English Journal (EJ). March 2006. Part Two.

Some ideas on teaching English from the English Journal, March 2006, Part Two, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

How take notes for a research paper?
Paraphrase. K Guinee and MB Eagleton. EJ (Mar. 06), 46.

What are the advantages of paraphrasing in note taking?
"By actively engaging with the material to write it in their own words, students have the opportunity to process the content and develop better understanding of it." K Guinee and MB Eagleton. EJ (Mar. 06), 52.

How organize a research paper?
Use "I-Search" paper [Ken Macrorie] in which students ask and answer questions that are of personal importance, like careers. H Lyman. EJ (Mar. 06), 62-67.

How can we help students reflect critically on what they see and read?
Students spend fifteen minutes a day responding in writing to paintings and texts. J Luther. EJ (Mar. 06), 68-74.

How teach the research paper?
Use a "mini-research paper on assigned topics, a paper of 500 words, and take students through the process, step-by-step. KA Pfaffinger. EJ (Mar. 06), 75-77.

How help students understand plagiarism?
Give examples of plagiarized material and ask students to analyze them. K Pfaffinger. EJ (Mar. 06), 75-77.

What are some possible research topics?
Students observe the community, criticize it and then make proposals to improve it. C Borsheim and R Petrone. EJ (Mar. 06), 78-83.

How help students learn the habit of asking questions?
Encourage students to respond with questions to what they are reading in literature.

How help students who are failing?
When students are failing, ask why. A Bloodgood. EJ (Mar. 06), 97-99.

What are some alternatives to the research paper?
Create a chapbook or collect ideas on a single topic from different media and genres. Use art work, photography, interviews, music, dreams, original poetry, original stories, poems and stories by others, journal entries, process discussion, reflections, research, Internet links, quotations, newspapers and magazine articles. BE Brown. EJ (Mar. 06), 100-102.

How encourage reflective writing?
Create scenarios--problems, something like Dear Abby, but not necessarily personal; could be a school problem on how to study, how to write a research paper. Students respond with helpful suggestions. TE Henning. EJ (Mar. 06), 102-104.

Other topics: Students create a Renaissance Festival as a research project. Assigning a multi-genre research paper. Students complete a research project by planning dinner party. On asking students to challenge things they don't like in the community. On evaluating Internet resources.

English Journal (EJ). March 2006. Part One.

Some ideas on teaching English from the English Journal, March 2006, Part One, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

How teach research?
Students keep a journal of their progress in researching. RD Derrico. EJ (Mar. 06), 10.

What is the value of the five-paragraph essay?
Provides the foundation for organizing writing. K Smith. EJ (Mar. 06), 16.

What are some creative ways to use research in the classroom?
Write a proposal for constructive change in the community. DM Pegrim. EJ (Mar. 06), 18-22.

What are some creative ways to present the results of research in the classroom?
Turn the results into a short story. J Wirtz. EJ (Mar. 06), 23-27.

What are some creative ways to present the results of research in the classroom?
Turn the research into scripts and have the scripts performed. T Speaker & CK Anderson. EJ (Mar. 06), 28-29.

How begin a research project in the classroom?
Begin with the question "Why?" D Teitelbaum. EJ (Mar. 06), 30.

What are some creative ways to present the results of research in the classroom?
Turn it into a children's book that is actually read to children. D Teitelbaum. EJ (Mar. 06), 30-35.

What are some creative ways to present the results of research in the classroom?
Put it in the form of an unfamiliar genre: cook book; how-to book; instruction booklet; user's manual; pamphlet; dialogue; guide; letter; memoir; news article; news feature; in-depth report; obituary; opinion column; editorial; review; poetry; resume; speech. S Andrew-Vaughan & C Fletcher. EJ (Mar. 06), 36-42.

Other article: On the purpose of assements, from letter grades to portfolios.

Classroom Notes Plus (CN+). October 2007.

