Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Exploring The Educational Involvement Of Parents Of English Learners, Elizabeth M. Vera, M Susman Israel, Laura Coyle, J Cross, Laura Knight-Lynn, I Moallem, G Bartucci, N Goldberger

Center for Research Quality Publications

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the relationships among a range of specific barriers and facilitators of parent involvement and a variety of types of school involvement within a diverse group of immigrant parents of English Learners (ELs) in four elementary school districts. In-home types of educational involvement such as monitoring homework and asking children about their school day were the most commonly reported behaviors, and utilizing community resources was found to be the least common type of parental involvement. Involvement type was predicted by parental demographic factors such as comfort with English language, educational background, and …

Seven Strategies For Teaching The Novel, James Young

The Utah English Journal

Most elementary and secondary teachers have independent reading programs that allow students to choose novels based on their interest and reading levels. After reading the novel on their own at home, students are either given short comprehension tests or asked to write reports to give them credit for the work they have completed. Sometimes, however, teachers want all of the students in a class to experience the same novel together. He or she might want to teach the class a reading technique associated with a novel, like how to locate the conflict in a story or how to examine the …

Today's Kids Need The Classics Too, Lorraine Wallace

The Utah English Journal

It is no secret that 21st Century adolescents are reading less than their parents and grandparents did. Because modern technology has tapped into teens’ craving for color, action, and sound, books have a hard time competing with the X-box and the Wii. The “gotta have it quick and easy” attitude of today’s teens and young adults seems to make reading anything of substance, involving depth of thought or processing time, a pastime gone the way of wringer washers and push mowers.

So how do secondary English teachers who want their students to read tap into the insatiable appetite teens have …

Experiencing The Cuwp Summer Institute, Liz Knight

The Utah English Journal

The Central Utah Writing Project is part of the network of over 200 National Writing Project sites. It was established in 2008 and serves the school districts of central Utah; every summer the CUWP sponsors a 3-4 week institute that brings together teachers from a variety of disciplines to study the art of teaching writing. This past summer I spent three weeks at the Central Utah Writing Project’s Summer Institute. I was there as the graduate assistant to the administrators, part-participant and part-observer. I was mid-way through the MFA program in Creative Writing at Brigham Young University, and had been …

Living Through Literature: The Benefits Of Small Learning Communities And Cross-Content Collaboration, Dawan Coombs, Brian Preece

The Utah English Journal

"Coombs, what are you doing here?” Matt asked as he walked into the room, geared up for history class with Mr. Preece. “I’m here for your class,” I replied with a smile. I knew where this was going; we’d had conversations similar to this before. “But this is history,” he retorted. “We don’t have your English class ‘til next period. You and Mr. Preece don’t even seem like you’d be friends.” Mr. Preece and I raised our eyebrows at Matt’s comment, but the sentiments he expressed were similar to those we had heard before. As this and other exchanges like …

Using Picture Books In The Secondary Classroom, Kaye Brockbank

The Utah English Journal

One of my favorite picture books is Stand Tall Molly Lou Mellon by Patty Lovell. It is a fantastic picture book about, among other things, following the advice of those we admire. The story also deals with topics such as being who you are despite what others think of you and standing up to bullies. Molly Lou’s story is perfect for introducing or supporting classroom discussions on these topics. The story is quick and to the point, and, despite what teen students might say, they really do enjoy having a story read to them. Picture books are a fun, quick …

Book Review: Learning To Write For Readers: Using Brain-Based Strategies, Joseph Wiederhold

The Utah English Journal

Steak and potatoes packaged as a light dinner salad. Learning to Write for Readers succeeds where other brain-based learning books fail, remaining accessible without sacrificing substance. When other brain-based education books become muddled with scientific jargon mired in convoluted explanations that do not have direct transfer to the classroom, Crow’s work remains pragmatic, rooted in what will benefit student learning today, and after they leave our classrooms.

Why I Teach, Jennifer Dunn

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

"It's Such A Cool Word!" Reflections On In-Dept Vocabulary Instruction In A Middle School Language Arts Classroom, Naomi Watkins

The Utah English Journal

After several years of teaching vocabulary in a very traditional manner—list of words, copy the definitions, memorize them, take a test—I had grown weary of spending my time on instruction that I knew (even from my own personal experience as a student) did not work. I wanted instruction that resulted in my students really using the words in their own speech and writing, rather than just having superficial knowledge or merely being able to recognize words. I knew that my students were capable of a deeper processing level and of acquiring more sophisticated “everyday” words and academic language. I really …

Bullies, Bystanders, And A Birthday, Janae Shepherd

The Utah English Journal

Kelly Jo… Kelly Jo Fransden, the bully of Forbes Elementary School. She was in my classroom and my neighborhood, and I had to see her at church. She wasn’t particularly pretty, although for some reason she seemed to think she was. She strutted around the classroom and anywhere else with an air about her that she was somehow better than everyone else. As some kids today would say, she thought she was “all that and a bag of chips.” I’m still not sure why she acted that way. Perhaps it was her own lack of self-confidence, her projection of what …

Word Ways: Revisiting Ancient Greco-Latin Myths To Build Vocabulary, Jacqueline S. Thursby

