This paper explores the possible negative implications of teacher selected whole-class reads rooted within the traditional canon of English Language Arts instruction and possible solutions for re-engaging the disengaged adolescent reader through choice reading and the implementation of more culturally relevant texts. Historically, English Language…

The purpose of this qualitative participatory research study was to explore what happens when English language arts (ELA) preservice teachers collaborate to develop multimodal, intersectional, and critical feminist empowerment literacy curricula. This study centered on the following research question: How do ELA preservice teachers make sense of…

Over a three-year collaborative partnership involving university researchers, government curriculum specialists, and school division teams and educators, this post-qualitative study has engaged a diffractive methodology to research pedagogical change in relationship to a renewed provincial curriculum framework in English Language Arts (ELA). In…

This practitioner inquiry study investigates learning from the stories of emergent bilingual students as they complete project based learning units. This method of instruction created the space to have one-on-one conversations, listen in culturally responsive ways, and develop asset-based literacy curriculum. I argue that relationships formed…

A national study of English teacher preparation in U.S. colleges and universities revealed that faculty address changes in content and context salient to English education, particularly curricular, demographic, political, and technological changes, through initiatives at both the program and methods course levels. Programs require many hours of…

In this article Deidre Faughey shares an experimental classroom project that she developed with a diverse group of students in three ninth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) classes. Podcasts provide a unique opportunity for students to embrace experimentation and to take risks with their own voices, explore the school building and community, and…

The English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards ([CCSS], 2010) could have a transformational effect on American education. Though the process seems daunting, one can begin immediately integrating the essence of the ELA Common Core in every subject area. This article shows how one could implement the Common Core and create coherent,…

This paper explores the ways in which module and curriculum development in the context of a distance education (DE) programme play an important role in "constructing" a discipline's object of study, thus contributing to the ways in which knowledge is understood in society. The paper examines how the process of module production both…

Building on the groundbreaking research of the MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media & Learning initiative, this book crosses the divide between digital literacies and traditional print culture to engage a generation of students who can read with a book in one hand and a mouse in the other. "Reading in a Participatory Culture" tells the story of an…

As states and school districts grapple with how to teach the skills outlined in the new common standards, two foundations have announced a partnership aimed at crafting complete, online curricula for those standards in mathematics and English/language arts that span nearly every year of a child's precollegiate education. The announcement last…

The current version of the draft National Curriculum (1.0.1) remains a document which dis-integrates the subject through its three strands and fails to conceptualise a relationship between these strands. Drawing on curriculum history, I argue that this stands in strong contrast to a curriculum such as the 1971 NSW Syllabus for Years 7-10, which…

Unpacks some of the problematic features of "objectives" as they are used within public school districts. Weaves together what has been learned from working directly with teachers with the historical origins of the professional practice of writing curriculum objectives. Discusses a language arts committee that was unable to produce a finished list…

This paper discusses articulating the language arts curriculum. Articulating the language arts curriculum is talking about it to and with peers, with students, and with oneself. It is argued that this dialogue and internal searching for a directional sense for the language arts curriculum is actually the basis for the curriculum itself. Language…

This book is an annotated list of curriculum guides in the language arts which have been recommended by the Committee on Curriculum Bulletins of the National Council of Teachers of English. The guides are voluntarily submitted to the committee for evaluation and review, and those selected best exemplify good curriculum planning and guide writing…

Analysis of 38 curriculum guides suggests the pace of change in English classrooms is slow and undramatic. (JH)