Digital Commons Network^™

Helping Students Learn What They Already Know: Uncovering The Magic Of Analyzing Author’S Craft, Joseph Wiederhold

The Utah English Journal

In my first-year teaching, I put a sentence on the board from Megan McDonald’s picture book My House Has Stars: “I hear the water lapping the sides of our boat, lapping the sides, lapping the sides” (McDonald, 1996, p. 2). It’s an exciting sentence. I was sure that students would have plenty to say about how it was crafted.

The Silent Stakeholders In Censorship: Insights In Letting Young Adults Join The Censorship Conversation, Mercedes Medel

The Utah English Journal

I grew up enjoying Judy Blume’s books: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Blubber, and many more. There was not much conversation in my community or at home about what books or authors should be read; instead, I was given free range to explore libraries and choose what I was interested in, what I was needing, throughout my adolescence. It wasn’t until I was sitting in Chris Crowe’s Studies in Young Adult Literature class this past spring that I discovered, to my surprise, that Judy Blume was at the center of many controversies throughout her career. …

Getting Teens To Read: Date A Book, Joëlle Beard

The Utah English Journal

“I hate reading!” “I will never read a book again after graduation; why do I have to read in your class?” “Reading is so boring; there aren’t any good books!” If you are a secondary English teacher, comments like this are nothing new. So many of our students do not enjoy reading and do not see the value of reading a book. Part of this is due to the curriculum push to read novel excerpts rather than full novels, or sometimes eliminate fictional texts altogether and read solely informational texts. The feeling of not wanting to read a book or …

Writing Prompts In The Healing-Centered Classroom, Elizabeth Hancock

The Utah English Journal

As I began the 2013-14 school year, I encountered students with a full range of life experiences. My students’ lives ran the gamut from having the 1950s version of traditional middle- class families to being part of the Utah foster care system. Their challenges included depression over not making the school dance team, dyslexia or other learning disabilities, and responding to trauma with self-harm by using a heated curling iron. I wondered what I could do to help struggling students make it through the minefields in their lives, and remembered the character of Ponyboy, who writes about his friends’ traumatic …

Voice And Reflection: Innovating Peer Review With Think-Aloud Group Discussions, Marissa Palmer

The Utah English Journal

“Ok guys, get out your Chromebooks and pull up your rough drafts. Today we are peer reviewing!”

As the students start getting things ready, there are a few groans from around the room and a few panicked “what if I’m not done yet?”s. The beginning of every peer review day starts the same: help kids get their essays properly formatted, demonstrate how to put their document in suggesting mode, and go over the protocols for the day.

Book Review: Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story, Amanda Thomas

The Utah English Journal

Sarah is a little girl with a vibrant inner life and explosive energy and creativity. From her first realization that The Little Mermaid was made by teams of artists drawing thousands of illustrations, she sees life and power in her art. Sarah relies on that power as she navigates the confusing and sometimes harsh realities of being one of few non-white kids growing up in her small Maryland town. Adopted from Korea as an infant, Sarah struggles to understand how she is different from the other kids and even from her older adopted sister, Liz (also from Korea). Every time …

From The Editors: Turning Pages, Turning Hearts, Mandy Luszeck, Jon Ostenson, Rachel Knecht

The Utah English Journal

When my students complete reflections on their readings, my favorite responses usually say something along the lines of, “I never saw it that way before, but now I do.” As English Language Arts teachers, we are well aware that literature is more than mere stagnant text, rather it is dynamic. It is transformative. Perspectives, experiences, ways of being that might otherwise be shielded from our students are illuminated in the stories they read, allowing them in turn to see and understand the world around them in a new light. According to Steven Wolk (2009), “As educators, we need to help …

Seasons, Emily Feveryear

The Utah English Journal

Fall:

The falling leaves

Bring a familiar crunch and

A familiar warmth.

This time I am ready.

Introducing The New Sahs President & Vice President, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

It is an honor to serve as the new President of the Swiss American Historical Society, an organization that I have come come to truly enjoy being associated with.

