NCTE Secondary Section Steering Committee
Jacquay Durant (she/her)
High School English/Language Arts (ELA) Program Specialist, San Bernardino City Unified School District; Advisor for Student Achievement Partners. Formerly: Middle school ELA teacher 8 years, ELA department chair; High school ELA teacher 2 years; California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) Instructor 2 years; Riverside Community College Instructor 2 years. Area(s) of Expertise: culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy, antiracist and anti-bias education, educational justice, medieval literature, linguistic justice, young adult fiction. Membership(s): NCTE. Program Contribution(s): presentations at CATE, CLS.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE is a well of educational research and strategies that have benefited me as a classroom teacher and a district curriculum developer. Specifically, the articles and webinars on writing at the secondary level and culturally responsive pedagogies have required me to intentionally develop units of study and lessons that are simultaneously relevant and engaging for my district’s student populations and accessible for my teachers.
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?
NCTE’s vision of using the power of language to create equitable pathways and access for all students and educators aligns perfectly with my current work. I develop curriculum and offer professional development where students and educators use language to discuss global and current issues through the lens of social justice. My personal experiences have allowed me to center historically marginalized voices in my work so that students and educators can have thoughtful and curriculum-changing conversations.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
I am seeking office to be a voice for Southern California teachers in urban schools. Being able to voice the unique interests of my students and educators is a passion that I want to continue to advocate for in my work as a member. During my time in office, I would like to accomplish offering more opportunities to support the needs of students and educators around educational justice.
Rex Ovalle (he/him)
English and Chicano Studies teacher and instructional coach, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Chicago, since 2012; PhD student and instructor at the University of Illinois at Chicago since 2020. Member of NCTE’s Standing Committee for Global Citizenship. Specialty Areas: students of color in American schools, theories of empire, and Chicano studies. Membership: NCTE, Latinx Caucus. Program Contributions: NCTE.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
Because of my membership to NCTE, I am now intellectually and professionally thriving as a teacher and scholar. The community formed through NCTE allows us as thinkers and teachers to work through common problems.
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?
That connection has been vital to my work as I attempt to decolonize the English language arts classroom for my students of color at both the high school and university levels. I am fortunate enough to teach (at both high school English and university) methods courses for future teachers of English in very diverse spaces. My pedagogy is directly aimed at removing bias from my classrooms.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
I have been steadily collaborating with different NCTE members on these issues, and my service on the Secondary Section Steering Committee would allow me to further facilitate the decolonization and democratization of our discipline.
NCTE Secondary Section Nominating Committee
CHAIR: Anthony Celaya (he/him)
Assistant Professor of English Education at Western Washington University. Formerly: secondary ELA teacher, Arizona English Teachers Association (AETA) Diversity Director. Specialty Areas/Areas of Expertise: critical pedagogy, culturally sustaining pedagogy, young adult literature, teacher education. Memberships: NCTE, ALAN, ELATE, NCTEAR, LRA, AERA. Awards: NCTE Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award, ELATE Geneva Smitherman Cultural Diversity Grant, AETA Service Award. Publications: Articles in English Leadership Quarterly, Writers Who Care; chapter in Queer Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the English Language Arts Curriculum. Program Contributions: presentations at NCTE, ALAN, ELATE, NCTEAR, LRA, AETA.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE has always been a place where I could learn from and connect with other members to support my teaching and work. Early on, NCTE invested in my professional growth through the Early Career Educator of Color Leadership program, preparing me for leadership roles within local NCTE affiliates and other educational spaces. NCTE has given me a community filled with friendships and professional relationships that continue to support and sustain me.
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?
