News and Events

How does collaboration promote critical inquiry and engagement in literacies for educators and students? This is the common question introduced in my first blog post of this series , which connects three practitioner spotlights (parts 2 thru 4 of the series). The spotlights read like an interview...

How does collaboration promote critical inquiry and engagement in literacies for educators and students? This is the common question introduced in my first blog post of this series , which connects three practitioner spotlights (parts 2 thru 4 of the series). The spotlights read like an interview...

How does collaboration promote critical inquiry and engagement in literacies for educators and students? This is the common question introduced in last week’s blog that will connect practitioner spotlights these next three weeks. The spotlights will read like an interview with questions and...

Picture this: You are attending one of your school or district’s professional development (PD) days (likely virtual at some point this past year with the COVID-19 pandemic). A guest speaker has joined you, just for the day, to talk to you about a topic unrelated to your everyday teaching and...

“Middle school reading was so much fun and refreshing. It opened my mind to new enjoyable genres and I always had a book in my hand. I loved learning what a book can do and where you can go while reading.” - Juliana With literature circles as the springboard, my classroom’s reading culture has...

"Ms. C, can we read just one more chapter?" Want to know why middle school students are the best? They will nearly always share their honest opinion with you - especially if they know it will impact their learning experience. Get the right book in their hands and they will advocate for their own...

A reading from St. Paul’s letter to Hogwarts: Harry, the boy who lived, is spending Christmas vacation with his friend, Ron, and the Weasley family. They don’t have much, but when all you’ve got is nothing, there’s a lot to go around. Harry’s sitting at dinner, feeling all the love he never had from...

A reading from the gospel of Luke: Luke Skywalker looked to the heavens. He visualized his future, but he needed somebody to be his champion. That champion is you, the teacher reading this blog. Luke is sitting in your classroom. He’s in the back, in the corner, ostracized, the new kid, playing with...

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and its James R. Squire Office of Policy Research in English/Language Arts unveiled three new policy briefs to address the urgency in expanding literacy instruction to ensure students are prepared to thrive in a world that is increasingly diverse...

On March 29, the dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame announced that IEI Fellow Ernest Morrell has been named Associate Dean for the Humanities and Equity in the College of Arts and Letters, effective July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024. An expert in critical...