Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Motivation In Guided Reading: Effects On Upper Grade Readers, Margie Jordan, Stephanie Galt

The Utah English Journal

After coaching teachers on ways to improve guided reading practice for the last two years and watching both teachers and students as they struggle and succeed in increasing reading awareness, we began to notice a pattern. It wasn't a pretty one.

Book Review: The Start Of Me And You, Adrianne Larsen

The Utah English Journal

Paige believes that if she could just check each item off of her to-do list, then things could be normal again; she could be normal again. Included on the list are dating, traveling, finding new friends, and swimming. While the to-do items may look simple, they prove to be more elusive than Paige thought. Making changes and moving forward are the lessons Emery Lord grapples with in her novel, The Start of Me and You. As Paige, the protagonist, attempts to clear her "begin again" check list, as she calls it, she realizes that some things in life are a …

Hi/Lo Books: Making Struggling Readers Stronger?, Catherine Crosby

The Utah English Journal

For the last two years I've taught an eighth grade reading intervention class to struggling readers who mostly hate reading and only open a book if a teacher or a parent makes them. Students in this age group should be reading in the 925 to 1185 Lexile range, but in our school, students in Reading SA range from 300 to 900 Lexile. They can graduate out mid-year if they can bring their Lexile score up to 1050, and while this motivates some students, others have had such negative reading experiences that they have given up on reading. The books written …

Book Review: Magonia, Amanda Garlock

The Utah English Journal

At one point or another, everyone feels like they don't belong. But in Maria Dahvana Headley's soaring fantasy, Magonia, Aza Ray Boyle actually doesn't belong. At least, not on earth.

Book Review: In The Best Interest Of Students, Kasey Hammer

The Utah English Journal

With the nearly nationwide adoption of the new Common Core Standards, educators, parents, legislators and students find themselves ensconced with a new fervor int he age-old scholastic debate: What is the bets method for teaching students? In his newest book, In the Best Interest of Students, Kelly Gallagher sifts through the varied voices int eh common Core discussion and presents his readers with a real, in-depth look at both the strengths and weaknesses of the ELA Common Core Standards.

Book Review: Black Dove White Raven, Johnny Allred

The Utah English Journal

Life is complicated, challenging, and often unfair. Understanding your family, your friends, or even yourself-especially while trying to grow up-can be a difficult task. Throw in racism and gender biases, and you'll catch a glimpse of the challenges faced by the two young protagonists in Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein. Mixing together American and Ethiopian history from the 1930s, Wein tells the story of Em, a young white girl, and Teo, a young black boy, who grow up together in an unconventional family and in an unforgiving world.

The Utah English Journal, Volume 43, 2015: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

The Tale Of Two Attici: What To Make Of Harper Lee's "New" Novel, Joseph Wiederhold, Chris Crowe

The Utah English Journal

Kristin and I met for lunch, but neither of us had the stomach for food. My tattered copy of To Kill a Mockingbird sat on the table between us. Gregory Peck lay cradled in her arms, forever smiling from the cover of LIFE Magazine's special issue: "The Enduring Power of To Kill a Mockingbird:, And Lee,s new/old novel, Go Set a Watchman, rested face down on the edge of the table. I had unconsciously placed the novel in time-out.

Beyond The Informative Essay: Getting Nonfiction Student Writing To Shine, Sara Strachan

The Utah English Journal

When I was in third grade, my family moved to a small rural town with a small rural school. The school district must have been afraid the population in that community couldn't be sustained, because it hadn't invested much money in an infrastructure. Almost all of the school buildings were portables, including the doublewide library. I visited that library once a week with my class, shuffling down the dusty sidewalk and up the clanky metal steps where I sat on the floor listening to Mr. Weeks, our librarian, drone about things, like how to use the Dewey Decimal System, how …

The Classroom Graphic Novel: Helping Struggling Students Move From Text Completion To Text Engagement, Stephen Nothum

The Utah English Journal

I love comic books and graphic novels. I love the art. I love the power they have to transport me into another world. I savor the moments I get to use my teeth, tongue, and lips to sound out zany onomatopoeias like "FSSTZZZAMM!" Unlike most comic book enthusiasts, my relationship with the genre began not in my childhood, but during my junior year at Brigham Young University. My young adult literature course required us to read Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese (2006), and I was immediately impressed with how the genre could fuse language and images to explore complex …

Book Review: Audacity, Amy Banks

The Utah English Journal

Life is full of injustice and inequality that is often easy to ignore. We placate ourselves with the idea that someone else will bear the burden of righting the wrong. But how many assume this responsibility themselves? Who will fight in the name of what is right, no matter what the sacrifice?

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 …

Where Are The Books For Polynesians? An Exploration Of Interests, Needs, And Available Resources, Victor Neves

The Utah English Journal

Polynesians (also referred to as Pacific Islanders) are the smallest minority group in the United States, making up .02% of the population. They tend, however to live in concentrated communities, near other Polynesians. The result is that in our schools we either have no Polynesians or an atypical concentration. 2010 census data shows that six of the top twenty cities with the highest Pacific Islander population are in Utah. Provo and Orem have around 20 times the national average, West Jordan 30 times the national average, Taylorsville 40 times the national average and Salt Lake 50 times the national average. …

College-Level Research Papers: The Byproduct Of A Common Core-Aligned Podcast Unit, Sarah Orme

The Utah English Journal

Cordless tools, water filters, satellite technology, and scratch resistant lenses. These are all surprising byproducts of NASA’s investment in space technology (Conger, 2013). In the Cold War race of space exploration in the 1960’s, scientists created diverse inventions that ultimately improved our daily lives. U.S. scientists were able to create these impressive technologies because of the massive investment in the end goal: getting the U.S. to the moon, mars, and beyond before the Russians. We can use this model in our classrooms to advance students’ education by using an engaging goal that facilitates successful byproducts. Unlike NASA, teachers can influence, …

