English Language and Literature Commons^™

To The Contrary, Beth Daniell

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Author of one of the most important volumes on literacy and spiritual practice finds that four key insights have guided her work, all of them consonant with AEPL members’ practices.

Book Reviews, Judy Halden-Sullivan, Elizabeth French, Brad Lucas, Candace Walworth, Caleb Corkery

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Judy Halden-Sullivan - Embracing the "Beginner's Mind"

Elizabeth French - Richardson, Scott. eleMENtary School—(Hyper) Masculinity in a Feminized Context. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012. Print.

Brad Lucas - Ryden, Wendy and Ian Marshall. Reading, Writing, and the Rhetorics of Whiteness. NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Candace Walworth - Kroll, Barry. The Open Hand: Arguing as an Art of Peace. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2013. Print.

Caleb Corkery - Conway, Jeremiah. The Alchemy of Teaching: The Transformation of Lives. Boulder, CO: Sentient Publications, 2013. Print.

"Put Your Ear Close To The Whispering Branch..." Deep Listening In The English Classroom, Jessica Jones

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Taking her cue from Guy Murchie’s Song of the Sky, the author discovers a method for reaching at-risk children, whose ventures into poetry engage them deeply in the natural world and make them part of it.

Hitchhiking The Labyrinth, Tom Gage

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

James Moffett’s best friend recalls Moffett’s enduring influence on his own extraordinary career, as well as Moffett’s substantial contributions to AEPL.

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Front Matter

Twenty Years: Reflections And Questions, Alice Brand

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Recalling her lifelong research into the connection between emotions and writing, the first editor of JAEPL critiques scholarly contexts that limit the exploration of knowledge about writing.

The Dance Of Spirit In Aepl, Susan Schiller

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Co-editor of The Spiritual Side of Writing examines AEPL’s role in the global pedagogical movement it has participated in for over 20 years.

The Personal Creed Project: Portal To Deepened Learning, John Creger

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The founder of an influential and transformative writing project reflects on its grounding in Moffett’s philosophy and presents the model of learning that grew out of it.

Treasure Hunt Without A Map: Archival Research At The University Of Pennsylvania, Meghan Strong

English and Creative Writing Independent Study Projects

Under the supervision of Meredith Goldsmith in the English Department, I spent this semester developing archival research projects for lower level students in the humanities. My project corresponded with the aims of the Council for Undergraduate Research, which works to develop undergraduate research skills throughout the disciplines. The Kislak Center is a nearby resource that has the potential to provide students with opportunities to develop crucial research skills while discovering little pieces of history that are hidden away in the archives. The final exercises presented here focus on the subjects of Walt Whitman, Marian Anderson, and Michel de Montaigne.

"Don't Wake Me, My Desk Is Far Too Comfortable": An Autoethnography Of A Novice Esl Teacher's First Year Of Teaching In Japan, Delaney Holland

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This thesis explores and analyzes a first year ESL teacher's experience teaching at an all-girl's private school in Nishinomiya, Japan. Chapter 3 is divided into 15 sections that tell the teacher's story of living and teaching in Japan. This chapter includes description, dialogue, concurrent diary excerpts, photos, and theory. Chapter 4 analyzes these experiences and discusses the lessons the author learned while reflecting on her teaching in Japan. The main lesson learned was the importance of practicing cultural relativity--that is, opening one's mind and realizing that there is more than one way to live, teach, and see the world. Chapter …

The Effects Of A New Method Of Instruction On The Perceptions Of Appalachian English, Michelle L. Compton

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This paper evaluates whether students’ perceptions of Appalachian English improve through a method of instruction that uses dialect literature in the classroom. Most existing methods of instruction tend to portray dialects as wrong, incorrect, or in some way less rule-governed than Standardized English, despite the numerous studies that have demonstrated otherwise (e.g., Labov 1969, Wolfram 1986). The data from this study derives from two groups of students enrolled in introductory composition and communication at the University of Kentucky. Each group is given a pre-test to determine attitudes toward Appalachian English and Standardized English. An experimental group is then exposed to …

Scribblescholar Was Here: Confessional Notes Of A Vandal Academic, Clay Shields

Theses and Dissertations--English

As a (former) vandal-punk in the academy, I often fear succumbing to Ivory Tower Stockholm syndrome. The identities I perform, vandal-punk and scholar, ideologically clash to the point that they often feel irreconcilable. By codemeshing the high-low discourses associated with these adopted cultures, I attempt to disrupt any hierarchal privileging of either, instead searching for a way to live with and harness both.

