In light of an increased focus on the importance of soft skills to academic achievement and success later in life, educators are looking towards social-emotional learning (SEL) as a means for addressing the diverse needs of students. This qualitative study was aimed at understanding how secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers use literary…

Evidence from a recent study of English teaching in three London schools in the post-war era suggests that changes to curriculum and pedagogy, commonly attributed by historians to the 1960s, were well underway in the 1950s. Major changes associated with "New English" occurred when teachers began taking the lives and experiences of their…

In this essay I explore the constraints and opportunities confronting me as a newly qualified teacher and how these affect my pedagogy. I have reflected on my own development from beginning to newly qualified teacher and considered how such forces have shaped my identity as a teacher, my values and my approach to the job. As part of my exploration…

English teachers must consistently design high-quality and balanced curricula that involve the purposeful integration of multicultural literature. But making decisions about the content of the literature curriculum continues to be a complex and political process. Which authors are included? Which are excluded? How do teachers make these decisions?…

Presents a fictitious dialogue between a department chairman and an English teacher reluctant to state course objectives in purely behavioral terms. (TO)

Whimsical impressions of the annual convention of the Canadian Council of Teachers of English (Winnipeg, Manitoba, August 1970); appeared originally in Skylark," official publication of the Saskatchewan English Teachers Association. (Editor/RD)

An attitude questionnaire completed by 60 British teachers of English and a media education survey completed by 20 of them indicated they do not agree that the national curriculum should be revised by returning to narrow prescriptions and dropping media education. Teachers support a broad-based approach including personal response and critical…

Asserts that exploring convergences between composition and literature can bridge the gap between the two fields. (MM)

Summarizes a study involving three high school English teachers' efforts to integrate multicultural literature into the curriculum. The analysis, highlighting teachers' concerns and decisional influences, argues that teachers must not only select multicultural texts, but they must change their notions of what counts as a text and how they…

Any teacher can teach black literature if he is willing to give it the same respect he gives white writing. (JH)

A paper presented at annual convention of National Council of Teachers of English (60th, Atlanta, November 27, 1970). (Editor)

Reasons are discussed for requiring high school English teachers to write rationales justifying the inclusion of all books (controversial or not) assigned and read in the classroom. The reasons include communicating with students and parents, providing evidence of the teachers's concern and knowledge, and preparing for censorship disagreements.…

Reform in English studies is compromised by our tendency to talk like dilettantes, but behave like philologists. (JH)

The possibility that many English teachers take their subject too seriously should be considered. The assumption that literature can to any degree either improve or adversely affect students is doubtful, but the exclusive study of "great literature" in our secondary schools may invite basic reflections too early: a year's steady diet of "King…