On Reforms And The New State Core, Jon Ostenson

The Utah English Journal

For a long time now, the professionalism of teachers has been under attack—from light-hearted jabs like the neighbor or friend who teases us about our “cushy” job that only requires us to work nine months out of the year to unflattering media portrayals to more serious attacks from politicians and business leaders who point fingers at teachers, blaming us for a multitude of problems in the schools and with students’ performance. Many of the reform efforts underway right now are aimed at us and have the ostensible goal of improving teaching. This is not in and of itself a bad …

Assigner Or Inspirer? My Journey Away From The Book Project, Christine Cluff Thompson

The Utah English Journal

Pleased with both students’ presentations described above, their teacher awards them high marks for following the rubric: eye contact was made, props provided interest and evidence of the book’s plot and character development, opinions were shared and supported, the audience was engaged, and aside from Britney forgetting to show the book cover, both students did the required work to score an A grade. The only problem with the two projects? Neither student read the book they presented.

Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Temple Grandin: How The Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism And Changed The World, Rose Cherie Reissman

The Utah English Journal

Suitable for grades 5 and beyond, this groundbreaking multi-modal science, humane education, and autism focused biography uses direct quotes from Temple, equipment designs, photos, and animal/ autism fact-driven data sheets to offer readers an up-close and personal experience. Given its incorporation of specific chapters on animal thinking, bullying, autism spectrum data, Grandin’s advice for dealing with being different, humane treatment of animal issues, and actual diagrams for squeeze shuttle/cruelty-free facilities, this book can support teachers in addressing the Common Core standards of information/literary texts, text-based answers, academic vocabulary, and building content knowledge. It’s an excellent tool for ELA, Science, and …

Teaching In, Out, And Through Creative Nonfiction, Thomas Henry

The Utah English Journal

Paraphrasing the “Most Interesting Man in the World,” a marketing icon portrayed as a genius, adventurer, and connoisseur of the “finer things” in life who advertises those silly but comical beer commercials: I don’t always teach creative nonfiction, but when I do…. I tend to consider many different facets of the art, the genre, and the practice of “nonfiction.” Creative nonfiction (CNF), is more or less the pinnacle of what “good writing” is and should be in an even broader creative and rhetorical sense. This genre engages, teaches, and shares bits of knowledge in an accessible and distinctive way; furthermore, …

Book Review: Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media And Genres, Joseph Wiederhold

The Utah English Journal

We tend to teach the way we were taught, and many practicing teachers—myself included—were taught to write through analog tools. After reading this book, I realized my practice was still largely rooted in analog thinking. Even though I would consider my classroom plugged in to the digital world, reading Hicks’ book helped me realize that I often integrate technology by using it merely as a tool to publish or create a product. If that digital inclusion helps improve or bring efficacy to the writing process, we often consider the effort as a step toward digital literacy. This thinking is flawed, …

There Can Be No End Save Learning: Using Seminal U.S. Documents To Teach Fundamental Reading Skills, Michael Handy

The Utah English Journal

The skill-based Common Core, as well as its Utah adaptation, raises the level of rigor required of students. The core focuses on skills that apply to literature and nonfiction of all kinds. A few standards name specific authors (Shakespeare’s name appears several times, for example), but the standards in general impose no prescribed list of works on teachers.

Yet Standard 9 of the Reading Standards for Informational Text curiously lists not only authors worthy of study, but specific works: “Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s …

Increasing Student Engagement, Decreasing Teacher Workload: Student Self-Assessment As A Writing Approach, David B. Lee

The Utah English Journal

I was recently introduced to a first-year English teacher and was asked what advice I would give this teacher about to embark on the journey of teaching. I half-jokingly said, “Be careful: Grading papers can take over your life.” We all kind of chuckled, but I knew that this new teacher was soon to find out that this statement is very real; every time I thumb through a mound of ungraded essays sitting on my desk, I am reminded of this reality.

The Common Core Standards (2010) suggest that students participate in several short and long-term writing projects. I agree, …

Engaging The Echoboomers: Creative Strategies For Teaching Analysis And Synthesis, Sirpa Grierson, Heather Wing

The Utah English Journal

The new Utah State Core Curriculum standards require English language arts teachers to better prepare students for career and college readiness using the skills of close reading complex texts (Appendix A, 3) and argument writing (W1, 51). Both of these processes involve the use of synthesis and analysis for problem solving (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, 2011). Yet if we want students to read deeply and learn to write persuasively, we must offer authentic instructional situations that allow our students to access new understandings along with these foundational skills of reading and writing. Helping students become …

Close Encounters Of The Best Kind, Shannon Butler

The Utah English Journal

Usually I slip into a student teacher’s class and pull my forms of checklist behaviors from my bag unnoticed. If I am introduced, students give an indifferent glance, then turn their attention back where it belongs. But this morning was different.

The Power Of Using Standards-Based Grading To Assess Student Writing, Whitney Weaver, Angela Hartley

The Utah English Journal

Each year, like many language arts teachers across the state of Utah, we set out to effectively teach our students how to be good writers. Each time we discover exciting and engaging ways to teach writing in our classrooms. However, we have also found that even the best writing practices fall short in the absence of effective writing assessment. Standards-based grading has been, for us, the most successful tool for such assessments.

Standards-based grading is when a teacher creates specific and measurable learning goals to guide the curriculum, conducts frequent formative assessments of the students’ proficiency on these goals, 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 …