Peer Review In A Graduate Writing Class: Case Studies Of First-And Second- Language Students, Petcharat Saenpoch

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research explored peer review strategies of L1 (native speakers of English) and L2 (non-native speakers of English) graduate student writers from different disciplines. The focus was on how they revised their writing and which strategies they used. The study was conducted in a Graduate Writing Workshop class at a public university on the U.S. - Mexican border in the United States of America. Five participants were selected as case studies. The researcher collected data by recording face-to-face peer review sessions, observing the class, interviewing the instructor and students, collecting the students' reflections, and gathering the students' writing drafts. The …

Mcnair Research Journal - Summer 2015, Kelly Abuali, Starr Bailey, Krystal Courtney D. Belmonte, Brittaney Benson-Townsend, Jennifer Bolick, Mihaela A. Ciulei, Ashley Crisp, Daniel N. Erosa, Richard V. Foster, Gisele Braga Goertz, Michael A. Langhardt, Kara Osborne, Julienne Jochel Paraiso, Shawn M. Rosen, Bella V. Smith, Jeevake Attapattu, Ernesto H. Bedoy, Michael G. Curtis, Wanda Inthavong, Marielle Leo, Primrose Martin, Tamieka Meadows, Rosa Perez, Jessica Recarey, Shea Silver, Linda Tompkins

McNair Journal

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the McNair Scholars Program

Table of Contents

Biography of Dr. Ronald E. McNair

Statements:

Dr. Neal J. Smatresk, UNLV President

Dr. Juanita P. Fain, Vice President of Student Affairs

Dr. William W. Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Retention and Outreach

Mr. Keith Rogers, Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

McNair Scholars Institute Staff

Learning Shakespeare Shouldn't Hurt: An Engaging 4-Week Othello Curriculum For 9th Graders, Amelia Kucic , '16

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

Shakespearean literature is an essential component of American literature and cultural consciousness, discusses material that is highly relevant to modern adolescents, and presents an ideal platform for creative learning across multiple intelligences. However, intimidated students are often reluctant to engage with this material. This Othello curriculum draws on progressive educational theory, strategies for teaching literacy to English Language Learners and Special Education students, and existing creative methods of teaching Shakespeare to circumvent this intimidation and engage 9th graders with Othello through the exploration of relevant themes, utilization of students' natural propensity for creative expression, and development of traditional English literacy …

Teaching The Biography Of Laura Ingalls Wilder: Fostering A Media Literacy Approach For Multilingual Writers, Kelly G. Hansen

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"In creating this thesis, the culmination of writings from teaching English composition to multilingual writers, contributed to my research. This action research study focuses on how to foster a media literacy approach when teaching multilingual writers. The literature focus unit was based on the biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder using the book, Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Photographic Story of a Life (Stone, 2009). The research conducted for this study took place during the winter quarter of 2015 within English 112, which is a composition class offered at Eastern Washington University (EWU) for multilingual writers. During this time, questionnaires, journal responses, …

Book Review: Revision Decisions: Talk Through Sentences And Beyond, Jennifer Dunn

The Utah English Journal

As an English teacher teaching writing, I sometimes struggle to help my students understand the importance of revising--of making changes and not just sticking with the first thing they write.

In Revision Decisions Jeff Anderson- a grammar guru-and Deborah Dean-a strong champion and voice for strategic writing, teamed together to create a book that even the most novice of teachers can use to instruct their students on how to make revisions to writing through a variety of grammar strategies. Their focus is creating a dialogic classroom in order to help students understand that there are multiple ways to write something …

Helping Students To Dare Greatly: Feedback In The English Classroom, Katie Fredrickson

The Utah English Journal

Teaching literature is lovely, but I became an English teacher because I wanted to teach students to write. I wasn't one month into my first year of teaching when I realized how difficult of a task teaching writing can be, even after years of studying writing instruction. Often, I'd pour my passion into developing an assignment. With Katie Wood Ray's (1999) Wondrous Words in mind, I'd find mentor texts for my students to study and use as examples. Following John Bean's (2011) advice in Engaging Ideas, I'd "build process requirements into the assignment, including due dates for drafts" in order …

Book Review: Nightbird, Trent Mikesell

The Utah English Journal

A real fairy tale should be every child's dream. However, when the fairy tale world is plagued with a curse, the dream becomes a nightmare. This is the nightmare that Twig faces in Alice Hoffman's novel, Nightbird. Twig should be happy-she lives in an enchanting town with a loving family-but she is one of the unwilling victims of a dark spell and has to deal with its effects while helping to overcome it. Nightbird tells the story of what happens when curses and monsters attempt to destroy a family and town.

Finding Unifying Texts: Make Lemonade And The Book Thief As Tools Of Differentiated Instruction For English Language Learners, Dane Spencer

The Utah English Journal

Standing in front of a high school classroom with deeply variant levels of English proficiency is a daunting experience for almost any teacher. Last year, as I looked out over my sophomore class of students, I saw five students raised in the United States (including three second-generation Americans) mingled with five international, English language learner (ELL) students. Three of the international students hailed from China, while the other two were from Vietnam. A few months into the year, the equation became even more complex as another non-international student joined the class, along with another international student from war-torn Ukraine (the …

