Education Commons^™

Find (Y)Our Place In The Universe: Humanizing Curriculum Through Unit (Re)Design, Ashley R. Olsen, Abby Stitt, Jessica Van Kerkhove

The Montana English Journal

In this article, the authors share a revised unit from their district's core language arts program that utilizes areas of multimodality, criticality, and layered texts. The authors’ goal is to make the content accessible for all students while also incorporating marginalized perspectives. The authors describe how they drew on Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s (2020) Culturally Responsive Framework to provide a diverse unit of study that leverages the multimodal possibilities within layered text sets. The authors then emphasize the importance of humanizing the content and modes in which it is presented in order to foster a critical stance towards text.

Creating Opportunities For Digital Writing: Multimodality In Argument Writing Tasks, Kristina D. Bybee, Mandy Luszeck

The Montana English Journal

Writing students need opportunities in their language arts classrooms to develop the global skills that are paramount in today’s digital world. Students should not only be prepared to communicate in traditional forms but also through multiple literacies as well. Secondary ELA teachers and first-year composition instructors can build interest in writing tasks by including digital writing and multimodal elements that appeal to Gen Z students while also developing skills that transfer to other disciplines, civic life, and career goals. A digital writing sample unit for secondary ELA and FYC is included.

Shifting Educational Paradigms To Match Learners: Sustaining Cultures, Languages, And Paradigms Through Educational Sovereignty, Lona R. Running Wolf

The Montana English Journal

The U.S. system of education was developed by visionary forefathers that knew American democracy would be stable only through educated citizens. The system was developed to produce citizens that would carry on the new world's vision and values. The educational system was built within that paradigm. Simultaneously, Indigenous tribes in America were being stripped of their traditional educational systems whose purpose was also to develop productive citizens of their communities and carry on their values. Traditional educational systems among tribes developed children with positive self-identity carrying the pride of their culture, language, and paradigm. That is not the case for …

From The Editor: Introducing The Spring 2023 Edition, Stephanie F. Reid

The Montana English Journal

No abstract provided.

Male And Female Interactions: A Multimodal Analysis Of Shonen Manga, Alexandria Perez

The Montana English Journal

A qualitative multimodal content analysis of popular manga examined how female and male character interactions represented gender roles. An analytical tool was developed using multimodal, semiotic, social semiotic, gender, and feminist theories to understand representations of males and females in this popular media. This study showed that traditional gender norms are still present in manga, but there are some that break stereotypes. Also, in using both textual and visual elements to interpret multimodal texts, understanding of character interactions were enhanced because the intermodal interactions created new meaning. Implications suggest positive outlooks for manga being used as an educational tool by …

Boston Discusses The Massacre, Jean C. O'Connor

The Montana English Journal

Teachers may use this chapter from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution as a short story for grades 7 – 12., to explore themes of interpersonal conflict, conflict resolution, and the value of law.

The chapter “Boston Discusses the Massacre” is taken from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution (Knox Press, 2020), and used with permission. James Lovell, teacher at the Boston Latin School, discusses the pivotal events of March 5, 1770. As the conflicts that become the American Revolution begin a group of …

Thinking With Images And Words: Multimodal Possibilities For Reader Response Journals, Stephanie F. Reid, Lela Horst Baumann, Bobbi Rodriguez, Megan Sorg-Pignataro

The Montana English Journal

In this article, the authors discuss crafting multimodal responses to weekly readings in the university setting. The authors offer a brief description of reader response journals before using social semiotic perspectives on multimodality to justify expanding the reader response journal to include modes beyond written language. Three of the teacher candidates enrolled in the course share one of their multimodal responses and provide insight into their process of creating the response. They share the materials and tools used. The authors conclude this article by considering how educators might assess multimodal responses.

Amplifying Rural Voices: Defining, Reading, And Writing Rural Stories, Chea L. Parton

The Montana English Journal

This pedagogical piece introduces teachers to Literacy In Place - a resource that supports the readingand teaching of rural young adult literature. It also outlines an example unit to highlight how secondary ELA teachers could use Literacy in Place to support students' reading of Nora Shalaway Carpenter's (2020) Rural Voices anthology.