A quarterly publication of practical ideas on teaching English, Classroom Notes Plus is published by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

What technological tools do our students use, outside of school?
"Each day, many of our students download music, change their cell phone ringtones, order merchandise online, access the Internet for school projects, check e-mail, and IM their friends, all while listening to their mp3 players, shuffle through customized playlists. Many have created their own profiles on MySpace, complete with personal statements about life, photos of best friends, favorite music, and links to interesting websites. Many even have access to digital video recorders, and design, edit, and produce video clips which they upload to YouTube and other sites." P Albers. CN+ (Oct. 07), 1.

How help students use multi-media composition in school?
They create video documentaries. Gives a day-by-day schedule of activities. P Albers. CN+ (Oct. 07), 1-15,

College English (CE). March 2006.

Some ideas on teaching English and social activism from College English, March 2006, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

What are some problems in using personal writing in composition courses?
How it relates to academic writing and intruding into students' lives. T Barnett CE (Mar. 06), 356.

Why read?
Paule Friere: "Reading the word can allow the oppressed to read the world." B Trabold. CE (Mar. 06), 403.

How do protesting writers produce their protests in the face of oppression?
Author wants to study how oppressed protesters get their message out in spite of heavy oppression by the authorities. Uses the example of the anti-apartheid South African Weekly Mail as an example. B Trabold. CE (Mar. 06), 382-406.

Is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) liberal in its bias?
Only 10% of the audience perceives such a bias. E Ervin. CE (Mar. 06), 407.

Other topics. 1. The rhetoric of white awareness of racism. 2. On writing outside of one's field.

English Education (EngEd). October 2007.

Some ideas on preparing pre-service teachers in the teaching of English from English Education (EngEd), October 2007, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

How use technology in the classroom?
Pre-service teachers can begin communicating in various technological media on topics of social importance. TC Harste and P Albers. EngEd. (Oct. 07), 3-5.

What are some new technological tools to use in composing?
Composing on the Web. A Doering, et al. EngEd. (Oct. 07), 41.

How help pre-service teachers learn to use new technological tools?
Model them in our methods courses. They will then model them with their own students. A Doering, et al. EngEd. (Oct. 07), 42.

What are multi-modal communication tools?
Combine images, video clips and texts to engage audiences. A Doering, et al. EngEd. (Oct. 07), p. 50.

How should the new technological tools be used in the English classroom?
Not in a peripheral way but as central to communication. A Doering, et al. EngEd. (Oct. 07), 57-58.

How define literacy?
"...produced a shift in the notion of literacy from the conventional sense of reading and writing only print text to an enlarged sense of reading and writing multiple forms of non-print texts...." SM Miller. EngEd. (Oct. 07), 61.

How use technology to create meaning from reading a poem?
"In orchestrating the visual, music and narrative for a poetry video, for example, the teachers and their students performed their knowing; it was dynamic, evolving and constructed." S Miller. EngEd. (Oct 07), p. 71.

Other topic: Making aesthetic experience central to the curriculum.


Comment by RayS: In contrast to the emphasis in the preceding articles, I continue to maintain that the purpose of the English teacher is to work with words, to communicate with words, to read words, to write and speak with words, to create with words. I still think Joseph Conrad said it best: "My task is by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel--it is, before all, to make you see." I maintain that images, sound and video are most valuable when they support the words we use. I remember reading in the book version of Civilization that Kenneth Clark said he could not emphasize law and economics in the TV version of his survey of the history of civilization because he could not find visuals to support those topics. Of course not. Those topics consist almost entirely of ideas. And words are the key to expressing ideas.


We are English teachers. And our job is to teach the use of words. I have no problem with teaching how to use other media to support words. We need to emphasize words because words are ideas. Pictures may be worth a thousand words as the cliche goes, but no picture will ever replace words as the best medium to express ideas. The NCTE and I do not agree on the centrality of multimedia. I maintain that to the degree that emphasis is taken away from words in our English classes, students' mastery of literacy will be significantly weakened.

Reading Research Quarterly (RRQ). October/November/December 2007.

Some research on teaching reading from the Reading Research Quarterly (RRQ), a publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

How successful are urban children in learning to read?
"According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), about half the children living in urban areas in the United States cannot read at a basic level (2002)." WJ Donnell. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 468.

