ABSTRACT

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.

chapter 1|4 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|15 pages

The Reflective Educator

Rethinking the Teacher as Practitioner

chapter 3|11 pages

Teaching within Community

Rethinking Blocked Schedules

chapter 4|5 pages

Broadening Our Definitions

Rethinking What We Say about Our Children and Their Learning

chapter 5|27 pages

Children as Authors in a Writers' Workshop

Rethinking “My Summer Vacation”

chapter 6|32 pages

Teaching as Human Community

Rethinking the Bluebirds, Robins, Buzzards

chapter 7|9 pages

Allowing Students to Think

Rethinking “Teaching Students What to Think”

chapter 8|31 pages

Playwrights in Action

Rethinking Poetry and Drama in the Classroom

chapter 9|30 pages

Authentic Evaluation

Rethinking the Friday Spelling Tests

chapter 10|17 pages

The Nature of Instruction

Rethinking Objectives, Procedures, and Evaluation

chapter 11|22 pages

Classroom Interactions

Rethinking Classroom Management

chapter 12|2 pages

But Where's Your Desk?

Rethinking Classroom Design

chapter 13|7 pages

For Now, Farewell

Rethinking Getting the Children Ready for Next Year

chapter 14|1 pages

P.S.

Some Last Thoughts