Responding To Diversity With More Than Simple Lip-Service, Donna L. Miller

The Montana English Journal

Using contentious topics like those addressed in Joe Limer’s poem “White Hollywood” as catalysts for sparking conversations on complex social issues has potential to raise social consciousness and to support collaborative conversation. Miller’s GREEN APPLE acronym guides teachers and learners in honoring diversity and nurturing social justice. In critical race theory fashion, GREEN APPLE questions enable students of all races and ethnicities to have informed, productive conversations about the forces that have shaped, and continue to shape, the society in which they live.

Progressive Portfolios: A Yearlong Process Of Research, Reflection, And Revision, Dana Haring, Tom Kelner

The Montana English Journal

An English teacher and a Social Studies teacher collaborated to create a year long progressive process of research, writing, reflection and revision at the middle school level. After their own reflection and substantial planning, they implemented this plan at the beginning of a school year. In these joint, cumulative research projects, students were engaged in the acts of questioning history, practicing methodology, and developing essential literacy skills as required by the Common Core State Standards. Throughout the process, digital tools were employed for presentation, research, writing, reflection, revision, and portfolio management.

Creating Strategies: Designing Lessons For The Elementary Classroom, Elizabeth A. Morphis

The Montana English Journal

The relationship between reading skills and reading strategies is important to consider as teachers design individual strategy lessons to support bigger concepts or skills that elementary students need to apply. This article highlights three reading strategy lessons that were designed and implemented by preservice teachers to support students in the elementary classroom. The reading strategies supported the skills of communication, summarizing, and reading comprehension. The lessons were effectively planned and executed because they connected to the students’ lives and interests, facilitated communication, and focused on the lesson objective.

Poverty, According To Gorski, Kristyna M. Rudio

The Montana English Journal

In this poem, "Poverty, According to Gorski", the main points of Paul Gorski's book Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap (Second Edition) are outlined. The poem discusses and summarizes topics heavily researched by Gorski such as meritocracy, equality, equity, equity literacy, ideologies, and strategies to help classroom teachers, administrators, and leaders in literacy help to break down barriers for students and families experiencing poverty.

Using 3d Card-Making Project To Motivate Students’ Writing, Dan Li

The Montana English Journal

Based on the ideas of inclusive education and multiple intelligences, I advocate using a “3D card” project to inspire students' writing. A 3D card project incorporates sessions on organization's logo appreciation, discussion, letter design, slogan design, and 3D card making as well as a writing task. All of these steps provide students with background information on the topic. In this article, I use these steps to teach my diverse middle school students to design a logo and write a statement for a nonprofit organization.

Critique Of The Owl Curriculum, Judi Guisti, Kathryn Hinkle, Gretchen Oldenburg, Heidi Paul, Jessica Vlasie, Beth Lincoln, Cindy Moulton

University of Montana Journal of Early Childhood Scholarship and Innovative Practice

No abstract provided.

Critique Of The Creative Curriculum For Preschool, Hannah Gullickson, Raelynn Cameron, Lucy Marose, Irene Tiefenthaler, Tasha Van Nice

University of Montana Journal of Early Childhood Scholarship and Innovative Practice

No abstract provided.

Hold Steady In The Wind: Reclaiming The Writing Workshop, Sheryl A. Lain Ms.

The Montana English Journal

Abstract of Article:

This article, rooted in the knowledge of pioneer researchers and practitioners, urges teachers to hold on to their writing workshop, because this classroom method not only promotes student voice and choice, but also achieves the fundamental aim of the education reform movement: to foster student success. As students become better writers, their test scores improve. The writing workshop offers students the opportunity to explore their own voices, to write all kinds of modes of writing, and to experience some autonomy, so important if they are to persist in the hard work of learning.

Teaching Punctuation: Seventh Graders, Mentor Texts, And Commas, Tara Berg, Ann M. Ellsworth

The Montana English Journal

In the middle grades, learning about writing mechanics often occurs through inauthentic language drills, which do not expose students to the practical and contextual implementation of punctuation and syntax. This study, conducted with seventeen seventh-grade students, explored how students can gain knowledge of basic conventions by reviewing the writing of a published author to observe the correct placement of punctuation. In this study, students, provided with excerpts from Tomie dePaola’s rendition of The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, were guided to discover how the author used commas to communicate with his readers. Subsequent to the lesson and to assess how …