NCTE ELATE Executive Committee
Keisha L. Green
Associate Professor of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass); Coeditor of Equity & Excellence in Education. Co-founding Director of Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research; Editorial Review Board for Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy; Member of NCTE Secondary Section Steering Committee. Formerly: NCTE Standing Committee on Research; NCTE CEE Nominating Committee. Memberships: NCTE, AERA, LRA. Awards: NCTE CNV; Spencer Foundation grant (2021-2022). UMass-Amherst Distinguished Mentor Award (2018). Publications: Articles in English Journal, International Journal for Qualitative Studies; Equity & Excellence in Education; Race, Ethnicity, and Education; English Teaching Practice and Critique. Program Contributions: NCTE, NCTEAR, AERA, LRA.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE has provided a professional home through my experience in the NCTE Research Foundation’s Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color program (CNV). CNV helped socialize me into the world of educational research and modeled how to be a scholar-activist in and out of the academy. CNV provided mentorship from senior scholars at a critical time in my professional development. NCTE is a source of tremendous support, ideas, and resources which have enhanced my own thinking and work.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
My scholarly interest in critical pedagogy, literacy studies, and racial justice in education is aligned with NCTE’s mission to improve the equitable teaching and learning of English and language arts, particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse youth. Through the Standing Committee on Research, the Secondary Section Steering Committee, writing for the English Journal and Engage Now, I’ve had the opportunity to share diverse perspectives, invite community-based educators and artists to the NCTE table, as well as help shape NCTE Annual Convention program sessions.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
Through this ELATE position, I look forward to continuing to grow our diverse membership, innovate our offerings to membership and the field, and build even more connections between theory and praxis in critical English education.
Davena Jackson (she/her)
Assistant Professor of Urban Education, emphasis on English, language, and literacy education, Boston University. Formerly: Secondary English teacher for 24 years; department chair; consultant. Memberships: NCTE, NCTEAR, AERA. Past Position: NCTE Nominating Committee (2021). Fellowships/Awards: NCTE Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color (CNV); the Ray Lawson Excellence in Teaching Award, MCTE. Areas of Expertise: culturally responsive teaching and learning, urban education, anti-Blackness in English education, racial justice and literacy, language (emphasis on Black language). Publications: International Review of Qualitative Research; Teachers College Record; Journal of Literacy Research. Program Contributions: Presentations at NCTE, NCTEAR, AERA.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE has provided a home for me over the years. Being part of NCTE has afforded me varied opportunities to work with and learn from others and build community. The learning opportunities and community building have been endearing and transformative.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
As a Black woman, mother, and educator, my orientation and commitment toward centering justice-oriented teaching/learning and sustaining and affirming English and literacy educators are at the heart of my work. My commitments align with NCTE’s mission and vision toward supporting literacy development, affirming the full humanity for all students and educators who serve them, and advancing equity, power, and agency.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
My rationale for seeking a position on the ELATE Executive Committee is to work in solidarity with other English/literacy educators. I seek to advocate for continued cultural, linguistic, and racial justice to support practicing and future teachers.
Joanne E. Marciano (she/her)
Assistant Professor of English Education, Michigan State University; LRA Field Council Midwest Region Co-Chair. Formerly: NYC high school English teacher for 13 years; Assistant Editor, Journal of Teacher Education. Specialty Areas/Areas of Expertise: Participatory literacies; Community-engaged research; English teacher education. Memberships: AERA, LRA, NCTE. Awards: Outstanding Publication of the Year (AERA Narrative Research SIG); Reading Hall of Fame Emerging Scholars Fellow. Publications: Co- author of Classroom Cultures: Equitable Schooling for Racially Diverse Youth and College Ready: Preparing Black and Latina/o Youth for Higher Education–A Culturally Relevant Approach; articles in English Journal; RTE; Urban Education; and Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Program Contributions: Presentations at AERA, LRA, NCTE, NCTEAR.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
As a teacher, teacher educator, and educational researcher, NCTE has generated opportunities for me to critically reflect on my teaching practice, develop innovative approaches for supporting students in becoming agents of change, and to learn from and with colleagues across a variety of ELA contexts and communities. NCTE has supported me in developing meaningful professional relationships and a sense of community that inspires me to continue to reflect and grow while working toward social justice.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
As a researcher, teacher educator, and Principal Investigator of The Youth Voices Project, a multi-year Youth Participatory Action Research initiative in a subsidized housing community, my current work examines how English curriculum and instruction, co-designed and co-authored with racially and ethnically diverse youth, reimagines enactments of English teaching toward social justice. I draw from my experiences as a NYC teacher to support pre-service and in- service teachers in critically reflecting on their practices to disrupt inequities.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
I seek this office to generate discussion and promote action toward the development of more equitable English language arts curriculum and teaching across all ELA contexts while giving back to NCTE, an organization that has supported my professional growth for nearly 20 years. If elected, I will advocate for resources and learning opportunities that support English teachers and teacher educators in acknowledging, honoring, and building with students’ cultural and linguistic diversity as strengths across contexts.
