Genres: Moving Toward Authenticity,
2018
Brigham Young University
Genres: Moving Toward Authenticity, Deborah Dean
The Utah English Journal
Writing in a new genre can be tricky. When we teach students a new genre, we often begin by exposing them to the genre by reading multiple mentor texts and helping them identify the salient features. This is a practice supported by many current writers in our field today, including Gallagher & Kittle (2018), Dean (2017), and Marchetti & O’Dell (2015), among others. When we teach academic genres (the kinds of writing common in schools such as research papers, literary analysis, and reports), we often provide additional help by providing students with more specific directions or scaffolds, such as forms …
Promoting Secd Through Literary Character Analysis,
2018
Utah State University
Promoting Secd Through Literary Character Analysis, Cindy D'On Jones
The Utah English Journal
As Ms. Lingli stands before her adolescent English students, she knows they face increasing challenges in today’s society. She is well aware of the growing number of adolescent youths who describe experiencing feelings of isolation, a lack of understanding from others, low self-control, and disengagement (Earl, Meijen, Passfield, & Taylor, 2017). Ms. Lingli also realizes that as an English language arts teacher, she can play a unique role in helping her students develop competencies to navigate these challenges by integrating social and emotional competency development (SECD) through literary character analysis.
Finding The Right Books For The Right Students: An Appeal For Independent Reading Time In The English Classroom,
2018
West Jordan Middle School
Finding The Right Books For The Right Students: An Appeal For Independent Reading Time In The English Classroom, Tara Pearce
The Utah English Journal
During Teacher Appreciation week, students often are coerced into writing notes to teachers. Sometimes it is a well-meaning office staff person that makes it happen, or sometimes, a selfless, fellow teacher, trying to do a good turn for their colleagues. In one particularly stirring note that I received myself, the student wrote only my name, and signed her name. I guess she figured that the template already stated, “Thank you! You are an amazing teacher!!” and that should suffice.
Book Review: Facing Frederick: The Life Of Frederick Douglass,
2018
Liahona Preparatory Academy
Book Review: Facing Frederick: The Life Of Frederick Douglass, Laura Jackson
The Utah English Journal
You know the students who need a lot of pictures to really spell out a story for them? The struggling reader who needs a book to show not tell? The ones who are inquisitive and need to see things for themselves? The curious yet cautious reader who needs material that excites that curiosity? The ones who want to go down a rabbit hole to learn everything they can about something? The brainiac reader who needs more because they simply cannot learn enough on topics of interest? There are students such as these in every class you’ll teach every year of …
“What’S The Point?”: Creating Authenticity & Relevance Through Simulated Writing Experiences,
2018
Brigham Young University
“What’S The Point?”: Creating Authenticity & Relevance Through Simulated Writing Experiences, Dawan Coombs, Jon Balzotti, Derek Hansen
The Utah English Journal
A few years ago, during a high school English course for struggling readers and writers, Brandon, a 16-year old junior in the class, detailed why he felt English class seemed so difficult. He explained, “I don’t really see the point of why I have to take it. I wish they taught me something that I’ll need in my adulthood, you know?” Knowing Brandon’s professional goals included studying business and eventually taking over his father’s local store, the answer to Brandon’s question seemed obvious: the critical reading and argument writing skills he was learning in English were precisely what he would …
Book Review: The Hate U Give,
2018
Diamond Fork Junior High School
Book Review: The Hate U Give, Kara Trammell
The Utah English Journal
The title The Hate U Give, creates the acronym THUG and is loosely based off of an album written by Tupac. The main protagonist relates to Tupac, just as her inner struggle is relatable for teenagers today. While books like To Kill A Mockingbird and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry delve into the racial issues that our nation struggled with in the 1930s and 40s, The Hate U Give would be another great source for high school teachers looking to modernize discussions of race and discrimination.