President's Message: Language, Limits & Literacy, Kim Irvine

The Utah English Journal

I cried in my silent classroom when her picture came up on my role. Her sparkling eyes, clear and full of promise, stared out at me from a darling, dimpled smile ringed by shining blonde curls. In her sixth grade year, this angelic-looking student was in a car accident-caused by a drunk driver. She was badly hurt with her face and head taking most of the damage. I sat numbly listening as they explained my new student's situation. The accident was horrific. She had been thrown from the car through the back window. She lost an ear. We were told …

Pullinger's And Joseph's Inanimate Alice And Intercultural Engagement, Ana Abril

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Pullinger's and Joseph's Inanimate Alice and Intercultural Engagement" Ana Abril analyzes Kate Pullinger's and Chris Joseph's digital graphic novel and game. Inanimate Alice offers a model for online education environments and has been widely acclaimed. However, Abril's ana-lysis suggests possible ways for improving the empathic and educational potential of the novel/game for interpersonal and intercultural benefit. Abril bases her analysis on the theories of human interpersonal communication and then applies these findings to Inanimate Alice and suggests improvement so that participants would be able to decide if they want to play from the viewpoint of their own …

Telescopes And Spyglasses: Using Literary Theories In High School Classrooms, Danielle M. Rains

Honors Projects

This handbook is structured in a way that can be directly applied to the classroom. The theories are organized and ordered to build on one another; the skills that your students learn from one will help them complete the tasks of the next. Each chapter provides information about the theory, how to conduct a reading following the theory’s guidelines, and how to introduce the theory to your students.

Jane Austen And The 21st-Century Classroom, Maureen Jecrois

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Across the United States, educators and administrators have been discussing whether classical literature still has a place within the high school classroom. Included in this discussion are the works of Jane Austen. And while Jane Austen’s texts have much to offer as far as discussion on gender and familial dynamics, economic and political tension, and, of course, societal norms (what our communities expect from us individually and as a whole), the texts present many challenges within the frameworks of today’s classroom. What we have come to know as “our” time is a rapidly changing environment filled with experiences and technologies …

English Language Learning Through Visual Arts Practices: A Curriculum For Conflict-Affected Youth In Secondary Education, Jenny Lemper

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project summarizes recent research in conflict and education, and presents an English language learner curriculum designed to address the current gap in quality education for conflict-affected youth. The curriculum contains six modules and develops English language literacy through student visual arts projects using text and images. The purpose of the curriculum is to familiarize students to the various confidence-building and coping mechanisms available in creative expression and to develop valuable visual and verbal language related life skills, therefore equipping students with tools to support successful futures.

One Man's Fakelore Is Another Man's Treasure: A Case Study Of Paul Bunyan And The Legend Of The Sleeping Bear, And The Value Of Fakelore In An Interconnected World., Kalani Bates

Honors Theses

The American academic study of folklore blossomed in the past hundred years. The tumultuous battle to define, collate and structure the new study of folklore raged in the academic world, especially in the 1950’s.[1] This obsession not only manifested itself in the academic study of it, but also in the popular culture of the 1900’s. The tradition of the tall tale and the legend exploded into the consumer world, becoming a commodity produced and consumed at will.[2] Richard Dorson classifies this explosion into two very separate studies of ‘folklore’ and ‘fakelore’. Folklore is the group of stories that …

"We Can't Reclaim What We Don't Understand": Teachers' Perceptions Of Advocacy And Voice In A Rural Institute Of The National Writing Project, James Anthony Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines teachers' perceptions of advocacy and voice in a summer institute of the National Writing Project. The Rural Advocacy Institute, a first-time initiative through the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project, offered three weeks of professional development centered on rural education and teaching English language arts in rural public schools. The study is a grounded theory study; grounded theory forces the researcher to stay "close to the data," compare data sets, and use reflective writing to identify conceptual categories in the data. Data collection in the study included semi-structured interviews with six K-12 teachers participating in the Institute and twenty-seven …

Please Help Your Teachers Play Hookey With Us, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Posting about the 2014 National Council of Teachers of English annual convention and why it's good for both teachers and students from Teachers, Profs, Parents: Writers Who Care - a blog advocating for authentic writing instruction.

http://writerswhocare.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/please-help-your-teachers-play-hookey-with-us/

An Argument For The Great Divorce In The Public School Ninth Grade English Classroom, Taylor Isom

Senior Honors Theses

C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce (1946) can provide a useful supplement for ninth grade English instruction because of its quality as a literary work, the ideas it represents, its commentary on enduring human questions, and its connections to its historical context. At its core, the book reflects on recurring philosophical and religious ideas in a way that simultaneously links to and transcends its time. It also exhibits hallmarks of literary excellence, such as formal consistency and a comprehensive view of its themes. The Great Divorce’s skillful use of literary elements suits it for instruction, adapting form to purpose. …

Language Of Harry's Wizards: Authentic Vocabulary Instruction, Divonna M. Stebick, Constance N. Nichols

Education Faculty Publications

This study was the result of a year long action research project within a middle school language arts classroom. The students showed improvement in their vocabulary skills due to this instruction using Harry Potter as a context.