Why are urban students "at risk" in learning to read?
Poverty and ethnicity. WJ Donnell. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 468

How do faith-based [Christian Fundamentalist] schools approach literacy?
Their religion is an important ingredient in developing literacy. It does not necessarily produce better results. AJ Eakle. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 472-510.

How teach English as a Second Language (ESL) students to read and write?
14 7th- and 8th-grade students were grouped together emphasizing self-selected reading and teacher-directed large and small-group reading instruction using materials of interest to the students. Disappointed that teachers were able to succeed only with younger materials than the adolescent materials used by normal adolescent population. Could not succeed with the level of content for normal English-speaking adolescents. G Ivey and K Broaddus. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 512-549.

How important is vocabulary in comprehension?
The better the vocabulary scores, the better the comprehension scores. BW Riedel. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 547.

What skills did the National Reading Panel emphasize?
Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. BW Reidel. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 546.

How effective are diagnostic instruments in providing intervention for reading difficulties?
Key concept: Does diagnostic instrument help instructors identify specific reading difficulties and provide information on how to help children with the identified reading difficulties? BW Reidel. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 561.

What seems to be a major problem in helping ESL students learn and use English?
How to make use of their native language in learning the second language. How to use their knowledge, academic strengths and needs in their native languages in learninng English. E Rubenstein-Avila. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 569.

What does multiculturalism mean?
Sensitivity to diversity in foreign-language education Two or more different cultures in a community. In general, people find it difficult to define "multiculturalism." CA Mallozzi and JA Malloy. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 590-597.

How is oral proficiency useful in ESL learning?
Important in learning English, but is often overlooked in instruction. RA Grant, et al. RRQ (Oct/Nov/Dec 07), 599. [RayS: Oral proficiency should be an important tool in working with English as a Second Language students because that is how native speakers of English learn to read. Learning to read in English means identifying the words in their listening and speaking vocabulary with the same words in print.]

Other topic: Reflections on the end of the editors' 5-year term at RRQ.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL). October 2007.

Some ideas on teaching English from the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL), October 2007, a publication of the International Reading Association.

How teach homonyms, homophones and homographs?
Homonyms, same word, different meanings (bank--for money; bank--by the side of a stream); Homophones, same sound, different words (their, there); and homographs, same spelling, different meanings (tear--to rip/ tear--cry). Special problem for English as second language learners: prior knowledge; visualizing; familiarity; categorizing; compare and contrast; modeling; guided instruction, assessment. J Jacobean, et al. JAAL (Oct. 07), 88 - 111.

What are some problems with literature discussion circles?
Teachers need to be aware of what is occurring in the discussions not relevant to the literary work; in other words, what is causing problems in discussion--problems of gender, power and ideology. [RayS: Students need to be taught how to discuss in groups.] LW Clarke. JAAL (Oct. 07), 112-131.

How deal with the frustration of dyslexia?
Teach students by-pass strategies. Be positive. Get to know the whole child. Highlight the successes. Encourage support groups. Highlight keywords. L Long, et al. JAAL (Oct. 07), 124-134.

How help struggling readers, including ESL students?
Teach students to use "think-alouds" (metacognitive) strategies. RG McKeowan and JL Gentiluai. JAAL (Oct. 07), 136-147.

What is one reason students don't like to read assigned academic reading?
The teachers don't like to read assigned reading either. [RayS: And they have not learned how to become involved in assigned reading, by way of SQ3R, etc.] M Lesley, et al. JAAL (Oct. 07), 150-162.

How help struggling readers?
One-on-one tutoring. J Cohen. JAAL (Oct. 07), 164-175.

Why is there a perpetual literacy crisis? (Why can't "Johnny" ever learn to read?)
Popular culture--sensationalist newspapers in the 1880s; movies in the 1930s; video games and text messaging today. [RayS: Interesting insight into the problem.] BT Williams. JAAL (Oct. 07), 178.

Other topic: Using blogs outside of school develops digital technology and traditional literacy.

The Writer (Wrt). October 2007.

Some ideas on writing from The Writer, a magazine that publishes advice on writing by writers.

