Featured

by Alisha M. White, Western Illinois University Who Am I  I am a teacher educator at Western Illinois University focusing on literature and reading pedagogy as well as language diversity, young adult literature, and multimedia texts. Before graduate school, I taught secondary English for students …

by Gayle Sands 1.“Always leave a man a horse to ride out on.”   I got this advice from my principal on my first assignment. It has served me well. When dealing with a student issue, it is important to leave them some dignity to walk …

Engaging Students in the Reading/Writing Classroom 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, …

I’m taking a one-year sabbatical. Not because I’m burned out or finished with my work, but because I want to return to it differently. With more clarity. More presence. More capacity for joy, for partnership, and for being in the world beyond my inbox. This …

What I Know to be True: Indulgence by Joanne L. Emery I’m not sure it’s because I’ve been teaching for forty-six years or that I’ve been at my present school for twenty-one years, or that I will be just one year short of seventy in …

From Then to Now: How ELA Teaching Has Evolved to Center Students’ Voices and Experiences by Jolie Hicks Jolie Hicks, Ph.D., is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Secondary Education at Oklahoma State University, where she focuses on mentoring future teachers.  The COVID-19 pandemic opened our …

by Henry “Cody” Miller I am writing this blog post in early February 2025. The last few weeks have been filled with headlines that cause despair and frustration: radical executive orders that mandate the erasure of BIPOC narratives and attempt to ban LGBTQ people from …

by Dr. Michelle M. Falter Five years ago, my co-authors, Chandra Alston, Crystal Lee, and I published Becoming Anti-Racist English Teachers in the spirit of national reckoning. The call was clear: Listen. Reflect. Read. Interrogate. Act. For a brief moment, anti-racism moved from the margins …

by Stefani Boutelier Who doesn’t enjoy a game? Whether a gameboard, a video game, an athletic competition, or a mental challenge–we can all connect to some form of engagement through gamification.  I have had the pleasure of “playing with ideas” as I’ve been collaborating, learning, …