Surprisingly, newspapers contain wide-ranging physics topics available for narrative-style teaching in the classroom. Topics of newspaper articles we have covered over the years include physicists (obituaries of Hans Bethe, etc.), art or music that involve physics (color and standing waves), forensics (auto accidents and art forgeries), archeology…

In this essay, I explain how I switched the lens of my sophomore research unit to one that focuses on rural issues. This essay follows the unit from beginning to end. I explain what I do to raise awareness through the use of daily articles along with providing models for their own research. The essay then details the writing portion and how it has…

Purpose: From book challenges to anti-critical race theory and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning legislation, US English teachers have been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of far-right conservative pushback. This study aims to explore the effects of conservative pushback on individual English teachers…

An intensifying focus for teachers across the country is how to develop students' skills at reading and understanding informational texts. Teachers are rebalancing their fiction-and-nonfiction scales because the Common Core State Standards in English/language arts demand it. Since all but four states have adopted those guidelines, millions of…

For successful and productive careers, undergraduate students need effective communication and critical thinking skills; information literacy is a substantial component in the development of these skills. Students often perceive communication courses as distinct and separate from their chosen discipline. Faculty from the Departments of English and…

This article describes the use of self-study as a frame for professional learning that grew out of a professional development program for teachers examining their practice in a dual-language K-4 school. Located in the center of the rural state of Iowa, the school's development of a bilingual program for native speakers of both English and Spanish…

Business communication instructors understand the value of helping students learn, discuss, apply, and manipulate communication strategies on the basis of purpose and audience. This rhetorical bent encourages active learning through activities and multi-purpose projects, but active learning often works best when students believe they are engaging…

Ken Donelson looks back on two classes that taught him that students are willing to share ideas when teachers are honest and reveal their biases and when classroom experiences are based on trust. Additionally, he recalls how important free reading and thematic units became to inciting authentic student responses to literature.

Suggests several high school writing assignments with civic themes. Includes assignments on the Iowa caucuses, the political and economic future of Iowa, and city-administrator government. (RDS)

Examines English teaching practices in American rural schools from 1900-40, emphasizing schools in Iowa. Discusses the Country Life Movement, which proposed significant reforms for rural education and rural living. Surveys English teaching practices undertaken in its spirit. Concludes with an assessment of the movement and a discussion of its…