Call for Proposals: Two-Year College English Association National Conference
Recovery and Reinvention in Our Profession: Emerging from a Recent Time of Crisis
Date and Location
March 9, 2022
Online
Offered in connection with CCCC 2022
Proposal Deadline
October 15, 2021, 11:59 p.m. ET
Call for Proposals
At 2021’s TYCA National Conference, attendees considered how they have adjusted their teaching at the two-year college amid a time of exceptional change and tumult. Presenters discussed new faculty experiences, ideas for engaging diverse student voices through culturally responsive pedagogies, and innovative ways to foster equity in our writing classrooms.
TYCA National 2022 seeks to continue this conversation in its theme of Recovery and Reinvention in Our Profession: Emerging from a Recent Time of Crisis. We ask participants to consider what it means to recover from a particularly challenging time in our collective consciousness—and how that has and will translate to the way we think about teaching. What have we salvaged from our experiences during these times that can be pedagogically useful? What untold narratives and histories pertaining to writing in two-year colleges and our students’ lives can be uncovered and mobilized to create more inclusive learning spaces that reflect our diverse student bodies? How can we as educators help ourselves and our students heal from our individual and collective traumas?
The exigence for this conversation is clear: the effects of recent world events—from a pandemic, to a contentious presidential election, to ever-rising racial violence, to worsening impacts of climate change—have disproportionately affected marginalized, underserved populations, many of whom we serve at two-year colleges. At the same time, conversations surrounding nondominant histories (e.g., the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, the history of anti-Asian American violence, and the ways in which we as a nation have handled previous pandemics) have taken center stage with unprecedented urgency, providing potential opportunities for new student positionalities and inclusive pedagogies.
Potential avenues of inquiry to consider include (but aren’t limited to) the following:
- How have you mobilized previously overlooked voices, narratives, and histories in your classrooms?
- In what ways do you connect the past with the present and the future in your writing instruction?
- How have recent world events led you to create more inclusive learning spaces that reflect our diverse student bodies?
- In what ways can your writing classroom be a site of healing from the trauma of recent world events? How has it been?
- With many campuses moving back to in-person learning, how can the strategies you’ve employed in your online teaching be transferable to the physical classroom?
- In the return to in-person learning, what strategies can, or should, be recovered for teaching in the physical classroom? How can these strategies be reinvented?
- What strategies have you picked up to cope with the challenges of recent times? How can we as two-year college writing instructors mentor, support, and uplift each other during challenging times?
These uncertain times have provided a busy intersection of social, political, economic, and environmental discourses, but their origins are certainly not recent. TYCA 2022 seeks to prompt us as educators, scholars, activists, and human beings to interrogate the kairotic opportunities that these intersections present for our teaching: to connect our pasts with our presents, and reflect on how we can take their lessons into the future, with the ultimate goal of creating more caring, equitable, and relevant learning spaces for our students.
Focus for Presentations
Presentations do not need to explicitly discuss the conference theme, but they must address issues that are relevant to English studies professionals who support diverse college students in their first two college years. Participants do not need to be affiliated with a two-year college but must focus proposals on research and practices that are clearly relevant to TYCA members. Potential areas of exploration include (but are not limited to) online teaching/distance learning, first-year writing, developmental education, college reading, basic writing, teaching English to speakers of other languages, literature, creative writing, writing centers and other learning assistance programs, intermediate composition, communications, linguistics, technical writing, business writing, professional development, teacher-scholar activism, community engagement, program administration and innovation, preparing to teach at a two-year college, and the role of contingent faculty.
For Questions: Contact the conference program chair, Charissa Che, at cche@qcc.cuny.edu.
To Stay Informed about the Conference: Announcements, updates, and reminders will be distributed through the TYCA listserv. Information about subscribing is available through the TYCA Archive Website: https://tycaarchive.wordpress.com/listserv/.
Guidelines for Proposals
Proposal Criteria
Each conference presentation should meet the following criteria:
- Is not part of an accepted session for CCCC 2022 or a repeat presentation from previous TYCA National Conferences. Proposals may, however, be based on a presentation made at a recent TYCA regional conference.
- Focuses on teaching, writing center or learning assistance programs, program administration, or other work of two-year college English teacher-scholars;
- Provides attendees with practical strategies for teaching English in the first two college years or engaging as a professional in the discipline;
- Presents concepts and practices that are relevant to working with a wide range of diverse learners at open-admissions institutions;
- Uses research or other evidence to support recommended practices.
Peer-Review Process
Conference presentations will be selected through a competitive, blind peer-review process that draws from the expertise of TYCA members. Reviewers will come from each of the TYCA regional affiliates and will also include teacher-scholars who are engaged in the profession at the national level. See the proposal review criteria for a more detailed overview of how reviewers will evaluate proposals.
Information for Authors of Proposals
- Follow the required proposal format and provide all of the required information.
- Select an appropriate session format based on the goals of your presentation, your proposed delivery methods, and the number of presenters. (See “Session Formats.”)
