing instruction.

‘Courageous and uncomfortable’: high school English language arts teachers using shared leadership qualities in virtual and hybrid classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Shared leadership research shows that it could be beneficial in the high school classroom. During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers were looking for best-practice strategies to move their curriculum online and to hybrid. This worldwide crisis provided a moment in time to rethink traditional education in unprecedented mandatory mass virtual and hybrid learning. For this study, data was collected using a three-interview approach on Zoom in conjunction with virtual observations of classrooms, teacher and student artifacts, and researcher reflections. The selected teachers reported that they worked to foster an environment of trust, interdependence, collaboration, and collectivism at the beginning of school year 2020 which allowed aspects of shared leadership and student voice to flourish, even within multiple, changing modalities. Students felt more confident to take safe risks in discussion and thinking because everyone was experiencing change, a shared collectivism. The participants found success using student voice consistently to help create engagement, creativity, and other shared leadership qualities in the classroom. All of the qualities were reciprocal, as trust increased, student voice also increased, and likewise for many of the other qualities. Because of this reciprocity, students were able to discuss and reflect knowledge in new ways that many times they directed. Teachers reported a sense of self-efficacy through students’ engagement in their course work and their willingness to take risks. Many times, the teachers felt like students themselves as they took risks and adapted to the changing requirements.

From Motivation to Inspiration: Using Picturebook Biographies to Inspire All Learners, Especially English Language Learners

This article begins with a vignette that involved a response by an eighth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher to the question: “Why do you assign a grade for every student assignment?” She stated: “Because grades drive my students! It’s so much a part of their lives that if I don’t give them points toward a good grade, they ask themselves, ‘Then, why am I doing this?’” For us, this response generated several inquiry questions about the role of motivation in student learning. One question was: Is motivation alone enough for student success? Our initial answer was probably not. We hypothesized that motivation is helpful but insufficient for student learning. Inspiration is also important. This hypothesis inspired this article. It describes fundamental principles underlying research on motivation, identifying important differences between motivation and inspiration. Next, it provides an overview of different definitions of the term picturebook. It then describes the power of picturebook biographies to inspire all learners, especially ELL learners. It shares an extensive list of high-quality, award-winning, multicultural picturebook biographies of historical figures from around the world and across four major categories: Trailblazers and Daredevils, Sports Figures, Heroes Conquering Disabilities, and Historical Figures from Around the World. It ends with final thoughts and an invitation for teachers to hear new voices and start new conversations about the importance of using picturebook biographies to inspire all learners.

Experiencing the cycles of love in teaching: the praxis of an early career Asian American ELA teacher

PurposeEarly career teachers (ECTs) of Color are key in making change, resisting racism and pushing back against white supremacy in K-12 education, specifically in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Through a narrative telling inquiry (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000) of Nora, an Asian American ELA ECT in the Midwest, and by drawing on Fisher’s (2011) Critical Integral Pedagogy of Fearlessness, this study aims to recognize the narrative power within teaching praxis as Nora stories herself toward becoming a critical pedagogue.Design/methodology/approachUsing narrative inquiry methodology and methods (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000), the authors simultaneously considered the commonplace tenets of narrative inquiry – temporality, sociality and place – of the intertwined relationships of the participants and observers. The field texts included in the corpus of data include myriad tellings of Nora’s experiences in her initial years of teaching ELA. Data were analyzed in stages of parsing out narrative blocks and structures.FindingsThe findings indicate that Nora, as an ECT, went through recursive cycles of fear as conceptualized by Fisher (2011) – bravery, courageousness and being fear-less – of working toward radical love (Hooks, 2000) within her ELA instruction. The authors argue that Nora confronted her personal and professional fears as she strove to become a critical pedagogue in her ELA classroom.Originality/valueCurrent scholarship portrays ECTs as lacking agency in their development and/or effectiveness in the classroom and little is said about Asian American ELA ECTs and critical instruction. The authors present Nora’s counter-narrative to make visible what is right with ELA ECTs, specifically teachers of Color, as they transform their fear into courage to fight for educational equity.

