On the Case in the English Language Arts Classroom: Situations for the Teaching of English

Four veteran teacher educators offer twenty case narratives as well as a format for discussion, professional resources to inform decisions, and a guide to constructing new case narratives that can help high school teachers expand the possibilities for developing powerful problem-solving strategies. Foreword by Peter Smagorinsky Being a high school English teacher is both rewarding and difficult. Although teacher education programs try to be thorough, they can’t prepare preservice teachers for every situation that might arise. For instance: How can an ELA teacher work with learners who have suffered significant trauma? How can a well-prepared literature instructor teach high school students the basics of reading? Should a teacher shy away from classroom conversations because they can become “too political”? How does a teacher contend with a crushing workload? These are just a few of the issues ELA teachers face every day, but On the Case in the English Language Arts Classroom provides teachers at any point in their career the opportunity to analyze potential situations and problems that commonly confront teachers through case studies that prompt extensive, stimulating discussion and invite written responses. Thomas M. McCann is a professor of English at Northern Illinois University; Elizabeth A. Kahn is an associate professor of English at Northern Illinois University; Sarah Hochstetler is a professor of English education at Illinois State University; and Dianne Chambers is a professor of English at Elmhurst University.