English Language and Literature Commons^™

Book Review: Internment, Leah Smith

The Utah English Journal

Internment by Samira Ahmed is an excellent example of realistic fiction that helps students really engage with their political, social, and personal beliefs. Those who find themselves in a minority group will relate well to the themes and characters, and those who are more privileged will find their eyes opened.

Book Review: Pitch Dark, Madison Sheldrake

The Utah English Journal

Pitch Dark is a futuristic story of adventure and survival, set in motion after humanity deems Earth to be uninhabitable and takes to the stars to save both themselves and their future. The book takes place in space, showing events on two spacecrafts that come together in an effort to learn from the past as the characters look to secure their future. However, unbeknownst to most of the crew members, a secret terrorist plot is underway to undermine humanity's last chance to colonize Mars.

Book Review: You Go First, Laura Jackson

The Utah English Journal

You know it's going to be a fun story when Scrabble letter tiles are on the cover. Tying in a modern phone app version with the elusive charm of the board game, friends are connected. The protagonist struggles to find connection with her parents and friends while providing a positive yet true to life model of how to navigate the struggle. You Go First is a lighter read that has the potential to reach middle school aged students or even a funny reflection for high school students who would benefit from a less difficult level of reading.

Using "Chunks" Of Academic Language, Thomas Henry, Jim Pettersson

The Utah English Journal

Graff and Birkenstein (2018) provide great insights into producing quality academic prose. Likewise, they demystify the textual practices of academic writers by asking students to use (or borrow) patterns of academic language. When examining the patterns found within dozens of academic abstracts/summaries, the following patterns emerged. These "templates" (as we call them) or "chunks" (the term provided by students) may help to guide students to create more academic-style prose; likewise, these sorts of patterns may help students in the practice of writing more complex prose (see Figure 1: The Language of Abstracts).

Beyond Posters And Powerpoints: A Case For Authentic Multimodal Writing In The 21st-Century Ela Classroom, Amber Jensen

The Utah English Journal

When I graduated from high school in 2001, my classmates and I were delighted to be the first graduates of a new century. Ushering in the twenty-first century evoked glittering promises of new and faster technologies, networked global communication, and a wide array of professional possibilities. When I entered my first classroom as a high school English teacher in 2004, however, I noticed that not much about the classroom or the curriculum had changed: I taught many of the same classic novels I had read in high school, I assigned the same kinds of writing tasks I had written as …

Not Just A Princess: Using Cinderella To Teach Adolescents About Power, Rylee Carling

The Utah English Journal

The immortal words "once upon a time" have been ingrained in our society's collective memory, at times to the irritation of those who feel they've outgrown the childish stories that begin with this seemingly trite phrase. However, bringing fairy tales and their legion YA novelizations into the classroom can help adolescent students understand constructs of power while offering a familiar story in which to explore those mature themes.

Autobiographical Multigenre Project, Cindy D'On Jones

The Utah English Journal

This Autobiographical Multigenre Project is designed to incorporate several motivational supports for adolescent students, including promoting development of identify as a reader, a writer, and a user of literacy.

This project also serves as an instructional scaffold for future multigenre projects. Each student is an "expert" on the topic of self This allows students to learn the process of a creating a multigenre project while minimizing the cognitive load of investigation required for multigenre projects about less-familiar topics.

Embracing Wobble: Exploring Novice Teachers’ Efforts To Enact Dialogic Literacy Instruction, Trevor Thomas Stewart, Dawan Coombs, Bob Fecho, Todd Hawley

Faculty Publications

By mid-January, Leah (all names are pseudonyms), a first-year high school English teacher, recognized the need to provide more support for students struggling to meet state reading and writing standards. In spite of her efforts to support students’ literacy development by working from a dialogical stance that brings English content into dialogue with students’ lives (Fecho, 2011), some of her students were still not passing the statewide assessments. Leah shared her concerns with a veteran teacher who told her that he employed a remediation practice common at their school, which required students earning Ds or Fs to participate in additional …

Naïve Readings: Reveilles Political And Philosophic By Ralph Lerner (Review), Richard Benjamin Crosby

Faculty Publications

Naïve Readings is an enjoyable series of critical examinations of major historical texts written by a political historian who thinks he has discovered rhetorical analysis. On its dust jacket, Ralph Lerner’s latest book purports to offer “a new method of reading . . . a way toward deeper understanding of some of history’s most important—and most concealed—messages.” A tantalizing endorsement—one that befıts Lerner’s distinguished scholarly career. Lerner himself calls the book a “reconsideration” of “our current habits of reading” (2). So, we are led to expect a bold survey of the major thinkers he studies, from Franklin to Tocqueville to …

