When a student in a community-based writing program asked to write science fiction (SF), rather than a personal essay, he prompted the staff to expand the scope of the program's curriculum. This article describes how SF became another avenue for discussing community change. However, instead of just evaluating their worlds and writing about what…

Having students read news articles or novels, watch television snippets, engage in class discussions, essay-writing, emailing, and drafting letters are excellent ways to broach any number of society's systemic and oppressive social maladies. Engaging in these activities in the English language arts classroom can serve as a catalyst to encourage…

In this article, the authors begin this inquiry by describing their research with a class of middle school writers who played "Quandary," a free online educational game designed to teach argumentation, as part of a unit on writing arguments for environmental action. Regarding the subject area of English language arts (ELA), research has…

Educational simulations provide students authentic contexts. These authentic contexts require situated and complex real-world arguments. Such writing scenarios help students recognize why there are often multiple interpretations of evidence, who their audience is, what they want, and what kind of genre is needed. Playable Case Studies help…

According to the authors, Horizon Writing Project (HWP), is a collaborative research project that emerged from a mentorship program implemented for language arts teachers in southern Alberta, Canada. Seven English teachers participated in the project: Rita, Sean, Jaimie, Taylor, and Kacie, who teach senior high, and Keith and Lindsey, who teach…

This piece explores conditions that stimulate classroom activities to facilitate creative habits of mind in an effort to motivate educators and students to better understand the complexities of creativity and how to promote it.

An English teacher and a math teacher collaborating to improve practices in classroom discussion develop a problem-solving method that steers students away from seeking simple solutions and into an understanding of the complexity and nature of problems.

This article promotes project-based learning in English education as a way to combat the loss of cultural relevancy under the pressures of standardization. Project-based learning, a specific pedagogy consistent with Paulo Freire's problem-posing theory of education, is one way to create student-centered learning experiences that allow students to…

A university's seminar model suggests the design of a collaborative structure that promotes team sharing and problem solving. The mentoring that occurs in the seminar comes mainly from the student teachers sharing their experiences with each other and working together to make sense of their classrooms in the context of the theories they have…

What does democracy look like in the teaching of literature? Selecting texts that authentically and democratically engage students in the knotty questions of contemporary life is no small task, especially where young adult (YA) literature is concerned. This article critiques didactic YA literature grounded in a developmental stage model of…

When given the opportunity to work with mentor programs in schools, this author has recommended a global prescription for mentors to help new teachers make the transition into the world of teaching: encourage them to follow the practices that are most like those of good, experienced teachers. Experienced teachers are different from new teachers;…

Covel offers a primer on logic and describes how students react when they realize what a useful resource it can be in their real lives. His article includes useful definitions of critical concepts and logical fallacies. (Contains 2 figures.)

English teachers are by nature rather imaginative, a trait that is not taught in a methods class or listed as a disposition in standards for teacher preparation. Whether as part of a learning activity or a "what if" question posed in a literature discussion, imagination and creativity are integral parts of classrooms and their inclusion is as…

One way to merge imagination with problem-posing and problem-solving in the English classroom is by asking students to respond to "cultural and political vignettes" (CPVs). CPVs are cultural and political situations that are presented to students so that they can practice the creative and essential decision-making skills that they will need to use…

Argues that the real problem in schools and in society as a whole is not the lack of imagination, but that excessive imagination is running wild. Considers how someone whose imagination is out of control can still be a "convergent" thinker, believing there is only one answer or solution to a dilemma or problem. (SG)