New Directions in Teaching English: Reimagining Teaching, Teacher Education, and Research

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Description

New Directions in Teaching English: Reimagining Teaching, Teacher Education and Research attempts to create a comprehensive vision of critical and culturally relevant English teaching at the dawn of the 21st century. This book is multi-voiced. It includes perspectives from classroom teachers, teacher educators, and researchers in language and literacy, positioned to respond to recent changes in national conversations about literacy, learning, and assessment. These variously situated authors also recognize the rapidly changing demographics in schools, the changing nature of literacy in the digital age, and the increasing demands for literacy in the workplace. This book is critical. At all times education is a political act, and schools are embedded within a sociocultural reality that benefits some at the expense of others. Therefore the approach advocated through many of the chapters is one of critical literacy, where English students gain reading and writing skills and proficiency with digital technologies that allow them to become more able, discerning, and empowered consumers and producers of texts.

Reviews

New Directions in Teaching Englisha must read for anyone interested in closing the literacy achievement gaps for the 21st century. It showcases useful and important knowledge from the field, from highly effective teachers who are having demonstrable success. It also offers concrete suggestions for how we might rethink teacher education, how we might develop more sensitive assessments, and how we might advocate for critical change. -- Sarah Freedman, University of California at Berkeley
This is an excellent collection, showcasing some of the latest and most radical thinking about the future of English teaching in the US. It is firmly rooted in real classrooms whilst highlighting research and critical enquiry throughout. Its overarching themes of social justice and the celebration of difference and diversity give the book an energy and a drive for positive change and also for sustaining the great teaching that can already be found in the most forward thinking English classrooms. The collection has much to offer teachers and researchers around the world who believe passionately that English teaching is about breaking down prejudice and opening our students hearts and minds to the creation of a more just society. -- Andy C. Goodwyn, University of Reading (United Kingdom)
This is the book that English teacher educators and classroom English teachers have been waiting for. It takes us deeply and informatively into the culture and promise of literacy in a new age of multi-literacies, multiple diversities, and a multitude of new challenges and opportunities for English teachers and their students. New teachers will find this a valuable resource for navigating the teaching world they have entered. Veteran teachers will welcome the reorienting and reaffirming scholarship and wisdom offered here by a trustworthy group of emerging and well-established scholars in our field. -- Sheridan Blau, Teachers College, Columbia University; UC Santa Barbara (emeritus)

Author Bio

Ernest Morrell is the Macy Professor of English Education and director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is a past president of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). His interests include the teaching of English, critical media literacy, and urban teacher education. Lisa Scherff, currently a teacher at Estero High School (Florida), previously taught literacy education at the University of Tennessee, the University of Alabama, and Florida State University. Her research interests include opportunity to learn in the English/language arts, teacher preparation and development, and studentteacher discussions of young adult literature.