What to do about the subjunctive?
"If it were...." "I wish I were...." The definition of the subjunctive is "contrary to fact." If you can't figure it out, write around it. "If it were I, I would do it" becomes "I know that I would do it." "I wish it were I who could do it" becomes "I wish I could do it." The author explains the basics of the subjunctive, but he pretty much says to follow the definition of "contrary to fact" for "If" and "wish" or write around it A Plotnik. Wrt (Oct. 07), 15-16.

What is magical realism?
Realistic setting and plot jarred by the appearance of the fantastic. Quotes from five authors on the genre of magical realism. Ed. by Paola Corgo. Wrt (Oct. 07), 19-23.

How make children's books believable?
Through research, in the library, online, talking with friends and experts, or just watching kids in action. K Lay. Wrt (Oct. 07), 26-27.

How market your books?
Write blogs to which readers can respond. E Wilhelm. Wrt (Oct. 07), 28-29.

How can writing a journal help your writing?
Makes writing a habit. Set inner editor and critic aside. Write letters. Organize into random thoughts and observations, collect snippets of conversations and comments, collect quotes that inspire you. Poems. DM Raab. Wrt (Oct. 07), 30-33.

How would you write a co-journal?
Two people write and respond to each other. Then get together and read what ever they have written. [Hawthorne and his wife did this.] J Lehman. Wrt (Oct. 07), 34.

What was Johnny Cash's advice to his daughter about writing?
"Write. Write. Write. And don't care what anyone thinks." JP Morrell. Wrt. (Oct. 07), 35.

Should you shift point of view?
This author says yes. Gives examples of effective shifts in point of view. TE Kennedy. Wrt. (Oct. 07), 37-40.

Other topics:
Persecuted writers find sanctuary in the U.S.
What to consider when choosing a "print-on-demand" company.
Rankings of influential people and writers are the stuff to make arguments.
Museums devoted to Edgar Allan Poe.
Promotional book videos.
Profile of a children's book writer.
About women poets and their topics.
A writer on how she writes.
Review of a book about the Transcendentalists.
Review of a book on writing biographies.
Writing for the home [do-it-yourself] and garden market.
Review of the Bellevue Literary Review, founded by three doctors.
Example of types of commercial writing for free lancing.

The Writer (Wrt). November 2007.

RayS note: For some reason, none of these topics interested me to the extent that I wanted to read the articles. I am sure someone will be interested in these topics. You will need to buy The Writer, November 2007, edition.

Author discusses neologisms like "bling" and "throwback," and then creates one, "funished," meaning he had fun writing it and now it is completed.

Begin with character, not theme or plot.

Publishers' Web sites offer book previews.

The history of Longfellow's house.

"Grammar Vandal" photographs and puts on-line signs with grammatical mistakes. Now other people are sending their photos of grammatical errors on signs.

Grant writing.

Overseas Mom turns e-mails home into published essays.

Article on how a writer had to leave a setting she had grown attached to.

On the value of taking an MFA, Master of Fine Arts degree.

Make the most of minor characters in your fiction.

Movies about writers and writing--Capote, All the President's Men, Almost Famous, etc.

Descriptions of different characteristics of writers that hold the writer back.

Read intense writing in order to write intensely.

Rookie mistakes in writing.

Podcasting what you have written.

If you're going to write about teens, write about today's teens.

Specialize in some subject in order to find articles to write.

Review of a book on a writer's experience including her being "mentored" by Howard Fast.

Publishing articles on parenting.

Review of a magazine, Ecoton, dealing with ecology.

The Reading Teacher (RT). October 2007.

Some ideas on teaching reading and English from The Reading Teacher, a publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

How improve vocabulary instruction?
Students learn to stop at words they don't know and try to figure out the best way to gain their meanings. [RayS: Worth thinking about.] One method is to teach groups of related words. JF Baumann, et al. RT (Oct. 007). 108-122.

What is wrong with our teaching of comprehension?
Comprehension is expected, not taught. We don't teach comprehension strategies. One strategy is to teach students how to understand the structure of narrative text. S Dymock. RT (Oct. 07), 161-167.

