Sybil Wilson is a composite representation of an English teacher that typifies much of what most preservice English teachers have seen and experienced in U.S. classrooms. The authors' aim is to articulate textual frameworks often competing and unnamed in English curriculum (and evident in Sybil's classroom) and to argue for a particular reframing of the curricular domain of English studies that will broaden the analysis of texts and their contexts in relationship to race, class, and gender, especially in secondary schools. Drawing on work in curriculum theory, cultural studies, and media education, the authors attempt to illustrate "the trouble with English" by suggesting three text modality frameworks at work in Sybil's classroom and the concomitant domain claims they make in terms of how texts and students are positioned as they study English. They conclude by suggesting a fourth modality framework, one that attends to concerns of curricular consistency and coherence while also addressing the often missing or erratically addressed dimensions of English studies: the social, political, and economic dimensions of text production, representation, and reception.