Monstrosity As A Problem Of Moral Proximity In Shakespeare’S Othello, Kyle Ward

Student Works

Abstract

In Othello, Shakespeare explores the idea of monstrosity through his titular character. This paper argues that Othello exemplifies the idea that monstrosity is not an inherent evil, but rather that it is a problem of Moral Proximity. The Problem of Moral Proximity, as it is explained in the paper, is the idea that good and evil are the moderation of or corruption of neutral traits. This paper not only argues that monstrosity is one of these neutral qualities, but also explores how Iago corrupts this monstrosity to bring about Othello's downfall.

Full Issue Fall 2018, Byu Criterion

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Contributors Page Fall 2018, Byu Criterion

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Challenging A Stereotype: Female Nature In Rape Of The Lock And "Saturday. Small-Pox. Flavia.", Elizabeth Smith

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Wonder Woman's Fight For Autonomy: How Patty Jenkins Did What No Man Could, Hanann Morris

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Excavating Friel Through Post-Christian Theory, Ryan Meservey

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Empowered Motherhood In Tracy K. Smith's Ordinary Light, Rilley Kaye Mckenna

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Navigating Orthodoxy: The Calvinist Self In Lucy Hutchinson's On The Principles Of The Christian Religion, Jeremy Loutensock

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

The "Cursed Self": Anxiety And Unspoken Curses In Richard Iii, Hannah Laudermilch

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Our Day Will Come, Heidi Moe Graviet

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Identity Forged Through Border Crossing, Mallory Lynn Dickson

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Annunciation, Crucifixion, Resurrection: Christian Symbolism In Joyce's "The Dead", Noelle Dickerson

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

The Devaluation Of Consent In The Rape Of Lucrece, Anisa Call

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Editors' Note Fall 2018, Byu Criterion

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Contents Page Fall 2018, Byu Criterion

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Fall 2018, Byu Criterion

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Kekuaokalani: An Historical Fiction Exploration Of The Hawaiian Iconoclasm, Alex Oldroyd

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis offers an exploration of the Hawaiian Iconoclasm of 1819 through the lens of an historical fiction novella. The thesis consists of two parts: a critical introduction outlining the theoretical background and writing process and the novella itself. 1819 was a year of incredible change on Hawaiian Islands. Kamehameha, the Great Uniter and first monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, had recently died, thousands of the indigenous population were dying, and foreign powers were arriving with increasing frequency, bringing with them change that could not be undone. With the death of Kamehameha, Hawaiʻi’s rulers faced the impossible of task …

Exploring Video Analytics As A Course Assessment Tool For Online Writing Instruction Stakeholders, Jason Michael Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations

Online Writing Instruction (OWI) programs, like online learning classes in general, are becoming more popular in post-secondary education. Yet few articles discuss how to tailor course assessment methods to an exclusively online environment. This thesis explores video analytics as a possible course assessment tool for online writing classrooms. Video analytics allow instructors, course designers, and writing program administrators to view how many students are engaging in video-based course materials. Additionally, video analytics can provide information about how active students are in their data-finding methods while they watch. By means of example, this thesis examines video analytics from one semester of …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 46, 2018: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Poetry In Building Classroom Community, Chris Peck

The Utah English Journal

I stood in front of my class of sophomores, paper in hand, ready to share a poem with them. They had grown used to me sharing poems by that point. At the start of each class, I would stand in front of them and read aloud a poem written by one of many famous poets. However, this day was different. We were starting a new unit—poetry—and I had high expectations for my students. I had toiled with how best to teach poetry to those whose only exposure to poetry consisted of Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, or Shakespeare. There is …

Turning Over A New “Moon” For Twilight, Georgina Dibble

The Utah English Journal

This year Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight is celebrating 13 years, which seems unbelievable to me because I still remember so clearly experiencing the craze that swept over my middle school when it was released. I can remember my 11-year-old baby doll t-shirt wearing, side bangs bobby-pinned back self, reading that first book in 2005. It completely captivated me. And not just me but every girl in my school. Even then I could feel just how cringey some of the melodramatic scenes were to read, there was nothing better than getting to dive into a story with a group of girls and …