Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Book Review: Where I End And You Begin, Michelle Ritter

The Utah English Journal

Ezra Slevin is a typical teenager who has crushing insomnia, an identity crisis, and a crush on Imogen - a girl who barely knows he exists. Wynonna Jones is Imogen's overprotective best friend who has a crush on his best friend, Holden, and who has made it her mission to torment Ezra for as long as he can remember. To ramp up the teenage angst, Ezra has been working up the courage to ask Imogen to prom but can't even seem to talk in her presence.

When Mentor Texts Fail, Build More Bridges, Deborah Dean

The Utah English Journal

I was teaching a writing class and students were writing research-based papers, an expectation of the course and one that met several learning standards. I understood the course expectations, but I wanted to move away from the traditional, school-based "research paper," a genre I disliked reading and students disliked writing, to a genre I was willing to read and one that exists in the real world: TED talks. I thought that if we focused on informational TED talks, we would meet the expectations for the course but also create a more interesting and transferable learning experience for them and-I hoped-one …

Front Matter, Keb Editorial Board

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Why Do I Cry?, Synthia Shelby

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Full Edition, Keb Editorial Board

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Lighting Fires: Inspiring Lifelong Reading, Jessica Ashurst

The Utah English Journal

It's a real problem: to this day, I've loved every single book my English teachers have placed in my hands, falling in love with Ponyboy, cheering on Jonas when he snuck out of The Community, and crying through the pages where Billy lost both Old Dan and Little Ann.

But when I became an English teacher, I mentally braced myself that not all of my students would love reading as I do. The majority of my students consider themselves "non-readers" and they claim that the main culprit of this problem is that they are "required" to read books. I mustered …

The Genre Reading Challenge, Georgina Dibble

The Utah English Journal

When I walked into my own classroom for the first time five years ago, I was met with the stark reality of students with low reading levels, low comprehension, kids who didn't read, didn't like reading, and adamantly believed that they couldn't read. But, fresh out of college, I was also coming armed with the words of Donalyn Miller, Kylene Beers, Kelly Gallagher, and more, ready to transform my students into life-long, independent readers who read just for the pure joy of it. If you're rolling your eyes at my optimism, I don't blame you. But the research surrounding reading …

Discoveries And Decisions Regarding Classroom Library, Amanda Thomas

The Utah English Journal

One of the great benefits of being a classroom teacher-a perk that drew me to the profession-is that my classroom becomes a rare combination of office and second bedroom. Naturally, a teacher wants to keep the decor somewhat relevant to the subject area and avoid anything that might cross boundaries of propriety, but there's a lot of wiggle room to show personal touches, passions, hobbies, and flair.

Fanboys, Pow, & Mount Plot: Mnemonic Devices Used In Teaching Writing, Sarah Anderson, Alexa Bills, Kaitlyn Conlin, Eve Crawford, Natalie Eggli, Jenae Grant, Lilly Hammer, Andrew Isaacson, Kassandra Jimenez, Ryan Mansfield, Brindley Rowley, Samantha Stringham, Meghan Waldenberg, Brady Wallis, Joyce Kinkead

The Utah English Journal

Cicero ( 106-43 BCE) was renowned during his lifetime and influential long after as an extraordinary orator and writer, able to recall long speeches from memory. A technique termed the memory palace, which associates memory with locations-also called method of loci-enabled ancient rhetoricians to deliver stimulating speeches. Retention of information was essential for delivering speeches not just because it was impressive but also due to the paucity of writing materials. Writers and orators relied on wax tablets that could be inscribed with a stylus but could not archive the text; as a result, the information had to be memorized, part …

Musical Notes For Literature, Jake Rees

The Utah English Journal

I try not to say the f-word very often in class, but I can't do anything about my students using it. True, they usually put a qualifier in front of it: "sort of fun," "kind of fun," and (cringe) "lowkey fun."

Here's the activity they're talking about: We start most classes listening to a song (usually just a portion of it--my students and I quickly learned that a repetitive chorus is intolerable for everyone in this context). I project the lyrics on the board, and we talk about what we notice. That's it.

Traveling Through Text: Deepening Student Analysis By Creating Literary Explorers, Jennie Lafortune

The Utah English Journal

As teachers, we all experience the moment of the pause. We do as we're taught and wait for students to collect their insightful answers to our brilliant question and the seconds .. . tick. .. by. Instead of eager hands shooting up, a student dance ensues in unison and undirected: heads slant, hoodies up, eyes down.

