American adolescents are experiencing an epidemic of anxiety and depression. In this article, Eric Piotrowski explores how regular writing practice and conscious conversations help students struggling with loss, grief, trauma, and myriad associated difficulties including anxiety and self-harm. Students in his classroom use fictionalized…

This article considers how relationships in the English classroom are influenced by the types of literacy activities, the role of the teacher, the tone of oral comments, and the types of writing students share with peers.

Communicating effectively is a skill that must be taught and practiced--and the act of listening is a large part of this skill. According to the "International Journal of Listening," listening skills are imperative to reading comprehension and are valuable enough for "38 out of the 51 government entities to include listening skills as part of…

Motivation has long been viewed as a key element of learning. A study of over 300 high school juniors and seniors demonstrated that motivation was at least as predictive of achievement in a subject as was intelligence. Among younger students, motivation is a linchpin to learning, even at a time developmentally when overall motivation for…

Urges English teachers to become more involved in curriculum development. (RL)

Examines the formal and informal (noninstitutionalized) leadership roles of teachers, new and veteran, in a successful high school English department. Provides sketches of teachers in the department and then discusses some leadership issues. (TB)

Questions traditional composition techniques and their effects on student thinking and problem solving. Demonstrates how one high school English teacher responded to these classroom issues by reading relevant research and supplementing it with a study conducted on her own students. (HB)

Gives an overview of how curriculum design might best be undertaken. Provides unconventional suggestions for developing curriculum. (HB)

Explains the news values that journalists use. Shows English teachers and administrators how they can apply this knowledge of news media to improve public relations between the school and the community. (RL)

Investigates the rising phenomenon of teacher research among secondary English teachers. Discusses costs, benefits, kinds of opportunities, and ethical and monetary considerations. Includes a 12-item annotated list of published reports of such research. (HB)

A veteran teacher with over 35 years experience, the author reflects on the events of September 11, 2001, and how the events of that day demonstrated that teachers fulfill many shifting roles in their students' lives. Here, he shares his own feelings of profound sadness for all the victims on that day, and discusses how the roles of teachers often…

Offers a descriptive analysis of the changes in 14 classroom teachers who became writing researchers in their classrooms. (RL)

Considers the role of high school English teachers as preparing students to do college writing. Discusses and challenges the dichotomy of academic versus personal or expressive writing. Argues that writing instruction must assume that student writing skills mature through the assignment of a variety of writing tasks. (HB)

In this article, several teachers share their ideas on what they enjoy about coaching, directing, or advising. One of them, Mary Ann Yedinak, teaches middle school language arts, has a family, and has several partially written books still stored on her computer. However, she still wants to add an extracurricular activity such as Drama Club to her…

Offers a plan whereby teachers write parents end-of-school letters about students who were excellent, who had made good classroom contributions, or who had made academic turnarounds. Considers this plan an effective means of improving parent-teacher relationships. (RL)