Training secondary English teachers to engage students in challenging and complex issues with journalistic strategies

ABSTRACT

Classroom discussions of social issues, ranging from gun violence and climate change to race and gender identity, have become risky and politicised, dividing parents and educators along ideological lines and leading to censorship. Journalistic teaching and learning in secondary school English classes present one viable solution. However, few professional development opportunities exist to support teachers who lack formal professional or scholastic journalism training to integrate journalistic practices and disciplinary lens into general English language arts classrooms. This study explores teacher experiences and perspectives on student learning building on an innovative professional development and classroom curriculum. Results demonstrate strong evidence for the scalability of this networked learning professional development approach and for the teacher-generated innovations that enhanced student experiences. Teachers perceived substantial improvements in students’ core skills in journalistic learning, such as evaluating bias and credibility of sources, conducting interviews with community members, and writing. Results illustrate a timely and impactful approach to training English language arts teachers in a student-driven, culturally relevant, and practical approach to writing instruction.

KEYWORDS:

• Journalistic learning
• networked professional learning
• writing instruction
• student motivation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2023.2297977

Notes

1. Pseudonyms are used to protect teacher identity.

2. SIFT stands for Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context. This technique was developed and disseminated by Mike Caulfield at Washington State University.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NewSchools Venture Fund; Nancy and Dave Petrone.