How improve comprehension?
Concentrate on the first three sentences of each chapter. Helps to get students thinking about what is going to happen in the text. DN Morgan and JL Williams. RT (Oct. 07), 168-172.

Other topics: Helping boys to change their attitudes toward literacy and to define their masculinity. Teachers working with 4th- and 5th- and 6th-grade students need a "tool kit" of techniques for working with content materials. Does not give specific suggestions for what the too kit should contain. Suggests four practices in teaching ESL (English as a second language) students: Explicit code and comprehension instruction. 2. Language-rich instruction--speaking and listening. 3. Socio-culturally informed instruction--students translate for parents. 4. Additive literacy instruction--focus on developing the native language.

English Journal (EJ). September 2007.

Some ideas on teaching English from the English Journal (EJ), September 2007, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

How use films with novels?
Gives students film clips and asks them to turn the clips into text. J Golden. EJ (Sep. 07), 28.

How can students learn more about English grammar?
Students learn more about English grammar by studying Spanish. J Golden. EJ (Sep. 07), 30.

How help students visualize the settings in novels?
Create a "virtual world" with pictures and maps accompanying text from the novel. CM Arver. EJ (Sep. 07), 37-42.

How help students expand their literary discussions beyond the classroom?
Students create blogs in response to the literature they are reading and discussing in class. Other students are able to respond to these responses on the blog. An advantage to students who are quiet and don't speak up in class discussions. C English. EJ (Sep. 07), 56-61.

How help students go beyond the books they are reading?
Using The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean as a model of the world of collecting orchids, students used either their own collectibles or started a new collection and researched the collectible from a variety of sources. Emphasis was on the variety of sources used and the variety of media used in the presentation. KE Moynihan. EJ (Sep. 07), 69-76.

How can students produce a research project on video?
Two fifth-grade students produced a documentary using video, stills and audio on African-American history. J Ranker. EJ (Sep. 07), 77-82.

What should we do about the digitized books now being collected by Google and other organizations?
One teacher had students compare the 16 different translations of the Odyssey. A Webb. EJ (Sep. 07), 83-88.

How help students improve their critical thinking?
Students reviewed critiques of products from different sources on the Internet. From this review came a list of standard questions to ask. M Rice. EJ (Sep. 07), 89-93.

How help students improve vocabulary for the SAT?
"Spark-Notes" has produced "vocabulary novels," novels that emphasize the vocabulary likely to be encountered in the SAT. [RayS: An idea whose time has passed. Vocabulary used to be important in the SAT when antonyms, analogies and sentence completions were three of the four verbal sub-tests, the fourth being reading comprehension. But now that only sentence completions remain part of the SAT, why go to the trouble of reading "vocabulary novels"? Just read to learn ideas, whether fiction or nonfiction. The vocabulary will come from extensive reading of interesting books. The same exposure to words comes from weekly reading of Newsweek, Time and US News and World Report. ]

Other topics:
The issue of choosing words in reading assignments to pre-teach. Visiting the NCTE Convention in New York city. Technology may change but "story" is essential. Learning some lessons on teaching by working with a personal physical trainer. Teaching students to critique on-line multi-modal Web sites.

Language Arts. September 2007.

Some ideas on teaching English from the journal Language Arts, September 2007, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

How help children practice their reading?
Children at noon meet adult volunteers from corporations to eat together and engage in a variety of reading activities. Such a program must be supervised. Teachers and reading specialists can help the volunteers select books and offer suggestions about activities to use with the individual children. ET Dawes. LA (Sep. 07), 10-19.

How help young children to relate literacy and science?
Kindergarten students observe bird feeder outside the classroom. They raise questions, learn to use bird publications, record their findings, take pictures for reference and evidence of the answers to their questions, etc. P. Whitin. LA (Sep. 07), 20-30.

How help young students become interested in words?
Student wears a "hat" (a crown) with an interesting word he has discovered written on it so that when other children or people ask about the word, he can explain it to them. P Pargh, et al. LA (Sep. 07), 31-42.

