Jeanne Marcum Gerlach

Questions of English Ethics, Aesthetics, Rhetoric, and the Formation of the Subject in England, Australia, and the United States

The impact and content of English as a subject on the curriculum is once more the subject of lively debate. Questions of English sets out to map the development of English as a subject and how it has come to encompass the diversity of ideas that currently characterise it. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis and recent research findings Robin Peel, Annette Patterson and Jeanne Gerlach bring together and compare important new insights on curriculum development and teaching practice from England, Australia and the United States. They also discuss the development of teacher training, highlighting the variety of ways in which teachers build their own beliefs and knowledge about English.

The Birth of a Field and the Rebirth of the Laboratory School

We describe the emergence of a new field, Mind Brain and Education, dedicated to the science of learning, as well as the roles researchers, policy makers, and educators need to play in developing this collaborative effort. The article highlights the challenges that MBE faces and the strategy researchers and educators in Texas are developing to meet these challenges. In particular, through the creation of a Research Schools Network, educators and researchers are creating an infrastructure to identify and test ideas critical to educators. This network builds on Deweys laboratory school by creating new responsibilities and partnerships. To this end we identify four critical objectives: develop a clear vision; build trusting relationships; set a standard for rigorous research and scholarship; and, promote meaningful assessment tools.

Would I Like to Read This Book?: Eighth Graders' Use of Book Cover Clues to Help Choose Recreational Reading.

Abstract This study explored how eighth grade students choose books for recreational reading. Involving participating students in a number of specific language arts tasks within the context of classroom instruction, the authors have identified and analyzed strategies used during a book selection process and information valued during the experiences. Student activities included selecting and reading a contemporary adolescent novel, maintaining a reading log, rating respective books, and participating in extensive interviews before and after the activities. Findings describe how accurately and thoughtfully many students can predict if they would like to read a particular book or not and what cover clues and other sources of information are important. Findings also demonstrate the complexities of student predictions and evaluations and the influences of personal experience and perspective. Presented in the study are insights into these predictions and evaluations, as well as classroom implications about read...

Adolescent literature: A misrepresentation of youth-aged relationships

Young people need to understand and have meaningful relationships with the elderly. One of the ways that this understanding can be initiated and enhanced is for adolescents to read literature that presents them with realistic and believable youth‐aged relationships. However, a reading and analysis of some of the available, contemporary adolescent literature that depicts youth‐aged relationships reveals that the attitudes, actions, and feelings of the fictional characters do not represent those of the youth and the aged in todays society.

Rewey Belle Inglis: Teacher, Writer, Observer

A pronounced fashion in educational papers nowadays seems to point out all the weaknesses and failings of whatever element of the educational world is under discussion. So common is this habit that after a few hours reading of articles on education one is often depressed at the dusty answer which our youth must be getting to the questions of life from the mechanized or uncharted or impractical or stereotyped or over-emotionalized or deadening conditions under which they are apparently being taught. Many of these articles resemble the testimonials in the patent medicine advertisement. The horrible symptoms are followed by details of Dr. Blanks project, or Dr. Stars reading method, or Dr. Asterisks objective measurement of improvement, which results in complete cure; but often, especially if the writer is a research man, not even that consoling conclusion is offered. We are left without solace to worry over our ill health. Now the National Council of Teachers of English has chosen the Thanksgiving holiday for its annual convention. Is Thanksgiving a time to meditate upon our ill health alone? Should we not set aside a few moments of this general session of our organization to consider in a true spirit of Thanksgiving those evidences of growing health and vigor whereof we may be proud?

Choosing a Book: Are BOB Summaries Helpful?.

ABSTRACT The author reviewed 37 different back‐of‐the‐book (BOB) summaries to evaluate how helpful these summaries might be for adolescent readers selecting a book for recreational reading. Specifically, they analyzed BOB summary features, including length and organization, story grammar focus, accuracy of story portrayal and related aspects of usefulness for book choice. Teacher education students also provided information for this review as they participated in a related course task. Results indicate that BOB summaries focus largely on plot events and do so accurately. Reader reactions showed that they valued the accuracy of the summary and found the predictive nature of the summary to be helpful. Results demonstrate the potential value in using BOB summaries in the classroom.

In the Wake of Harry Raines.

The parlor of a rural home in north central West Virginia, sparsely furnished, but filled with flower arrangements. Center stage is an open casket. Right rear is a refreshment table. Left rear is a computer workstation adorned with a plethora of prescriptive grammars, including the works of Bishop Lowth, Lindley Murray, and John Warriner. Above the workstation is a portrait of E. D. Hirsch superimposed over a list of items titled What Every American Should Know. Right front is a comfortable armchair. The time is early evening. As the lights come up, we see one man standing behind the casket, drink in hand, pensively reflecting upon the occupant ensconced within. A woman sits in the armchair facing the audience. She speaks first.