2024 Reports, Thomas Quinn Marabello, Barbara Müller, Ernie Thurston, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Business Meeting Report—September 28, 2024

President’s Report for 2024

President’s Report for 2024 for The Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society

Annual Financial Report of the SAHS

SAHS Membership Report

Publications Report

SAHS Website Report 2024

Flames, Lorena Lesué

The Utah English Journal

She had worked herself thin,

hunched over a keyboard or the students’ desks

for fifty hours a week.

By year nineteen,

the muscles atop her shoulders

bookended her neck

like turtle shells.

Book Review: There Goes The Neighborhood, Feliciana Lopez-Goodman

The Utah English Journal

Rhea’s motives seem simple—save her best friend from eviction and stop the neighborhood from falling apart. As is true for all complex characters, there is more to Rhea, Zeke, and Malachi as they create a fake gang in their South LA neighborhood of Kofa Park. In Jade Adia’s debut novel There Goes the Neighborhood, gentrification is front and center as three teenagers take on the responsibility of saving their neighborhood and their chosen family.

Kendrick Lamar Brings New Literature To The Ela Classroom, Chris A. Peck

The Utah English Journal

Until April of 2017 I was only mildly aware of Kendrick Lamar. I had listened to and enjoyed songs like “Alright” and “Swimming Pools” but had little experience past these songs. After his album D.A.M.N. came out, I began to see several posts regarding the importance of this album, many responses by professors and teachers I knew well and trusted.

Co-Creating A Community Of Learners Through Interactive Read-Alouds Of Expository Texts, Kari Allsup

The Utah English Journal

I am reading aloud Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead (Johnson, 2013) to a group of 7th grade students. The text describes the larva stage where a young jewel wasp feasts on the cockroach’s insides. As I read, there are scattered exclamations of “ewwww,” “sick,” and audible gasps. I stop reading to dig into these reactions.

Sentence Detective: Investigating Sentence Structure To Support Reading Comprehension, Rachel Knecht

The Utah English Journal

Jacob was honest about his usual reading strategies. Like Jacob, readers with a history of reading difficulties may deal with challenging, long, or unfamiliar sentences by skipping or stumbling over them (Nomvete & Easterbrooks, 2020; Vaughn et al., 2022). But, Jacob offered another strategy— Sentence Detective. Over the past six weeks, Jacob had learned how to use Sentence Detective, a strategy for breaking sentences down into meaningful, more manageable parts. Although skipping or skimming may have been his go-to strategy for sentence-level comprehension, he now had another tool to try out.

Laina Farhat-Holzman: Distinguished Iscsc Author, Incisive Thinker, Fearless Commentator, Innovative Leader, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

It is a sad duty to report that a luminary who was long associated with this journal and with the leadership of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman, has died.

Ccr Style Guide For Submitted Manuscripts, Carolyn Carpentieri Potter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Swiss Mountain Guides In The Canadian Rockies, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

With the Golden Age of Alpinism (ca. 1850-1890) having drawn the world’s attention to the necessity of trained and experienced Swiss mountain guides, the services of such guides were in high demand, and not just in Switzerland. Climbing as a summer sport began to take hold in Europe in the 1860s. English alpinists, along with their Swiss local guides, began checking the mountains of the Swiss Alps off their list.

Book Reviews: Family Style: Memories Of An American From Vietnam, Derick Marchant

The Utah English Journal

Do you ever eat a meal so intertwined with memory that each bite transports you back to the moments surrounding it? For me, it’s paella. The rice dish seasoned with saffron, paprika, and lemon juice puts me right back in small apartments in Spain with my legs under a blanket-covered table, a heater blasting on my legs, laughing and shelling shrimp with Spaniards. I can’t eat paella without craving the company that surrounded me in those warm Spanish apartments. In Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam, Thien Pham chronicles his family’s immigration story via vignettes centering around his …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 53, 2025: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Improving Small-Group Discussion Through Literature Circle Activities, Reilly Ryan

The Utah English Journal

Consider the following scenarios in which I’ve given students a platform to discuss “high-interest” topics: “Class, I want you to discuss whether you think school should start one hour later than it currently does. I’m going to set a timer for three minutes, and I would like you to continue your discussion during the entire time.” If school start time seems too educational, I might offer an even more accessible topic such as “What is the greatest movie of all time?” or “Where is the best place in town to get a hamburger?” The pleasing cacophony I hear immediately after …