Claiming a space in the W/writerly community to increase English Language Arts teacher agency

PurposeBy engaging levels of W/writerliness, this paper aims to identify how English Language Arts teachers’ personal and professional W/writerly identities impact their performance of pedagogical agency.Design/methodology/approachIn this narrative inquiry, the author draws on theories of writing identity and agency to analyze how four mid-career English teachers’ personal beliefs around writing intersect with their professional practice. Data sources include interviews, journal entries and classroom observations.FindingsNuanced differences in teachers’ W/writerly identities produce more substantial differences in their pedagogy, especially impacting their performance of agency to (re)define successful writing outcomes and to balance process and product in their writing instruction.Practical implicationsThis paper presents one method to expand preservice and in-service English Language Arts (ELA) practitioners’ approaches to teaching writing even alongside limitations of their teaching context by (1) emphasizing their ownership over their own writing in university methods courses; (2) leading teachers on an exploration of W/writerly identities; and (3) investigating ways teachers can transfer their personal and professional learning to students via their own pedagogical agency.Originality/valueThe study extends the work of scholars in the National Writing Project, suggesting that nuanced exploration of ELA teachers’ W/writerly identities in preservice and in-service settings could increase their sense of agency to work against and within cultures of standardization.

Down but not out: Using restorying to imagine beyond the constraints of mandated texts for critical thinking, empathy, and identity work

AbstractIn this paper, we highlight how restorying with preservice secondary English language arts teachers can encourage them to explore what is possible with mandated texts, like those found in the canon, for diverse world building centered in empathy, self‐exploration, and justice. Findings highlight the critical reflective process preservice teachers engaged in as they restoryed canonical texts. These findings highlight and how preservice teachers can use restorying as a way to engage the self and others for more inclusive storytelling. Finally, the authors argue that in oppressive spaces that seek to silence marginalized voices, restorying can act as a subversive tool to engage in work that bends toward justice.

Love Yourz: Developing Black Students’ Positive Racial Identities in ELA Classrooms

ABSTRACT The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to explore the ways that Black English Language Arts (ELA) teachers utilize their positive racial identities to engage Black students in developing their own racial identities. A significant body of educational scholarship has consistently proclaimed the importance of Black teachers in the lives of Black students. This assertion may have particular significance in the English Language Arts classroom. Through a self-evaluation questionnaire and artifacts, I found that Black teachers Love Yourz—that is, they love their Blackness and teach their students to Love Theirs, too. However, due to the smog of anti-Blackness, they are still in need of racial literacy development to continue to disrupt their own and their students’ internalized anti-Blackness.

Research: Games to Promote Empathy as a Literacy Practice: A New Teacher’s Playful Practice

Researchers have advocated for the use of games for learning, yet few studies focus on games within English teacher education. Even fewer studies examine English Language Arts (ELA) teachers as designers of games. In this article, the authors examine a new ELA teacher’s design and implementation of a tabletop card game and explore what this game and its use in a middle school classroom illustrate about the purposes of games in secondary ELA. Data collection occurred across one year and included three semi-structured interviews and game materials. Key findings focus on games as (a) platforms for learning empathy as a literacy practice; (b) texts for story building and interpretive practice; and (c) ways to reimagine classroom learning. We discuss implications for teacher educators and teachers, including games in ELA curriculum, the use of games to reconceptualize schooling, and tensions that can arise when teachers incorporate games in classrooms.

Negotiating Language Arts and Muslim Identity

Abstract: In this article, we present a case study of a sixth grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher and her students at an American Islamic school. The perception in the literature is that schools are an important bridge for immigrants to engage with their adopted culture. We examined the curriculum and instructional practice of sixth grade ELA teacher Sarah El-Ahmed, who was teaching second generation immigrant Muslim children at Bright Star Muslim School (names are pseudonyms). We also examined the students’ responses to the teacher’s efforts to foster an Islamic identity orientation and integrate the beliefs and practices of Islam with those of the pupils’ adopted home. Our findings suggest an appropriate level of teacher support can be transformative for meaning and identity and help solidify an Islamic perspective in an intersection between secular and spiritual worldviews. This study suggests that the teaching of literacy may extend to reading secular as well as sacred texts to accommodate the sociocultural needs of the students.