Across my six courses in the English education program, I center each on equity and justice in the ELA curriculum. Through the course readings and projects, I strive to prepare future teachers to connect ELA standards to the experiences, interests, and cultures of their students. Drawing from my teaching experiences and sharing NCTE resources, including English Journal and #NCTEchat, I encourage future teachers to envision and prepare for what’s possible alongside their students.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
The nominating committee prepares a slate of candidates to serve on the Secondary Section Steering Committee. These candidates have the tremendous opportunity to guide the program and work of the Secondary Section for the next four years. I am seeking this position to help put forth the best candidates who will continue to advance the section by supporting classroom teachers and students from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Janelle Quintans Bence (she/her)
English teacher, 21 years; English Department Chair; unconscious bias trainer. Formerly: LPAC Chair, English District Assessment and Curriculum Writer. Specialty Areas/Areas of Expertise: civics learning, PBL, interdisciplinary project design. Membership: NCTE and NCTE’s Promising Young Writers Advisory Committee. Award: Outstanding Teaching of Humanities from Humanities Texas (2017– 2018). Publications: contributing author, Growing Writers: Principles for High School Writers and Their Teachers (2021); contributing author, Everyday Advocacy: Teachers Who Change the Literacy Narrative (2021); contributing author, Teaching in the Connected Classroom; Academically Oriented Teaching: How Do I Teach What I Do Not Know? (2014); contributing author, Teacher Voices: Teaching Young Men of Color (2014 report). Program Contributions: presentations at AERA, NCTE Convention, Deeper Learning, National Writing Project Annual Meeting, New Tech Conference.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE has provided a space where innovative, empathetic educators collaborate to rethink, imagine, and design impactful learning experiences. I have been fortunate to participate in partnerships where diverse minds have not only had rich and tough conversations about our practices, but have also worked to provide rigorous invitations for learners and teachers alike to understand how literacy is at the heart of active, informed citizens who build agency in our democracy.
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?
Despite pressure to separate teaching and learning from politics and advocacy, our youth understand their deepest learning and most rewarding educational opportunities stem from authentic purposes of language arts. This is at the forefront of my design. I am a passionate educator-researcher who seeks steady growth through learning from others. I share practices in as many arenas as possible to support the evolution of our field.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
It is the duty of educators to serve organizations such as NCTE, which develop our profession and teachers. I offer support and advocacy for literacy teachers, so they sustain prolonged purpose-driven careers. This is done by ensuring the voices of diverse educators are heard as powerful advocates for our profession and our youth. Being a member of the Secondary Section Nominating Committee will help continue NCTE’s excellence and strength across many of its efforts and initiatives.
Summer Melody Pennell (she/her)
Lecturer, University of Vermont; Past Chair, Genders and Sexualities Equality Alliance (GSEA), NCTE. Formerly: Assistant Professor, Truman State University; LGBTQ Advisory Committee; high school English teacher, NC. Specialty Areas/Areas of Expertise: LGBTQ+ issues, LGBTQ+ YAL, equity-informed education. Memberships: GSEA, ELATE, New England Association of Teachers of English (NEATE). Awards: Divergent Award: Excellence in Literary Advocacy (2022), Academic Innovation Award, Truman (2019). Publications: contributor, NCTE Special Issues: Racial Literacy (vol. 1); English Journal; Voices from the Middle; The ALAN Review; Race Ethnicity and Education; book: Queering Literacy and Numeracy for Social Justice: Navigating the Course. Program Contributions: NCTE, AERA, AESA.
How has NCTE provided a professional home for you?
NCTE has been my professional home since I was a doctoral student. The Convention has allowed me to connect with teacher educators, scholars, and practicing teachers invested in one of my personal passions: improving English education for LGBTQ+ people. Seeing how committed NCTE members and leaders are to issues of equity, innovative practice, and collaboration have motivated me to be an active member.
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 teaching, research, and work with NCTE centers on equity and justice; I admire NCTE for constantly striving to improve by adjusting policies and practices as needed. I have worked with executive leadership on having gender-inclusive bathrooms, and appropriate signage, at conferences. I helped with the 2019 program through my role in the LGBTQ Advisory Committee. In 2018 I was honored to serve on the committee that revised the Statement on Gender and Language.
What is your rationale for seeking this office? What would you like to accomplish while in office?
On the nominating committee, I would like to continue working for more diverse representation in NCTE leadership. We must continue to do better representing members from LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC communities, as well as members with disabilities. I would also like to see more practicing teachers in leadership positions.