A preservice teacher wants to teach for social justice, but faces challenges effectively engaging in critical pedagogy. Her class of sixth-grade students wants to examine more closely the issues around immigration, and the author is eager to disrupt any one-dimensional stereotypes of immigrants that the students might have picked up from popular…

Writing is difficult for students who are learning English, as they often struggle to express what they really want to say. Writing is difficult for their teachers, too, who often struggle to respond in ways that are helpful. In this article, the authors offer an approach that looks at students' writing from a functional linguistics perspective,…

Questions if it is possible that any place still exists without pressure to teach to the test. Describes one school district that has been able to do so by creating a vision that allows educators to work as professionals. (SG)

Describes a project which involved sixth graders in the writing and distribution of fiction and nonfiction books. (DD)

Explores how dialog writing, in which two participants "converse in writing," incorporates the interactive aspects of oral communication and the self-directed aspects of essay writing. Includes passages written over a year's time by a sixth grade student in a "dialogue journal" showing the development of his writing. (HTH)

Describes how one sixth-grade writing instructor successfully introduced writing conferences into the classroom. Discusses some of the problems encountered, how they were resolved, and the final procedures used for peer and teacher conferences. (HTH)

Describes the writing experiences of a group of gifted fifth and sixth grade students in the Active Learning Experiences in Resourceful Thinking (ALERT) program in Abilene, Texas. (HTH)

Discusses the success of a family folklore unit in a racially and ethnically diverse sixth-grade class (containing Black, White, Japanese-American, and Jewish students), provides suggestions for a folklore curriculum, and points out the significance of folklore. (SKC)