How involve the community in the classroom?
In this article, a poet who resided in the community became a guest teacher of poetry to 8th-grade students. AM Wiseman. LA (Sep. 07), 43-51.

How should schools be reformed?
Author suggests that beyond fifth grade in which basic skills are taught, students should engage in independent study with less and less time devoted to a standardized curriculum. J Lemke. LA (Sep. 07), 52-61. *** [RayS. One of the most interesting ideas I have encountered in my professional journals. Working out the details of such a reform will be difficult, but I think it is an idea worth pursuing.]

How deal with the problems of urban education?
We need to change the image of urban areas by presenting positive images of what actually occurs in urban areas. V Kinloch. LA (Sep. 07), 61-68. [RayS: All right, this will not solve all the problems of urban education, but I think it is one piece of the puzzle. The only images of urban areas I see are the "If it bleeds, it leads" of Channel 6, Action News each night--a daily chronicle of murder, rape, arson, and other assorted violence, etc. The perfunctory 30-second image of students gathered around the piano or receiving awards does not convey the kind of positive image needed to change people's views of urban areas.]

What are some examples of ugly and confusing language in educational publication or, when is an idea not an idea?
"Hope and possibility are key dimensions in the development of agentic identities." "...open opportunities to reframe the outcomes of education." p. 76. "One danger of undertheorizing transfromative learning...." p. 78. "It's about designing a particular kind of ecology that is saturated with tools, forms and networks of support...." p. 73. "Identifying the contradictions in the various activity systems that make up people's everyday lives...." p. 72. "...education practices that are not thoughtfully mediated...." p. 74. KG. LA (Sep. 07). [RayS. Ugh!]

College Composition and Communication. September 2007.

Some ideas on teaching English from the journal College Composition and Communication, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

What to do about plagiarism?
Have students discuss their problems with a student board--especially if the student is from another culture. E Whitaker. CCC (Sept. 07), 125-127.

What do we do about the increasing number of students speaking varieties of English?
Review of three books dealing with the problem of vernacular "Englishes," including African American Vernacular English, Indian English, Philippine English, Caribbean Creole English, Hawaiian Pidgin, West African Pidgin English, Spanglish and Tex-Mex English. Reviewed ideas are general and not very helpful. Main problem is how to bridge the gap between out-of-school English and academic English in the classroom. C Severino. CCC (Sep. 07), 128-138.

How valid is scoring compositions by machine?
Review of Machine Scoring of Student Essays: Truth and Consequences by PF Ericsson and Richard Haswell, editors. 1006. Variety of contributors. No easy answers. Gives information and research on machine scoring. The big question: machine scoring for what reason? The usefulness of machine scoring of essays depends on the the answer to that question. C Rutz. CCC (Sep. 07), 139-144.

Other topics: 1. The role of the writing clinic. 2. On the history of rhetoric in the writing program at the University of Chicago. 3. A study related to teaching learning disabled students in freshman English. 4. Much ado and mumbo jumbo on saying the right thing at the right time. 5. Discussion of the working conditions of adjunct writing instructors. 6. The self-doubts regarding teaching and scholarship of four women who have earned their doctorates. The problem is rooted in their mothers.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (JAAL). September 2007.

Some ideas on teaching reading and English from the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, a publication of the International Reading Association.

What are the effects of inadequate reading skills on youngsters?
Think of themselves as non-readers or poor readers. Avoid reading. Attempt to become invisible Act out in order to create distractions. S Hughes-Hassell and P Rodgo. JAAL (Sep. 07), 22.

How approach the study of the Holocaust through The Diary of Anne Frank?
Separate myths from reality in reading and learning about Anne Frank. K Spector and S Jones. JAAL (Sep. 07), 38-48.

Why don't students read poetry?
One reason is myths about poetry and poets: using drugs; eccentric behavior; mental illness; bohemian sexuality; loves of poverty and misery. L Young. JAAL (Sept. 07), 50.

Other topics: 1. Dealing with problem students by recording every fact about them and then submitting to qualified professionals when concerned about their behavior. 2. Students who are studying fiction write fiction. 3. Response to an article about encouraging critical reading by embedding false information in reading materials.