2022 ELATE Summer Conference Call for Proposals - National Council of Teachers of English

English Language Arts
Teacher Educators

Strengthening ELA teacher preparation

 

 

2022 ELATE Summer Conference Call for Proposals

ELA Teaching and Learning as Homeplace

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

Proposal submission deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Sustaining resistance to social and systemic injustice requires spaces for healing (Durand, 2020; hooks, 2015), restoration, and community. Taken up by bell hooks (2015) in Yearing: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics, homeplace is described as “a safe place where Black people could affirm one another and by doing so heal the wounds inflicted by racist domination” (p. 42). And while Black people certainly bear the wounds from centuries of racial oppression and the impact of white supremacy, injustice hurts us all . Given our “inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny,”(King, 1963) we all need space to heal our scars; restore practices that promote racial, social, and personal wellness; and commune for the sake of knowledge exchange, unity, and love.

In conjunction with NCTE’s Homecoming, ELATE presents the theme for our 2022 ELATE Summer Conference, “ELA Teaching and Learning as Homeplace.” We invite English language arts teacher educators and other members of literacy communities to consider homeplace in order to think with additional theories and ways of knowing and being that inform ELA. For proposals, we invite members of literacy communities to propose panels/papers, workshops, roundtables, and alternative formats with the following questions in mind: How might texts serve as homeplace for youth/teachers/humans? In what ways do literacy practices of homeplaces offer opportunities for knowledge generation, dialogue, and wellness? How might literacy practices with/in homeplaces offer racial, gender, sexual, dis/ability, and personal reckonings? How might we affirm diverse identities and ways of being in the homeplaces that we locate, create, and/or rebuild? How can our homeplace foster growth in the social justice movement? How might homeplace facilitate and/or cultivate social justice service among present and future ELA educators? And finally, how might ELA teachers/teaching (K–12 and teacher education) enact homeplace(s) for the sustained resistance, restoration, and healing that affirm and sustain diverse knowledges, identities, literacies, and movements?

Home calls us to consider the people, places, foods, languages, artifacts, and customs that remind us of the whens and wheres we feel safe, affirmed, fed, and full. What if the ways we engaged in the English language arts reminded us of home? Homeplace and English language arts teaching and learning invite opportunities to think about ways that texts, language, literature, information, literacy practice, and composition act as sites of resistance, healing, restoration, community, and love. This year’s conference seeks to center the ways that homework might replace and reimagine oppressive and racist structures. We invite ELA teacher educators, literacy scholars, and members of broader literacy communities to share evidence, representations, and/or manifestations of their work that reflect the potential of ELA teaching, being, and doing, including, but not limited to, scholarship, art, stories, podcasts, syllabi, webinars, communal and intergenerational dialogues, protests, fiction, poetry, and music that reflects a better tomorrow.

Proposal Formats

The Classic: Panel Discussions (1 hour)Panel discussions will consist of two to three individual presentations around a common theme. Each panelist will offer a 15- to 20-minute presentation, and then all panelists will engage in a brief discussion of the panel’s common theme. If you are proposing a complete panel, submit one proposal that includes the required information for all panelists; otherwise, the conference planners will match you with other panelists to create (as best as possible) a coherent panel. As much as possible, think about how your panel speaks to larger audiences and which platforms would be appropriate for sharing your work with others.

ELATE-ABLE: Roundtable Talks (1 hour)
Roundtable sessions will consist of four to five individual presenters who briefly introduce a specific dialogue-provoking topic that situates and supports focused conversation for roundtable attendees. Roundtable sessions should not consist of lengthy one-sided presentations but instead focus on developing thoughtful discussion over the hour provided—guided by some thought-provoking and relevant questions. If you are proposing a full roundtable session, submit one proposal that includes the required information for all facilitators; otherwise, the conference planners will match you with other roundtables to create (as best as possible) a coherent roundtable session.

HomeWorkshop Sessions (1 hour)Workshop sessions will engage participants in a focused activity grounded in the conference theme. Led by one to three facilitators, workshops will provide an introduction to and contextual support for a specific activity that will allow participants to produce a tangible product of some sort in the time provided.

Real Talk: Problems of Practice

These sessions focus on facilitated conversations surrounding problems of practice. These should be opportunities to share and brainstorm. The purpose of the facilitator is not to present the solution but rather to pose questions and work to involve all attendees in sharing experiences, resources, and ideas. The problems of practice can include any issue that you and others are encountering in our field. Submissions could hold the theme loosely and should do the following: (1) focus on specific questions/issues; (2) include background information regarding the issue; (3) consider what you or others have done to address it; and (4) set goals or outcomes for the session and for future work. Possible questions/issues could be:

  • What are some practices for blending synchronous and asynchronous video communication?
  • How can we better mentor PhD students?
  • How do preservice teachers complete their internships during the COVID-19 pandemic?
  • How do we build alongside families and communities?
  • How can we better engage students in authentic projects while at a distance?
  • What changes should be made to teacher preparation programs, what are the obstacles to those changes, and how can we overcome them?
  • How do we better infuse educational technology into subject-specific teaching methods courses or practicum experiences?
  • How do we support school districts in their efforts to address issues related to inequality?

The Re-Make: Other Format

For this year’s conference, ELATE will consider alternative formats. As noted, an alternative presentation could take the form of a lesson, podcast, piece of art, music, poetry, etc. The conference planners will help to decide how such formats will be best shared with/in NCTE’s Homecoming structure as well as with ELATE Conference attendees and wider audiences.

Proposal Requirements

  • Name and affiliation
  • Postal address
  • Email address
  • Title of presentation or session
  • Format
  • Abstract (maximum 50 words)
  • Description (maximum 250 words)—include topic; connection to ELA teaching and learning, being, and doing; rationale; significance; and plans for engaging the audience
  • Names and information of others to be included in the session or strand, if applicable

Important Dates

  • Proposal submission deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, April 13, 2022
  • Proposal notifications: By May 20, 2022
  • Conference dates: July 29–31, 2022

Submitting a Proposal

After logging into the proposal database, please navigate to the “Proposal Submissions” and select 2022 ELATE Conference in the “Select Conference” drop-down menu.

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL