Kelli A. Rushek’s 2024 English Journal article, “English Language Arts Teaching as Guided Meaning-Making,” challenges the idea that English Language Arts (ELA) should be about memorizing grammar rules or analyzing classic texts. Instead, she argues that ELA should center on guided meaning-making, helping students interpret, question, and create meaning from the world around them.

Rushek, an assistant professor at Miami University and former Chicago Public Schools teacher, critiques the “acquisitional model” of education, where students passively receive knowledge measured by standardized tests. She connects this model to Paulo Freire’s idea of the “banking model” of education, which limits student agency and critical thought. In contrast, critical literacy—the ability to understand how power, identity, and language shape texts—empowers students to act as thinkers and change-makers.

Through classroom examples such as a spoken word poetry workshop, Rushek demonstrates how democratic classrooms can emerge when teachers guide, rather than dictate, students’ literacy learning. Students identify issues like racism, bullying, and social justice, then use creative writing to analyze and respond to them. These practices build student agency, inviting learners to make and produce knowledge, not just acquire it.

Rushek’s framework urges teachers to see literacy as an act of empowerment, one that nurtures critical thinkers capable of addressing real-world challenges.

Faculty author: Kelli A. Rushek, Miami University
Keywords: English Language Arts, critical literacy, student agency, democratic classrooms, meaning-making
Publication details: “English Language Arts Teaching as Guided Meaning-Making”. English Journal, Vol. 113, No. 5 (May 2024), pp. 77–86. [National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)] https://doi.org/10.58680/ej2024113577