Wanted: Engaged Writers and Practical Writing Experiences

This Practitioner Perspective paper discusses literacy as a vital skill that empowers users. After an initial discussion of the twin aspects of literacy, I present a student teacher’s overly complex seventh-grade lesson, which served as a springboard for reflection about alignment of assignments and student interest. The transformative classroom experience yielded a powerful insight—that effective pedagogy contributes to writer confidence

Teaching Punctuation: Seventh Graders, Mentor Texts, and Commas

In the middle grades, learning about writing mechanics often occurs through inauthentic language drills, which do not expose students to the practical and contextual implementation of punctuation and syntax. This study, conducted with seventeen seventh-grade students, explored how students can gain knowledge of basic conventions by reviewing the writing of a published author to observe the correct placement of punctuation. In this study, students, provided with excerpts from Tomie dePaola’s rendition of The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, were guided to discover how the author used commas to communicate with his readers. Subsequent to the lesson and to assess how much information they had retained, students were asked to describe the different uses of the comma. Results showed that while students needed additional practice to apply their understandings, most were able to recall the five major comma rules. The findings of this study serve as a foundation for further exploration of how mentor texts can be used with other aspects of English language conventions

Responsible management: Engaging moral reflexive practice through threshold concepts

YesIn this conceptual paper we argue that, to date, principles of responsible management have not impacted practice as anticipated because of a disconnect between knowledge and practice. This disconnect means that an awareness of ethical concerns, by itself, does not help students take personal responsibility for their actions. We suggest that an abstract knowledge of principles has to be supplemented by an engaged understanding of the responsibility of managers and leaders to actively challenge irresponsible practices. We argue that a form of moral reflexive practice drawing on an understanding of threshold concepts is central to responsible management, and provides a gateway to transformative learning. Our conceptual argument leads to implications for management and professional education

Happiness is...Poetry!

This article shares one teacher\u27s story of how her fifth graders were inspired to write poems after she shared aloud a mentor text

Is that 'tingling feeling' enough? Constructions of teaching and learning in further education

This paper is concerned with changing constructions of teaching and learning in the further education (FE) sector in England. It explores how current changes may be affecting the development of lecturers' professional identity, drawing upon a small-scale study of trainees on a full-time FE teacher training programme in the academic year 2001-2002. Our underlying concern is the possibilities for democratic forms of practice within the changing context of lecturers' work. The paper considers how trainees make sense of pedagogic relations, and considers how such work might inform debates about new forms of professionalism and practice in FE