It's clear that the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) programs such as ChatGPT (generative pre-trained transformer) will significantly impact education, and it is natural for teachers to feel apprehensive about this change. This article explores the role of ChatGPT in a high school English classroom and discusses how it can…

Student enjoyment is important when creating any unit, but teachers should also consider if an activity will enhance learning. In addition to being enjoyable, drama-based activities enrich learning by disrupting passivity, encouraging participation, and enhancing comprehension. This article showcases ways to include these activities in a unit…

After watching his fifth-grade son perform in "The Taming of the Shrew," Ben Lathrop realized that having learned the play through performance, his son found the experience enjoyable. Moreover, his acting decisions (movements, gestures, vocal inflections) demonstrated that he had at least some understanding of his lines, suggesting that…

This article describes a community action student- led project that features authentic writing and engagement to increase motivation. The article highlights important instructional strategies for implementing community action projects and the resulting student learning. The article concludes with the authors' reflections and observations.

A movement is taking place in school districts and classrooms as teachers are embracing engaged learning environments in which they are listening to the often-silenced voices of their students. This article chronicles moments from the journeys of four learners who represent a range of experiences and perspectives on re-envisioning the work done in…

In this article, Kate Collins begins by explaining how she discovered that "Hamilton: An American Musical," a Broadway show that incorporates a mix of musical genres: hip-hop, jazz, classic show tunes, and show-stopper numbers based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, could be brought into her teaching as a rich resource for her high…

English departments are roundly praised for their emphasis on skills rather than content. In the authors' classes, students read (skill), write (skill), think (skill), speak (skill), and listen (skill). Theoretically, the books being taught are interchangeable and simply a means to skill acquisition. But that's not always what happens in the…

The tension between teachers' desires to instill independence in students, and students' desires for teachers to provide answers, is a complex one. This article explores a lesson that, with virtually no guidance from the teacher, enhances student independence, engagement, and insight.

The authors designed an assignment for a writing class for late-secondary and early-college students, one with a central goal of giving students the opportunity to engage with a controversial topic by identifying and representing views other than their own. The authors called it a "not my opinion" assignment, and they piloted it in a…

The author pushes two desks together in the front of the class and pile supplies on them: markers, drawing paper, rulers, and pencils. As the students enter a combined English language arts (ELA) and English as a New Language (ENL) tenth-grade classroom, they select what they need and settle in to their work. As an ELA educator who is also a…

Playful teaching is a little-explored way to reinvigorate secondary classrooms with our vibrant mutual humanity. The author has come to believe not only that the ludic can be harnessed for academic engagement and growth but also that play can infuse the US secondary classroom with the humanity, equality, and democracy it lacks. It all begins with…

This article explores how choral reading can be used as a drama tool in a classroom setting to engage students with nonfiction rhetoric while adhering to the Common Core State Standards.

Process and product are always in tension. In authentic writing, they can be messy and hard to assess. Because writing is recursive and generative, every word written opens new possibilities. Not only that, but writing is influenced by ability, time allowed, task definition, rhetorical situation, relationship to reading, and helpful thinking…

This article examines the power of composing images as students construct identities and shape their own worlds. It illustrates student empowerment through agency, intellectual engagement, and community investment and suggests that composing with images forms a bridge back to alphabetic-centric composing.

Whether spectators or active participants, students are regularly affected by the world of sports. For many of them, athletic competition is the most energized part of their high school experience. The intensity that sports engender is one of their primary attractions, and teachers can build on this emotional focus to engage students and, more…