How do we as teachers help bridge the gap and provide a map to help students find their ideas and confidence in literary and text analysis? How do we assist students to help themselves take their analysis paralysis to a meaningful understanding or interpretation? …

Book Review: Furia, Katie Romrell

The Utah English Journal

This beautiful story of an Argentinian young woman who desperately wants to play futbol (soccer) pulls no punches in its complex exploration of latent and explicit sexism, abuse, and of breaking the cycle with a tenacity dutifully shown on-and off-the field.

Book Review: Punching The Air, Jennifer Stewart

The Utah English Journal

Through art and music, 16-year-old Amal Shahid tries to break the boxes that he is constantly confined to by his peers, family, and his art teacher, but mostly by a racist system that is always pressing down on him. Eventually, these boxes get progressively smaller and darker as Amal is blamed for his friends' poor behavior and is wrongly convicted. While incarcerated, Amal feels suffocated until he realizes that he can find peace and healing both in his art and his words.

Teach 'Em To Write, Craig Jeppson

The Utah English Journal

One day I observed a teacher ask students to answer a question in writing and hand it in as an exit ticket, something we have all done, right? Here's the thing: the teacher had taught an engaging lesson, but the responses didn't give evidence of that. Instead, they were one or two sentences long, containing information vaguely related to the lesson. That experience prompted me to work up the following model for expository writing. The model isn't revolutionary, mostly what teachers in any content area will recognize.

Book Review: Somewhere Between Bitter And Sweet, Emily Brown

The Utah English Journal

Laekan Zea Lemp's debut novel, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet, is a story about dreams and fears in a vibrant Latinx community. Penelope Prado dreams of opening her own pasteleria next door to her father's restaurant, Nacho's Tacos, where she currently works. However, her parents have different plans for her life--plans that involve college and leaving their struggling family business behind to find greater opportunities. Now, she not only fears disappointing them but also fears her own weaknesses will keep her from ever realizing her dream. When she reveals a disappointing secret to her parents, Pen is immediately forced to …

Partnering With Your Local Public Library, Amy Banks

The Utah English Journal

School libraries are an excellent resource for English classes, often serving as a central hub for research and literacy. But it is not the only library schools can access: public libraries can also support English classrooms. After teaching English in junior high and high school, as well as teaching adjunct writing classes at Brigham Young University, I shifted into librarian work, where I now design after-school reading, writing, and social programs for teens and adults.

Book Review: Race Against Time, Amanda Burrows

The Utah English Journal

US Supreme Court, 1923. More than 50 years after the ratification of the 14th amendment and the end of the Civil War, the promise of" equal protection of the laws" was under attack. Moore vs Dempsey was the first case where the federal court overturned the ruling of a state court; more significantly, it was the first case to rule in favor of a black defendant. Four years earlier, in Elaine, Arkansas, a meeting of sharecroppers at a local church had been bombarded with gunfire. After a few days of rioting, -five white men and an uncounted number of black …

The Utah English Journal, Volume 50, 2022: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

From The Field: Using A Simple Guide To Help Students Write Better Abstracts., Rochelle H. Holm, Anna Karin Roo

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) often write abstracts for research assignments but may not understand the purpose of an abstract. This paper presents the pilot of a simple guide for writing abstracts which gave student support to two undergraduate Malawian ELL students for their undergraduate research assignment. The two students and the instructor found the handout was helpful for the students to develop technical writing skills for the abstracts.

"Comic"Ally Calling For Cultural Competency: Using Graphic Narratives To Teach Social Justice In The Writing Classroom, Travis Moody

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Beyond Transactional Narratives Of Agency: Peer Consultants’ Antiracist Professionalization, Amy T. Cicchino, Katharine H. Brown, Christopher Basgier, Megan Haskins

The Writing Center Journal

Social justice movements, especially Black Lives Matter, inspired many writing center administrators to reflect on their commitments to antiracism and engage with antiracist professional development with their staff. However, there is continued need to study the impact antiracist professional development has on writing center consultants’ ability to practice antiracism in sessions. This article presents a predominantly white institution (PWI) writing center’s attempt to do this work, with a particular emphasis on how antiracist professional development complicates portrayals of consultant agency within the writing center. The study analyzes qualitative data collected from consultants’ reflective writing, survey, and interview responses. Results illustrate …

Writing Centers, Enclaves, And Creating Spaces Of Change Within Universities, Bronwyn T. Williams

The Writing Center Journal

Writing center scholarship often highlights the ways in which their distinctive, less directive, nongraded, and individualized instruction can make them distinctive social and pedagogical spaces. There is a simultaneous argument, however, that writing centers are often institutionally vulnerable and may be unable to engage in or promote such differences within the larger college or university. Yet, despite their size and possible vulnerability, the daily practices and institutional positioning of writing centers can help change conversations and work toward a different vision, political approach, and institutional presence. Drawing on Victor Friedman’s concept of “enclaves of different practice” and Brian Massumi’s theories …