Moving Beyond Summary, Susan E. Anderson

The Utah English Journal

The due date. That dreaded day when 50% of my students have worked their way through the writing process and are ready to turn in their essays ON TIME. They chose topics, researched, organized, wrote rough drafts, edited and revised repeatedly, peer-reviewed, more editing and more revising, cited their sources, formatted, and even applied the hanging indentation to their works cited page. And as the other 50% trickle in their late papers clearly lacking some of these important steps, my next responsibility begins: I start to read 175 essays. With my rubric ready to start assessing, I see a frustrating …

The Uses And Challenges Of Teaching Writing With Artificial Intelligence, Tom Henry

The Utah English Journal

Computers and Composition recently noted: “In less than a year, ChatGPT hit 100 million weekly users which made it the fastest-growing consumer Internet application to date. The ease, practicality, and ability to compose both in text and multimedia has made generative AI technology (like ChatGPT) ubiquitous” (Ranade and Eyman, 2024). Popularity aside, the question should be asked: Can students use AI ethically? A white paper from UNESCO puts forth the proposition that “Technology is never ideologically neutral… New generative AI models and utilities are no exception” (Giannini, 2023, p.3). Collating these claims, there are tasks where AI is ethical and …

Facilitating Dialogue: Leveraging Classroom Literature To Navigate Critical Conversations With High School Students, Kaylee Smedley

The Utah English Journal

The quotation refers to the Contemporary American Thought (CAT) class, a high school course in Chris Crutcher’s Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, where Moby and his classmates navigate complex and controversial issues under Ms. Lemry’s guidance. Encouraged to discuss meaningful topics like children’s rights, war, social class, abortion, and religion, they research, debate, and explore nuances, ultimately drawing scrutiny from parents, the community, and the administration (Crutcher, 1993).

Talent, Passion, And Teaching Writing: A Teacher’S Reflection, Kelley Paystrup

The Utah English Journal

Which comes first, the passion to write or the talent? Every school year I share examples of my written work with my classes, and every time I hear students tell me they can’t write like that; they will never be that talented. I respond that I’ve had more practice and experience than they have, and I earned a Master’s in Writing and Rhetoric, so they shouldn’t compare. I wonder if I should show them my work since it’s discouraging for so many.

Book Review: Something Like Home, Kimberly Stewart

The Utah English Journal

Something Like Home is a poignant exploration of resilience and adaptation. Laura, the protagonist, finds her life disrupted when her parents are forced into a drug rehabilitation program and she must navigate a new environment with an unfamiliar aunt and school. Her initial resistance to accepting this change forms the central conflict of her journey.

Book Review: How To Become A Better Writing Teacher, Merry Gravett

The Utah English Journal

Carl Anderson and Matt Glover’s book How to Become a Better Writing Teacher is an excellent tool to have in your toolbox as a writing instructor. Whether you have a 20-year career in teaching writing or you’re still completing your degree and student teaching experience, this book can provide insight into and impetus for your growth as a writing teacher.

Book Review: Simon Sort Of Says, Sarah Strachan

The Utah English Journal

Nothing ever really changes in Grin and Bear It, Nebraska. Since the town is a research site for the SETI program (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), there is a ban on internet and cell phones that makes getting news from the outside world a little slow. For 12-year-old Simon O’Keeffe, that sounds perfect. Having survived a school shooting two years earlier, Simon has spent far too much time in the spotlight and longs to fade into the background in this new town where no one knows his past. However, blending in proves challenging with his accident-prone Catholic deacon father, his quirky …

Book Review: The Faint Of Heart, Hailey Christensen

The Utah English Journal

Is it better to experience negative emotions with the positive, or to not feel at all? The Faint of Heart, a graphic novel by Kerrilyn Wilson, takes place in a society where scientists have discovered how to successfully remove the human heart without killing the patient. Once a heart is removed, it is placed into a numbing solution, which effectively eliminates the patient’s ability to experience emotion. The procedure quickly gains popularity, and people flock to the hospital to have their heart removed, in an effort to escape feelings of grief, pain, and stress, only to inadvertently remove positive emotions …