Ethical ELA began in May 2015 as a space to share resources, begin conversations, and connect with teachers. In 2022, we reached over 500K views and 200K educators from across the world. This space exists and sustains because of the educators who nurture and shape its contents.
All Time Statistics as of December 2023
Highlights as of December 2023
Ethical ELA is all about the ethics of teaching with a sharp focus on questions and experiences that create meaningful conversations about teaching and learning in [e]nglish Language Arts classrooms. I put the “e” in brackets to dismantle hierarchies of “social” and “academic” English correctness to honor and celebrate the many languages our students use to make sense of our world and emphasize the art in how we all use print and non-print language to communicate.
Have you ever wondered about common teaching practices: Is all this testing the best use of classroom time? Are those red marks on my child’s essay necessary? Why are students reading this book over that book? What do grades mean? What is a “good” reader or a “good” writer? What is worth doing, knowing, and experiencing in ELA classrooms?
I do not claim to have answers, but I do have many questions about what “good” readers do and are and what “good” writing is and looks like and what “good” teaching looks and feels like. l write about that here, but I also write about mistakes and how I try to be responsive to the lessons I learn, sometimes the hard way.
The “I” here is me, Sarah J. Donovan, M.Ed., Ph.D. See my CV here.
I am a former junior high ELA teacher (2004-2019) and assistant professor of secondary English education. I began my career in education in 2002 after nearly a decade as a social worker. I earned an M.Ed. in Secondary English Curriculum and Instruction and a PhD in English focusing on genocide literature and ethical pedagogy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. I am also an adjunct professor at colleges where I teach courses on writing, reading, and education. I present on teaching methods at NCTE, IATE, and ELATE, where I learn a lot from experts in English education from around the country, so I bring those lessons to this blog, too. For Volume 46, I was the Books in Review columnist for The ALAN Review, which means I was reading the uncorrected proofs of new middle grade and young adult books (so fortunate). My latest love is writing fiction, and I have just published my first YA novel in verse, Alone Together. I am doing a lot, I know, and this is, perhaps, the greatest lesson that I am still struggling to learn: How do teachers balance it all?
John Dewey inspires my democratic practices, and Paolo Freire’s anti-oppressive pedagogy informs all I do. My writing philosophy comes from Nancie Atwell, Donald Graves, Donald Murray, Penny Kittle, and new genre theory. My reading methods come from Louise Rosenblatt, Richard Allington, Donalyn Miller, Kimberlé Crenshaw (intersectionality), Rudine Sims Bishop, Penny Kittle, and Kelly Gallagher. Alfie Kohn informs many of my ideas about feedback and assessment, but this circles back to Dewey, Freire, and Atwell. In the past few years, I am unlearning and reshaping my teaching philosophy as I become more aware of my bias in narrow practices, so I am now deeply influenced by the work of Felicia Chavez, Matthew Salesses, Betina Love, April Baker-Bell, Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, and the #DisruptText founders Tricia Ebarvia, Lorena German, Kimberly Parker, and Julia Torres.
The views on this blog are my own and not connected to my institution. Most ideas here are a work in progress. I also use it to record and process my thoughts as I understand them at a specific time. Please note the date stamp on anything you read and consult my academic publications for a reliable record of my considered thoughts on the topics featured on this blog, which still reflect my thinking at a specific time.
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