The Utah English Journal

I recently assigned an old children’s tale to my senior undergraduate students called “!e Story of the Cruel Giant Barbarico, the Good Giant Benefico, and the Little Pretty Dwarf, Mignon,” written by Sarah Fielding, who lived from 1710 to1768. It was an unfamiliar story to them and written in the archaic style of 18th century English. The primary characters in the story were the giants, Barbarico and Benefico, and the sweethearts, Fidus and Amata. The names clearly reflect characteristics of the players in the story. By using root Latinate forms, Sarah Fielding foreshadowed the characters’ primary personality attributes: Barbarico (barbarous: …

The Pitfalls Of Publishing: Unforseen Challenges When Students Write To Publish, Jill Muir

The Utah English Journal

Sitting at my desk, I read an email regarding grants for teachers. As I pondered the needs of my students that might be met with a grant, I thought about my English Language Learners. Over the course of the school year, I gradually learned their stories of why and how they came to the United States. Some students had stories I had predicted: Their families wanted them to come to school in the United States, so the students were living with relatives and planned to return to their native countries. Other students, however, had dramatic stories: stories of kidnapping, escape, …

All Work And No Play Makes Jack (Or Jill) A Dull Writer, Joseph Anson

The Utah English Journal

Yes, I am one of those geeky idealistic English teachers, who occasionally fantasize about being Robin Williams’ character Mr. Keating from the classic film Dead Poets Society. After twelve years of unsuccessfully convincing my students to call me “O Captain, My Captain,” I still hold to the belief that I can get my students to “savor words and language” (Haft, Henderson, Witt, Thomas, & Weir, 1989). Regardless of an individual’s ability or inherent wordsmithiness, I encourage all students to play with words on many different levels. On Fridays, we set aside time to play with words. Just play. But why? …

Book Review: Writing Across The Curriculum: A Critical Sourcebook, Thomas Henry

The Utah English Journal

The Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) movement provides some of the most substantial strategies for keeping our discipline relevant for students and for ourselves. More-over, the WAC movement allows us to put focus into our work by informing us of outside writing practices. In a sense, WAC reminds us that our work as teachers does not exist in isolation, but exists to support a much larger economic and pedagogical structure (at all levels). This edited collection, complied by Zawacki and Rogers, provides a wonderful insight into the WAC movement and its literature.

Teaching Textual Recycling, Thomas Henry, Jim Pettersson

The Utah English Journal

Linguist, Michael Lewis suggests that a “recycling” strategy should be at the heart of an approach to teaching English (especially to speakers of second languages). He calls this specific approach the “Lexical Approach.” This approach focuses on ways in which students can use pre-fabricated linguistic units and/or formulaic expressions to form new language. In addition to the Lexical Approach, a “Template Approach” endorsed by Gerald Graff & Cathy Birkenstein, also advocates the “recycling” of chunks of language to form new discourse. Their text, They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, contains formulaic language used to promote …

Critical Pop Culture Consumers: Using Tupac And Music In The Classroom To Teach Critical Literary Analysis Of Pop Culture, Marilyn Miller

The Utah English Journal

Teaching critical analysis is a unit that I designed to get students to understand the elements in an increasingly complex world where language provides the vehicle to refine thought. Because students are imbued in the element, they are often persuaded, cajoled, and tricked into embracing messages and images that may negatively influence their lives. Teaching them to look at the music and the videos that influence them and critically analyze the persuasive techniques and the impact of these messages on their developing values empowers them to choose more carefully the music they embrace or at least understand the influence of …

Book Review: Out Of My Mind, Jenna Fitch

The Utah English Journal

Melody is one of the brightest students in her class, but no one knows. All of the words she wishes she could express are stuck inside—Melody has cerebral palsy and can’t talk. Only through the help of a new, special computer does Melody find her voice and correct many of her classmates’ misconceptions about people with disabilities. Unfortunately, neither Melody nor her family anticipates the additional stigmas and judgment that will arrive along with Melody’s new voice.

This 300+ page quick read says what many of the physically and mentally disabled students in our schools can’t: include me. Through Out …

Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Pregnant Pause, Tanei Henry

The Utah English Journal

Before Pregnant Pause, I’d never read a book by Han Nolan; and after Pregnant Pause, I can’t wait to read another. While many other YA novels deal with teen pregnancy and parent/teen communication issues, none of the others have Eleanor Crowe dealing with them. Eleanor Crowe is a strong female protagonist, not the kind who deals with bows or elves or vampires, but the kind who deals with real issues that real teenagers are dealing with right now. Though fictional, Han Nolan has created completely believable characters that have to make decisions that many teenagers might also have to make …

The Role Of Elementary School Principals Supporting Teachers In The Instruction Of Reading For English Language Learners: A Dissertation, Nadene B. Stein

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study utilized data gleaned from on-line surveys of primary level teachers and elementary school principals to understand what principals need to know and be able to do to support teachers in their instruction of reading for English Language Learners (ELLs). A review of five areas of literature provided a theoretical foundation for this study. Twenty-six primary level teachers and four elementary school principals, from eight Massachusetts schools, participated in separate, three-part online questionnaires. Participants answered questions about licensure, experience, and professional development focused on teaching English Language Learners. In addition, participants responded to questions about their perceptions of (1) …