Generation(Al) Matters: Story, Lens, And Tone, Louise Weatherbee Phelps

English Faculty Publications

This essay tells a story of how “generation” came to matter in rhetoric and composition/writing studies; analyzes and advocates for “generation” as a lens through which to examine disciplinary studies and activities; and considers how we can productively engage in generational relations between individuals and groups. It adopts a framework of “hospitality” (adapted from Richard and Janis Haswell) to develop a concept of “cross-generational relations” as an aspirational category. An ethic of hospitality is proposed to facilitate respectful, productive relations among generational groups, which recognize and enact interdependence but allow for a wide range of stances and strategies of interaction …

Back Matter

The Writing Center Journal

Back Matter for Writing Center Journal 40.3.

Does Peer-To-Peer Writing Tutoring Cause Stress? A Multi-Institutional Rad Study, Matthew Nelson, Kathleen Weaver, Sam Deges, Pornchanok Ruengvirayudh, Savannah Garcia, Sarah Dunn

The Writing Center Journal

Writing center literature often notes the stress and anxiety of students as a special concern for peer writing tutors, and tutor training manuals offer advice for tutors on how to manage student writers’ anxiety and stress in sessions. Few writing center sources, however, examine the stress/anxiety tutors may experience as a result of their work in the writing center, despite increasing interest in emotions and emotional labor in writing centers. This multi-institutional study examines whether peer writing tutors experience increased stress/anxiety while tutoring. Using a mixed-methods approach combining both surveys and physiological data (salivary cortisol levels controlled against days when …

Meet The Tutors: Student Expectations, Tutor Perspectives, And Some Recommendations For Sharing Information About Tutors Online, Jessica Robbins, Jaclyn M. Wells

The Writing Center Journal

This article presents findings from an IRB-approved study about tutors’ online information on writing center websites, scheduling systems, and social media. The study used surveys to investigate students’ responses to tutors’ online information and focus groups to investigate tutors’ rationale for the information they shared. While many researchers have studied how writing centers are presented online, little research considers how tutors are represented. The authors argue that such representation merits attention, as tutor profiles can affect students’ comfort with the writing center staff and their microdecisions about who to see and how to interact with them (Salem, 2016). The authors …

Multidisciplinary Staffing In A Graduate Writing Center: Making Writing Labor Visible, Valued, And Shared, Nancy Welch, Diana Hackenburg, Leigh Ann Holterman, Judith Keller, Seth Orman, Vanesa Liliana Perillo, Rebecca Stern, Ashley Waldron

The Writing Center Journal

Writing studies and writing center scholars have recently focused much-needed attention on how graduate student writers are taught, mentored, and supported. This scholarship also points to a persistent and stubborn conundrum: Graduate students must write their way into disciplinary belonging, yet most advisors lack a language for, or even awareness of, the specialized practices and tacit expectations shaping written discourse in their fields. While graduate student–serving writing centers help fill this writing-support gap, a reliance on English and humanities graduate students for staff reproduces a status quo in which the genre awareness and rhetorical vocabulary needed to mentor advanced academic …

Back Matter

The Writing Center Journal

Back Matter for WCJ 40.2.

Review: Queerly Centered: Lgbtqia Writing Center Directors Navigate The Workplace, Tyler Martinez

The Writing Center Journal

Dr. Travis Webster’s monograph reports on qualitative research conducted into the working lives of 20 LGBTQIA-identifying writing center directors. From those interviews, Webster identifies three features of LGBTQIA writing center administrative labor: the unique capital with which their identities equip them, the activist labor that their identities call them to perform, and tensions between their labor and identities. He calls on writing center professionals and higher education administrators to become accomplices in the struggle against workplace injustices, moving beyond allyship that is all too often based in kind words rather than sustained action. The insights available in this book are …

Book Review: The Sound Of Stars, Megan Russell Harbin

The Utah English Journal

One glance at Alechia Dow's stunning cover for The Sound of Stars drew me in, but I wasn't prepared for the beautifully told, relevant story that followed.

The Sound of Stars is written from two, distinct perspectives: Janelle (Ellie) Baker, a human teenage girl, and M0RrlS, a labmade Ilori alien. M0Rrls is part of the alien invasion that has taken over Earth, where Ellie resides. Over the past two years since the takeover, M0Rrls has been in charge of creating a "vaccine" for the humans, per orders from the superior "true Ilori." This "vaccine" will provide the true Ilori with …