- Write your proposal description for an audience of reviewers who are experienced two-year college teacher-scholars but who may be unfamiliar with your proposal topic.
- Remove any personal identifiers for blind review. This means that the names and institutional affiliations for proposed speakers should appear only in the contact information section of the proposal.
- Submit the proposal electronically through the NCTE conference proposal submission system.
- Meet the deadline.
- Look for notifications of acceptance, which will be sent by December.
- Expect to register for the conference by the deadline indicated in conference invitations. Presenters must register and pay for the conference for their names to appear in the conference program.
- Decisions about whether there will be a virtual option for the conference are made by NCTE with input from CCCC and TYCA. TYCA issued this CFP with the assumption that the conference will proceed as a face-to-face meeting in Chicago in March 2022 and will keep presenters apprised of changes to the conference format.
See the Proposal Review Criteria for the TYCA National Conference
Session Formats
15-Minute Individual Presentation (one or two presenters)
A short presentation from one or two presenters about best practices or research findings. Individual presentations will be combined with two other presentations that focus on similar topics and/or areas of English studies. 15 minutes of each session will be reserved for questions and discussion with attendees.
60-Minute Panel Presentation (three or more presenters)
A session on a focused issue organized entirely by the authors of the proposal. Panel discussions should have at least three speakers who collaborate with each other to organize a cohesive session. Presenters may determine the format and delivery methods for the session based on the focus, purpose, and goals of the presentation but should leave time at the end of the session for questions or other interaction with the audience.
60-Minute Facilitated Discussion or Workshop Activity (at least two facilitators)
A brief overview of an issue, followed by an interactive discussion or activity OR a learning experience with a high level of participant interaction.
- Discussion sessions should have two or more facilitators who provide an introduction to an issue or problem followed by an organized discussion or group activity. Most of the session should focus on interactive discussion or group work. Facilitated discussions and activities should have clear goals that attendees can accomplish within the allotted time. Sessions may include a large group discussion, small group breakout discussions or activities, or a combination of large and small group interactions.
- Workshops should have two or more facilitators who provide attendees with hands-on activities that focus on practical strategies for teaching, taking action, doing scholarship, or engaging in other professional work. Attendees should be able to apply learning from the workshop to their own institutional contexts and leave the session with practical ideas or resources for enhancing their work as college English professionals.
Interactive Poster Presentation (one or more presenters)
A visual presentation with a scheduled time for interaction with attendees. Posters will be displayed on bulletin boards throughout the one-day conference. Poster presenters have a speaking role on the conference program, and they will have a scheduled time to engage with attendees in conversations about their work and answer questions. Posters can focus on any aspect of English studies but are especially appropriate for sharing a teaching strategy, work in progress, innovative idea, preliminary research results, or the application of a theoretical concept.
Required Proposal Information
Session Information for the Program
- Title (160 characters)
- Abstract (400 characters) A very brief summary of the session or individual presentation for the conference program.
Contact Information for Each Speaker
Name:
Institution:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Phone:
E-mail:
Speakers who do not have an institutional affiliation may identify themselves in another way (for example, as an independent scholar or retired member of the profession).
Unique Presentation
- The proposed presentation is NOT part of an accepted session for CCCC 2022 or a repeat presentation from a previous TYCA National Conference. Proposals may present information previously presented at a TYCA regional conference.
- The presenter is either an author or represents a commercial entity (e.g., a publisher or other for-profit company). Note: Nonprofits and government-funded agencies are not considered commercial entities.
Session Type
- 15-minute individual presentation
- 60-minute panel presentation
- 60-minute facilitated discussion or workshop activity
- Interactive poster presentation
Relevance to the Conference (50 words)
Explain how the presentation addresses issues or practices that are relevant to the work of two-year college teacher-scholars.
Target Audience (20 words)
Identify one or more constituent group(s) within TYCA or CCCC who would be interested in your presentation (for example, first-year writing teachers, online teaching, writing center directors, writing program administrators, literature instructors, integrated reading and writing instructors, etc.)
Session Description
Write a detailed description of the session or presentation that includes the following information:
- The purpose, learning objectives, or goals of the session
- An overview of the research, evidence-based teaching strategies, and/or best practices presented in the session
- A short outline or description of what will happen during the session
- An explanation of how the presentation will actively engage attendees in discussions or other activities (not required for a 15-minute individual presentation)
Guidelines for Session Descriptions
- Remove personal identifiers and institutional affiliations for blind review. Do not refer to presenters by name.
- For panel sessions that include individual presentations, identify separate presentations (for example, “Speaker 1” and “Speaker 2”) and provide titles for each presentation.
Word Count Limits for Session Descriptions
- 15-minute individual presentation (4000 characters)
- 60-minute panel presentation (40000 characters)
- 60-minute facilitated discussion or workshop activity (4000 characters)
- Poster presentation (4000 characters)
Sponsored Session (optional)
Please enter a group name if the session is sponsored by a TYCA regional affiliate, a CCCC standing group or SIG, or another professional group affiliated with NCTE.