Strengths And Strategies: Creating An Engaging Ela Classroom,
2018
Utah Virtual Academy
Strengths And Strategies: Creating An Engaging Ela Classroom, Rachel Bellamy
The Utah English Journal
I found the first classroom I could call my own in a virtual high school. From my experiences floating around every level of education, the one constant I found is that engagement is key in any classroom. I quickly learned that engaging students can be particularly challenging in a virtual classroom, especially in a world where most teaching degrees provide tools for brick and mortar teaching. Over the last five years I have learned many techniques for adapting to a virtual setting. I am also surprised, looking back, that many virtual engagement strategies are equally useful in a traditional classroom …
Book Review: Dare To Disappoint,
2018
Brigham Young University
Book Review: Dare To Disappoint, Jessica L. Reschke
The Utah English Journal
From living amongst government unrest to dreaming of becoming an actress, in Dare to Disappoint Özge Smanci illustrates what it was like to grow up in Turkey. Özge tells her autobiography through the form of a graphic novel, using text and drawings to express how she saw the world at different stages of her life in this coming-of-age story.
Book Review: They Both Die At The End,
2018
Brigham Young University
Book Review: They Both Die At The End, Courtney Jones
The Utah English Journal
Mateo Torrerez only knows one thing for certain. He is going to die today. Mateo has spent the last eighteen years in fear of this very day, hiding out in his apartment, hoping to avoid the day that Death-Cast, a company able to accurately predict the day you will die, would call. People have tried for years to run, hide, or fight death after the call, but by the end of the twentyfour hours, Death-Cast has always been right. Now that Mateo has received his call he realizes, to his horror, that he has never truly lived.
Book Review: A Novel Approach: Whole-Class Novels, Student-Centered Teaching, And Choice,
2018
Springville Junior High School
Book Review: A Novel Approach: Whole-Class Novels, Student-Centered Teaching, And Choice, Tara Piña
The Utah English Journal
Are you team whole-class novel? Or team workshop method? In the seemingly inconclusive battle between the two camps, Kate Roberts’s A Novel Approach: Whole-Class Novels, Student-Centered Teaching, and Choice finally brings the answer: you can be both. Roberts’s book offers a practical guide to implementing a blended learning environment where teachers can harness the community building and guided structure of whole class novels with the choice and engaging freedom of independent reading.
Buk Bilong Pikinini Literacy Program Evaluation 2018: Evaluation Report,
2018
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)
Buk Bilong Pikinini Literacy Program Evaluation 2018: Evaluation Report, Dan Cloney, Prue Anderson
Early Childhood Education
Buk bilong Pikinini (BbP) provides access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs with a specific focus on English language literacy for children from vulnerable communities in Papua New Guinea. This is highly relevant, given the fact that there is likely an over-representation of illiteracy in disadvantaged households and few opportunities for children within those households to be ready for a school system with English as the language of instruction. Established in 2007, BbP has been in operation for more than 10 years and has opened 17 library sites in that time. This evaluation provides evidence about the likely …
Experiences Of Undocumented Students In Schools And At University,
2018
California State University San Bernardino
Experiences Of Undocumented Students In Schools And At University, Gloria Cortez, John M. Winslade
Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice
The aim of this article is to document the experiences of undocumented students. Regardless of where a person stands on the immigration issue, he or she still needs to listen to these voices in order to treat people with the dignity they deserve as human beings. This article was inspired by two things. One was a speech given by a former undocumented student at a social justice summit. The other was a literature review by the first author in a paper for her Masters degree in counseling. This literature review formed much of the basis for this article. It captured …
Book Review: You’Re Welcome, Universe,
2018
Provo High School
Book Review: You’Re Welcome, Universe, Al Ricci
The Utah English Journal
Gr 9 Up—For Julia, the very complex protagonist of Whitney Gardner’s novel, You’re Welcome, Universe, nothing has ever been straightforward. When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful graffiti mural. Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a oneway ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art. Out in the …
Book Review: Posted,
2018
Brigham Young University
Book Review: Posted, Ethan Dunn
The Utah English Journal
It isn’t a stretch for someone in our modern society to ask: “What kind of power do words have?” With modern technology allowing the mass spread of a variety of opinions, this is a question more important than ever. Posted, written by John David Anderson, is a wonderfully clever book recommended for 8-12 year olds. It dives into the question of how words affect our relationships with one another as well as define our future. Posted depicts the story of Eric, nicknamed “Frost.” After winning a poetry competition, he and his friends wrestle the difficult social sphere of middle …
Book Review: The Poet X,
2018
Provo High School
Book Review: The Poet X, Erika Larsen
The Utah English Journal
For Xiomara Batista, a young Harlem teenager and the protagonist of Elizabeth Acevedo’s debut novel, poetry has a way of vivifying ideas and awakening new possibilities. Words tend to burrow deep into her heart, and while she may seem silent to those around her, Xiomara’s mind is constantly wrestling with new poems.
Book Review: Neverworld Wake,
2018
Brigham Young University
Book Review: Neverworld Wake, Maddison Driggs
The Utah English Journal
Neverworld Wake lives between life and death, which is where five estranged friends find themselves one rainy evening the summer after their first year of college. This novel closely follows Bee as she navigates the trauma of the past, the pain of the present, and the fear of the future while she and her old friends try to find a way to survive Neverworld Wake. By uncovering the secrets of the past—a tragedy in which they all hold a small part of the truth—Bee and her four friends find answers in unexpected ways as they ultimately face the reality of …
A Humanized View Of Second Language Learning Through Creative Writing: A Korean Graduate Student In The United States,
2018
Miami University - Oxford
A Humanized View Of Second Language Learning Through Creative Writing: A Korean Graduate Student In The United States, Kyung Min Kim
Journal of Creative Writing Studies
This case study traces the journey of a Korean graduate student’s English learning experience, drawing on autobiographical poetry, self-narrative, and interviews. Through a series of snapshot recollections, it illustrates the participant’s evolving subject position with English over the years from his childhood to graduate school. The article concludes that language learning is a transformative experience of constructing translingual identities which entails a wide spectrum of emotion, desire, and dedication: desire to understand the world; to be included in the world; to empower oneself as a user.
Exploring Linguistic Space Occupied By The Teachers And Students Of An Esl Classroom In Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan: Comparisons Across Gender,
2018
Government College of Education for Women, Skardu, Pakistan
Exploring Linguistic Space Occupied By The Teachers And Students Of An Esl Classroom In Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan: Comparisons Across Gender, Zaheer Abbas, Musa Ali, Safeer Hussain
Journal of Educational Research and Innovation
Classroom talk plays a key role in language learning especially in English as second language (ESL) classrooms. Therefore, in this study the linguistic space occupied by the teacher and students in an ESL classroom has been investigated. A descriptive and exploratory approach was employed and videotaping was used for data collection during five consecutive classroom lessons. Results revealed that the teacher occupied most of the linguistics space (60%) as compared to the students (40%). The average word count of boys (56%) was comparatively higher than that of girls’ word count (44%). This study reports important insights into the patterns of …
Transnational Vietnamese: Language Practices, New Literacies, And Redefinition Of The “American Dream”,
2018
University of Texas, San Antonio
Transnational Vietnamese: Language Practices, New Literacies, And Redefinition Of The “American Dream”, Nguyen Dao
Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement
The research focuses on the transnational literacy and language practices of a Vietnamese immigrant family in Midwestern United States. Drawing upon multiple bodies of contemporary research and conceptual frameworks, this investigation intends to go beyond transnational movements to indicate the complex nature of bi-literate, bilingual and bi-cultural development and the role of national and supranational ideologies, as well as to describe how the Vietnamese diaspora have mobilized their identities and in so doing, redefined the provoking term “the American Dream.”
Empowering Indigenous Learners Through The Creation Of Graphic Novels,
2018
University of Victoria
Empowering Indigenous Learners Through The Creation Of Graphic Novels, Deborah Begoray, Alexis Brown
Journal of Media Literacy Education
In this paper, we examine how Indigenous and non-Indigenous adolescents identify media influences as health/wellness related. We conducted research over a six-week period in two alternative high school settings: a culture-based Indigenous education program at one school and an arts-based program at another school, both in the same small, Western Canadian city. We taught students from both programs the principles of critical media health literacy. Small groups of students from the Indigenous program wrote narratives. Then small groups of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in an arts-based education program converted these stories into graphic novel/comic book format. Findings indicated a broad …
