Publications
"'Word Crimes' and Linguistic Ideology: Examining Student Ideas about Language in the English Arts Classroom"
Teaching Language Variation in the Classroom: Strategies and Models from Teachers and Linguists
Edited by Michelle D. Devereaux and Chris C. Palmer. Routledge, 2019.
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Abstract: “What attitudes and beliefs do you have about language? How did those attitudes develop, and how do they influence your worldview?” This is one of the essential questions sophomores, juniors, and seniors confront in a linguistics elective at Hudson High School in central Massachusetts. Throughout the course, students examine what it means to “know” a language, studying how language is learned and developed in the individual, how it changes across time and geography, and how language varieties exhibit equally complex phonologies and grammars. The goal of this examination is to promote a greater respect for language variety, as well as a more understanding attitude toward groups and individuals who speak a nonstandard dialect. By teaching about the social, historical, and economic forces that help drive language change, my hope is to promote the type of compassionate critical thinking essential to living in a diverse society.
"Using Understanding by Design to Build a High School Linguistics Course"
American Speech (Special Teaching American Speech Edition) (2020) 95 (2): 235–242
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Abstract: There are many ways to design an introductory linguistics course, and a high school linguistics course offers almost limitless options. How should teachers narrow down which topics to include in a high school linguistics course? This article explains the process of designing a linguistics course using "Understanding by Design," a curriculum design protocol that involves "backwards planning," or determining the learning outcomes from the start and developing the course from there. The article outlines the essential questions, enduring understandings, and transfer skills that demonstrate the purpose and importance of a linguistics class in high school.
"A Linguistic Approach to Vocabulary Instruction: Using Etymology and Morphology to Learn Vocabulary, Improve Writing, and Read the World"
Theoretical Linguistics in the Pre-University Classroom
Edited by Alice Corr and Anna Pineda
Oxford University Press (in press)
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Abstract: The language strand of the Common Core State Standards in the United States (2010) dictates that students finishing their secondary education should be able to ‘demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.’ Although the standards mention examining etymology and morphology to help teach vocabulary, these strategies are infrequently taught directly in favor of teaching students to use dictionaries and/or context clues. While valuable, these strategies by themselves do not give students the tools to decode an unfamiliar word or to understand the nature of language more broadly. This narrative details the process, successes, and challenges of integrating Historical Linguistics and morphology into vocabulary study over the course of one school year. It addresses the conception, planning, and implementation of this approach in two high school courses and levels. The learning goals of taking this approach are for students to be able to decode unfamiliar words when they encounter them outside of class, analyze the role of word choice in achieving a writer’s purpose, and appreciate linguistic variety by understanding language change. Vocabulary instruction is used within an antiracist pedagogy to examine linguistic privilege and prejudice, prescriptivism, and the relationship between language and power.
"Disrupting English Class: Linguistics and Social Justice for All High School Students"
Inclusion in Linguistics
Edited by Anne H. Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, and Mary Bucholtz
Oxford University Press (in press)
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Abstract: This chapter describes a high school linguistics course I developed in the 2020-2021 school year, for the public school where I teach English Language Arts. Unlike most high school linguistics courses, this course is not an elective, but can be taken for core English credit. The course is organized around thematic units rather than traditional linguistic subfields. These units use linguistics to provide students with a framework for investigating social issues, problems, and questions related to social justice and media literacy. The course is aimed at exposing all students to linguistics, including students who have not typically been offered opportunities to take linguistics (e.g. students on education plans, students designated English language learners, and non-college-bound students). This chapter discusses the necessity of including linguistics in social justice teaching, as well as challenges and limitations.
This publication has nothing do to with linguistics, but I wrote an essay for Scary Mommy on my participation in the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial.