In this article, we explore how adults in a community shared reading group discuss the notoriously difficult poem 'The Emperor of Ice-Cream' by the American poet Wallace Stevens. Drawing on Hannah Arendt's notion of action, we explore how participants negotiate the poem, actively constructing meanings from their shared personal experiences rather…

This essay questions the place that conversations about 'race' hold in the English classroom. I hope to reveal the problems that may come with easily dismissing tense and racially charged dialogues about language and identity. I also explore the way classroom talk opens up an opportunity for students to create and contest different meanings and…