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In Rethinking Language Arts: Passion and Practice, Second Edition, author Nina Zaragoza uses the form of letters to her students to engage pre-service teachers in reevaluating teaching practices, thus bringing to life a vision of an alternative classroom environment in which the teacher is the prime mover and creative leader. Zaragoza discusses and explains the need for teachers to be decision makers, reflective thinkers, political beings, and agents of social change in order to create a positive and inclusive classroom setting. This book is both a critical text that deconstructs the way language arts are traditionally taught in our schools as well as a visionary text with clear, no-nonsense directions on how to provide much needed change in our schools.
List of contents
Letter 1: Introduction Letter 2: The Reflective Educator: Rethinking the Teacher as Practitioner Letter 3: Teaching within Community: Rethinking Blocked Schedules Letter 4: Broadening Our Definitions: Rethinking What We Say About Our Children and Their Learning Letter 5: Children as Authors in a Writers' Workshop: Rethinking My Summer Vacation Letter 6: Teaching as Human Community: Rethinking the Bluebirds, Robins and Buzzards Letter 7: Allowing Students to Think: Rethinking Teaching Students What to Think Letter 8: Playwrights in Action: Rethinking Poetry and Drama in the Classroom Letter 9: Authentic Evaluation: Rethinking the Friday Spelling Tests Letter 10: The Nature of Instruction: Rethinking Objectives, Procedures, and Evaluation Letter 11: Classroom Interactions: Rethinking Classroom Management Letter 12: But Where's Your Desk? Rethinking Classroom Design Letter 13: For Now Farewell: Rethinking Getting the Children Ready for Next Year Letter 14: P.S.: Some Last Thoughts
About the author
Nina Zaragoza is currently an English Language Teacher/ Consultant at The American Home in Vladimir, Russia.
Summary
The fourteen letters making up this book engage pre-service teachers with a personable and accessible voice. Critiques of traditional methods of language arts are offered together with fresh alternatives to curricula and evaluation.
