Language Arts Quotes

“I am an author of the analytical critique. And because of that, a ton of research is done by me in order to bring an examination into comprehensive being. ("Interviews With Writers," 2018).”
― Cat Ellington

“Language is the alchemy of transforming a thought into a word, and the word into a new reality.”
― Jennifer Sodini

“Poetry is a distinct category of language—a special way of speaking that invites and rewards a special way of listening.”
― Dana Gioia

“Even if great poetry continues to be written, it has retreated from the center of literary life. Though supported by a loyal coterie, poetry has lost the confidence that it speaks to and for the general culture.”
― Dana Gioia, Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture

“To rethink relevance, to seriously reconsider who is in charge of determining relevance-us or them--means shaking the foundation of a lot of teachers.”
― Robert Probst, Kylene Beers

“Grampa pulled off his lucky hat and sank into the recliner. Before long, he was snoring like a rusty hymn. 'Zzzzzz . . .'
Uncle Leonard tossed Ray over one shoulder and hauled him into the kitchen, where the smell of frying bacon filled the air.
'Any fish today?” Aunt Wilhelmina asked.
'Yes, ma’am,” Ray said, 'but that’s not all we caught.'
Uncle Leonard sat Ray down. 'What else was there?”
'Something bigger' is all that Ray would say.”
― Cynthia Leitich Smith, Indian Shoes

“For thousands of years, poetry was taught badly, and consequently it was immensely popular.”
― Dana Gioia, Poetry as Enchantment

“The purpose of literary education is not to produce more professors; its goal is to develop capable and complete human beings.”
― Dana Gioia, Poetry as Enchantment

“Poetry needs to be liberated from literary criticism.”
― Dana Gioia, Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture

“It is time to experiment, time to leave the well-ordered but stuffy classroom, time to restore a vulgar vitality to poetry.”
― Dana Gioia, Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture

“If students do not read the assigned texts, nothing important is happening in your literature classroom - nothing very important to develop your students' reading and interpretive abilities is happening, no matter how many lectures you deliver, vocabulary words your students "learn," elements of fiction students define, quizzes students take, essay test answers students write, or films you show. Nothing important is happening because student development of reading and interpretive abilities requires engaged reading.”
― William Broz

“Too many people in power think reading is the sum of its parts, so we've got all these kids playing air guitar, if you will, with short passages and questions and multiple-choice answers. These abbreviated bits of reading are not the real thing. Passages lack wholeness and feel like work without purpose. When we give students books, thinking they can transfer their practice or that they'll even want to, we're surprised they don't have the interest or the stamina for it.”
― Penny Kittle, Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers