This study investigates the interpretive approaches of three English teachers working in different grade levels with the same poem, Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." The researcher sought to learn what the teachers identified as most valuable about studying poetry in school, what interpretive approaches they employed…

Hitherto, student responses to ethically oriented pedagogies in Literature classrooms have rarely been studied in non-western, multicultural contexts, and often assume monolingual text selections in English. As an Outer Circle English-using society, Singapore presents a multicultural Asian context worth studying where students connect aesthetic…

This article presents a case study on the use of expressivist writing pedagogy as a practice of identity construction for an adolescent Chinese-Speaking English Language Learner (ELL) in a 6-12, college preparatory, international boarding school context. The study implements a narrative inquiry/content analysis framework to analyze themes of…

This paper explores students' engagement in reading poems, examining data on their self-perceptions of their confidence and competence in reading poems before, during, and after using the "I Notice" methodology as adapted from The Academy of American Poets' unit plan, "Noticing Poetry" (Slaby, 2017). The data was collected over…

This article examines the relationship between the discipline of 'English Literature' and the contemporary multilingual classroom. It argues that, although our field has often been cast as a kind of corrective to the 'problem' of language diversity by helping to teach language norms, literature can -- and should -- be made a preeminent space for…

Background. Previous research has shown that observation can be effective for learning in various domains, for example, argumentative writing and mathematics. The question in this paper is whether observational learning can also be beneficial when learning to perform creative tasks in visual and verbal arts. Aims. We hypothesized that observation…

Describes a program that attempted to increase sensory awareness and thus to improve attitudes toward poetry and inspire students to write their own poems. (JM)

Describes an approach to teaching narrative poetry writing to tenth-grade students. (RL)

Describes the gradual breakthroughs and the classroom procedures in one teacher's efforts to find a pedagogy for poetry that would side-step or eliminate the need for a direct assault on meaning. Discusses the complex first response to poems. Uses visual art to encourage looking and seeing over judging, and reporting over interpretation. (PA)

Presents a model for motivating seventh- and tenth-grade Ethiopian students to write poetry about their personal feelings and experiences. Describes four strategies for the poetry workshop: acrostic, lune, counting pattern, and one that explores feelings and personal emotion. Notes that all exercises encouraged children to express themselves on…

Tells the story of "Jim," a 10th-grade student in "general" English who did nothing in a class until the teacher noticed his creative writing talents. Explains how an assignment to write an autobiography led to the teacher's discovery that Jim is a poet. Notes that Jim went on to complete the course and to complete high school. (TB)

Describes how a 10th-grade English teacher brings a historical event such as World War I to life with words and visuals of the time. Discusses World War I poems as products of that era, and helps students realize they have the stream of language inside themselves by journaling, making a "word bank," and writing poems. (SR)

Describes the success of a unit for tenth-grade students wherein they created a book of poetry. Provides guidelines for the unit and evaluation criteria. Claims the "books" turned out to be far superior to the "flat pro forma" poetry papers assigned in the past. (NH)

Outlines a set of conditions in which literacy learning is more likely to occur, based on Brian Cambourne's theory of literacy learning defining eight "conditions for learning." Defines each of these learning conditions, gives examples of them in the real world, and offers examples of what each condition for learning looks like in a 10th-grade…

A survey of 21 of the 22 public and Catholic schools in Edmonton (Alberta) examined materials used in 10th-grade English classes. Teachers cited 1,698 titles, but a small number of titles predominated the lists, suggesting a clearcut "school canon." Includes discussion and tables of the most frequently cited novels, plays, films, short…