Two years after the onset of the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to take a toll on educators' morale and well-being. The need to strengthen relationships between educators and students is growing. The MyTeachingPartner-Secondary (MTP-S) program, which is a strengths-based coaching program for middle and high school teachers, helps educators respond…

It is rare when a group of teachers gets to embark on a sustained, collaborative journey together to transform their teaching. It is even rarer that this group gets to reflect on this work and take a step back to appreciate the triumphs of their toils. In this article, six science educators share their reflections on how a journey of sustained…

In an interview, educator and psychologist Thomas Armstrong says that schools need to do a better job of speaking to--rather than resisting or crushing--adolescents' neurological development. "Essentially, the curriculum in high school needs to be more affective," he argues. "It needs to be more engaging in terms of humor, vitality,…

In our response to "Deliberating Public Policy Issues with Adolescents," we address the matter that students seem to be reluctant to changing their minds, opinions, and initial positions in classroom deliberations and instead see such deliberations as an opportunity to perform and publicly announce their preexisting views. We argue that…

After twenty-five years, the authors find that the "natural" writing center-WAC connection has proven its value over time. Pointing to the growth of WAC-writing centers, their scholarship, role in faculty development and community building, the authors end by reflecting on how this program building over the last years supports and can…

In this article, Charlie Taylor offers a commentary on Yang et al.'s 2021 "Reading in a Foreign Language" article, "Text Difficulty in Extensive Reading: Reading Comprehension and Reading Motivation." In their study, Yang et al. analyzed the effects of text difficulty on the reading comprehension and motivation of high school…

In this response, we make the case for the power and promise of scaffolded reading instruction for teaching civic literacy--civic content knowledge and skills needed to both comprehend and take a stand on civic issues at a local, national, or global level. We argue the following: (a) Now, more than ever, students need to develop the skills and…

Marie Ståhl and Anita Hussénius have defined what discourses dominate national tests in chemistry for Grade 9 in Sweden by using feminist, critical didactic perspectives. This response seeks to expand the results in Ståhl and Hussénius's article "Chemistry inside an epistemological community box!--Discursive exclusions and inclusions in the…

This is a conversation with Randy Asher, principal of New York City's Brooklyn Technical High School. Brooklyn Tech is a selective science high school in New York City, founded in 1922 as a school for boys with potential for careers in engineering and applied science. Today, it provides full-time education for both male and female students from…

Literacy is the foundation for success in school and society. An essential goal of every school is to help every student read, write and think critically. Dedicated teachers are the catalyst for reaching this goal. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) developed a literacy professional learning model to better support these dedicated…

This article explores how TCTELA's 2024 Teachers of the Year forged the future through their literacy teaching at the elementary, middle school, high school, and college levels. Each essay captures how they understand their work as literacy educators and intentionally educate their students toward a brighter future amid trying local contexts. The…

Aka (2019) conducted an year-long large-scale study demonstrating that Japanese high school students who undertook extensive reading performed better than a control group who undertook grammatical instruction. Those showing the greatest gains were those of lower and intermediate proficiency. The students' achievement was measured in terms of…

Ten years ago, in "Kappan," the author published a detailed account of the old-fashioned and unengaging instruction used at his son Max's Chicago elementary school. Now he updates readers with a reflection on Max's high school years, describing a curriculum and teaching practices that desperately need an overhaul. Thanks to its…

In this essay, Michael Satterfield recounts his experiences as a student in and outside of prison. His narrative exposes the challenges faced by one person in pursuit of an education, and recounts his early educational experiences as well as his participation in a college-in-prison program. He also describes his journey to a four-year college and…

Context is everything. Very little in art or in history (or in life) happens in isolation, although works of art and events in history have been studied this way. This is especially true of the arts, which are so intrinsically connected to the cultures from which they emerge. This essential interconnectivity was also the premise behind the design…