Over the years, one of the questions I have been asked most often is, “Who are your favorite poets?” I never know quite how to answer because my answer changes with the seasons. Some poets stay beside me for years. Others arrive when I need …
Year and Review
Last week, while I was on sabbatical and thousands of miles from home, I opened my email to find one of the lovely “Reply All” messages from the Ethical ELA community. A month earlier, we had gathered virtually and asynchronously to celebrate StaceyJoy, a California …
Towards More Humane—and Productive—Rubrics
by Kate Sjostrom Just over ten years ago, right around the time Ethical ELA was founded, I began teaching writing methods courses to pre-service English teachers. While I strived to model an ethical approach to the teaching of writing, there was one area in which …
The Boundary is Still Blurry
Looking Back at 2021 by Abby Kindelsperger While much continues to evolve in our world and our schools, when I look back on my Ethical ELA post from 2021, I am struck by the consistency of my teaching philosophy. I still learn from my students, …
Speaking Up in Class: Two Strategies to Encourage Meaningful Conversations and Every Student Voice
by Barb Edler Hello, readers. I am a retired public school Language Arts/Composition teacher from Iowa. Currently, I am an online writing tutor for Kirkwood Community College. My teaching instruction has been greatly influenced by the Iowa Writing Project, and I have worked with students …
The Walk Continues
by Bryan Ripley Crandall & Ger Duany In 2020, Ger Duany concluded his memoir, Walk Toward the Rising Sun, with “I look toward the future with happiness, hope, and excitement, because having climbed my way out of and faced all that is my past, I …
Find Your People
by Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides & Carlin Borsheim-Black Wow, how much things have changed since we last wrote for this blog. And how much everything is still the same. When we last wrote in June 2020, we were working hot on the heels of so much …
Teaching a Charged Rhetorical Moment with Care: Reading Images Before They Become Arguments
This is a longer piece (about an 8-minute read). I offer it slowly, and in the spirit of ethical literacy. It is meant for teachers who are holding the weight of a charged media moment and wondering how to make space for students to study …
Considering Writing in the Constellation of One’s Life
Celebrating Shifts in Priorities By Dixie K. Keyes When I was ten, I wrote a poetry collection with the title of “Me, Myself, and I.” My mother, for some reason, became quite excited about this and hired our next-door neighbor, an ambitious author, Mrs. Self …
A New Year of Beginning Again
A new year invites us to look forward—but here, it also asks us to notice what has endured. Ethical ELA enters this year shaped by teachers and teacher educators who continue to show up, quietly and faithfully, to read, write, and respond. Over time, participation …