Archive for June, 2026

Percival Everett’s James is, among other things, a book about how to read well. Everett’s narrator James, his reimagined Jim, is a reader who relates in critical and playful ways…

In July, I’ll teach an introduction to humanities class for a group of soon-to-be high school seniors. A month later, I’ll teach a general education writing class to first-year college…

This piece is a collaborative effort between teachers of literature in high schools and college. It represents a conversation that bridges professional discussion about instruction across levels, and it provides…

Death Scene 1: Burned One of the earliest memories of Iowa involved watching a 27 minute long Facebook Live recording in 2018 in which Paul Dorr, Director of Rescue the…

Sara, who until recently taught in a conservative school district in Kentucky, loves teaching Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. She explained in a recent interview that the kids have seen…

In 1874, Harvard University, frustrated with the inconsistency of incoming students’ composition skills and literary knowledge, established its first entrance exam for high school students to ensure their readiness for…

Teaching writing has long been considered a central aim of the high school English language arts classroom. Yet what counts as composing has shifted rapidly over the past three decades….

There is a specter haunting contemporary literary studies—the specter of high school English. This specter appears most often in moments of anxiety: when college instructors lament students’ inability to read…

When it comes to the history of American education, Clifton Hillegass has not gotten his due. In his decades-long career, Hillegass’s name graced the cover of hundreds of books, works…