NCTE ELATE Nominating Committee
CHAIR: Joaquin Muñoz (Pascua Yaqui Tribe) (he/him)
Pascua Yaqui Tribe) (he/him) Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia. Formerly: Assistant Professor, Augsburg University; Member, ELATE Nominating Committee. Invited Presentations: “Culture Awareness for Cultural Knowledge Alliance for Public Waldorf Education,” Public Workshop, Vancouver, BC (online); “Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Appreciation: What’s It All Mean?,” Maine Waldorf School Student Body Presentation, Vancouver, BC (online). Selected Publications: Co-author, “‘Here Comes a Thought:’ Steven Universe as Social Emotional Curriculum,” submitted to The International Journal of Critical Media (2021); co-author, “Ni keehtwawmi mooshahkinitounawn: Lifting Up Representations of Indigenous Education and Futures in The Marrow Thieves,” Journal of Research on Diversity in Youth Literature (2021). Program Contributions: Presentations at NCTE, LRA, WECAN.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE is centrally important to my professional career as a teacher educator focused on Indigenous Education, literacy and anthropology in education. Participating in the Cultivating New Voices program has been instrumental in my success and well-being in the academy. Participating in conferences, member meets, and continuous engagement with other NCTE members continues to ground me in my work as a teacher educator.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
As a first generation, Indigenous person in higher education, I have continuously faced challenges related to my epistemology, my philosophical approaches to teaching, learning and scholarship, and have worked to build spaces within institutions for Indigenous and decolonizing perspectives to be centered. By developing deeper understanding of Indigenous views and lived experiences, there is a greater opportunity for Indigenous student success and well-being.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
I am committed to supporting the work of ELATE, and am hoping to participate as a member of the nominating committee to increase visibility and representation of Indigenous concerns within NCTE. I am also committed to supporting the diversifying of NCTE structures through careful attention to nominations and candidates.
Wintre Foxworth Johnson (she/her)
Assistant Professor of Education, University of Virginia. Formerly: Prekindergarten and kindergarten teacher. Areas of Expertise: Early literacy, African American education, social justice-oriented teaching and learning, sociopolitical development. Membership(s): NCTE, ELATE, NCTE Black Caucus, NCTE Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA), NCTEAR, AERA. Awards: Spencer/National Academy of Education Dissertation Fellowship, NCTE Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color Fellow. Publications: Articles in Language Arts (January 2022); Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice; and Peabody Journal of Education; book review in Teachers College Record. Program Contributions: NCTE, AERA, and LRA.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
As stated in my recent NCTE blog post (10/18/2021), NCTE is my intellectual and professional home. Since becoming a CNV fellow in 2018, I have been engaged with NCTE through Annual Conventions, member convenings, and the variety of events held throughout the year. NCTE is distinctive in that it unites senior literacy scholars, fellow teacher educators, and K-12 practitioners. When I am among NCTE members, I know that I am in a loving, scholarly community.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
As an elementary teacher educator, I center the ingenuity and brilliance of marginalized communities in my research and teaching. I strive to foster in future teachers a critical awareness of their own biases as well as systemic oppression, a true commitment to working for equity and justice in their classrooms and schools, and an intense desire to privilege the historical narratives and lived experiences of the most underserved groups of people in U.S. schools.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
Becoming an ELATE nominating committee member aligns with my commitments to equity- centered teacher education and literacy instruction. I care deeply about the organization and its future, so I would be honored to have a hand in determining ELATE’s leadership. I will ensure that the slate of candidates reflects the organization’s diversity body, and as well as its continuing commitments to antiracist, justice-oriented, and culturally responsive English language arts teacher education, teaching, and learning.
Hui-Ling S. Malone
Visiting Assistant Professor, English Education, Michigan State University, Critical Literacy, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies and Community Centric Pedagogies. Formerly: High school and middle school English teacher in Detroit, Los Angeles, and the Bronx, New York City. Memberships: NCTE, ELATE Social Justice. Publications: Articles in Urban Education, the Critical Literacies Handbook. Awards: Cultivating New Voices Fellowship, David Dickson Outstanding Teacher Award
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE has provided a powerful and generative space for me as a lifelong learner, educator, and researcher. Each year I look forward to sharing my work and learning from passionate and innovative English educators. I view my involvement with NCTE as a privilege, where I am able to connect with scholars and practitioners who are driven to make classrooms a space of creativity, joy, justice, and love.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
My scholarship and teaching concerns education rooted in equity and justice for youth. I draw on critical, cultural and community centric pedagogies in hopes of strengthening relationships between students, schools and community members to address social issues for the greater collective. My experience teaching in various communities contributed to my ability to dialogue with a diverse range of groups to interrogate concepts of power and privilege to form community rooted in love and solidarity.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
I seek to highlight the voices of folks who have a deep understanding of their positionality and are reflective of their role in the pursuit of educational justice. I want to advance those who are committed to equity, justice, and serving today’s youth as aligned with NCTE’s mission and values and will also take risks in engaging in abolitionist pedagogies toward transforming and healing our society that has been deeply polarized by current social strife.
Teaira McMurtry
Assistant Professor, Secondary English Language Arts, the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Formerly: High school English teacher, Milwaukee Public Schools, District literacy leader, and ELA curriculum specialist. Memberships: NCTE, AERA, ILA, NCFDD, WSRA. Award(s) Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color Grant, NCTE, 2018–2020. Publications: Articles in The Journal of Literacy Research; English Journal (forthcoming). Program Contributions: NCTE, ILA.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
Whether it is looking forward to the annual conference or to the next issue of English Journal or Language Arts, NCTE has provided a place to (re)examine, (re)imagine, and engage with my disciplinary colleagues through consuming and creating influential and innovative content knowledge. Through reading the work of others or convening at a conference (F2F and virtual), I feel a connectivity that every ELA teacher needs and deserves.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
As a former ELA teacher, district literacy leader and administrator, and now English teacher educator, my praxis has been grounded in and aligned to NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice. I believe my work in antiracist, black linguistic justice stands on the shoulders of NCTE scholars who have been fighting for linguistic justice through their contributions to NCTE. My work has impacted adults and adolescents alike to understand that they have a “right to their own language”.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
My goal is in this office is to uphold ELATE’s mission as a member of the nominating committee by advocating for linguistic liberation, anti-racism, and humanizing teaching and learning practices that children and adult learners deserve.
Dywanna E. Smith (she/her)
Assistant Professor of Education, Claflin University. Formerly: Middle Level English/language Arts Specialist, Columbia, SC. Memberships: NCTE, AMLE, SCAMLE, SCCTE, LRA, AERA. Awards: NCTE Cultivating New Voices Fellow, Claflin University Excellence in Teaching Award; SC State Teacher of the Year Honor Roll. Publications: Articles in Research in the Urban Education, Research in the Teaching of English, Girlhood Studies (forthcoming), Transformational Sanctuaries in the Middle Level ELA Classroom: Creating Truth Spaces for Black Girls (forthcoming). Program Contributions: NCTE, LRA, AERA.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE has a long legacy of providing outstanding professional development opportunities to delve deeper in the areas of language and literacies, antiracist teaching, linguistic diversity, representation, critical literacies, and equity pedagogies. With the support of NCTE’s mentors, resources, conferences, and publications, I have strengthened academy scholar/activist voice and joined with others who are working toward educational justice for all.
How does your current work in your career, community, and/or classroom contribute to NCTE’s mission and vision, and demonstrate alignment with NCTE’s commitment to equity and justice? How have your personal strengths and experiences contributed to making positive change(s) in the profession?
I have devoted to middle level English education for over 20 years, because literacies are always gateways of possibility. My research illustrates the vital necessity of incorporating Black girl literacies, Black language, African diaspora literacies, and equity pedagogies into the English/language arts classroom. Doing so provides pathways to self-actualization allowing all students to self-define and self-validate their existence.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
As a Black Feminist teacher/scholar/activist grounded in African diaspora literacies, I will advocate for a slate of diverse candidates to further NCTE and ELATE’s commitments to equity and justice in English Language Arts teaching, research, policies, and activism.