Submission Deadline: July 1, 2024

Guest Coeditors: Allen Webb, Richard Beach, and Jeff Share

We are in a climate emergency requiring rapid and dramatic changes to protect the future of human civilization and life on our planet. Everywhere on earth is already affected, though at varying levels of intensity, by increasing temperatures, heat waves, wildfires, drought, flooding, storms, species extinctions, human/animal/plant migration, and more.

We believe that young people have a right to know what is happening, and to speak out to protect their future. Teaching about climate change in English language arts is vital to understanding the climate crisis—especially its personal, social, and justice dimensions—and empowering students to make a difference. In 2019, NCTE members passed a “Resolution on Literacy Teaching on Climate Change” (https://ncte.org/statement/resolution-literacy-teaching-climate-change/).

This focus issue of English Journal invites submissions from English teachers who are finding ways for their students to:

• Inquire into the climate crisis, recognize its urgency and its local and global impacts, examine climate crisis rhetoric and argumentation, and/or write persuasively or creatively on the topic.
• Study issues of climate and/or environmental justice, such as environmental racism and oppression (“slow violence”), or unequal climate or environmental impacts on low-income communities, people of color, climate migrants and refugees, and/or the Global South.
• Use literature to understand the potential impacts of and diverse perspectives on climate change, for example by reading climate fiction (“cli-fi”), Afro-futurism (such as Parable of the Sower), or Indigenous literature (such as The Marrow Thieves or Braiding Sweetgrass), or by connecting traditional literary works or young adult literature to climate change themes.
• Develop critical media literacy by examining climate change narratives (in news, entertainment, and social media), corporate greenwashing, and media campaigns to create doubt and disinformation, and/or by creating student media to address the crisis.
• Use literature and other sources to understand environmental history and the climate impacts of colonialism and globalization, carbon-based economies, and/or corporate or governmental denial or delay.
• Explore solutions by critiquing and examining alternatives to current energy, transportation, agriculture, or economic systems, or by learning about environmental and climate justice actions and movements.
• Take action, such as educating fellow students, schools, families, and communities about the climate crisis; undertaking local initiatives to mitigate or adapt to climate change; developing classroom or school environmental clubs addressing the climate crisis; creating local chapters of national or international climate organizations; and/or joining with other students to call for local, state, national, or international legislation or action.

We welcome reports of instructional activities and narratives from teachers from all regions and communities, including teachers in communities that may be resistant to acting on, discussing, or even identifying the climate crisis.

Submissions of ten to fifteen double-spaced pages (2,500 to 4,000 words) using APA 7th style are due by July 1, 2024.

Resources

NCTE Conference Presentations

Presentations and resources from the 2018 to 2022 NCTE conference roundtable sessions on teaching about climate change (made by teachers, authors, and English teacher educators) can be found at climatecrisisncte2022.pbworks.com.

Our Publications

Beach, Richard. “Teachers and Students Use of Systems Thinking about Their Participation in School Environmental Clubs.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, vol. 67, no 1, 2023, pp. 22–31, doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1299.

Beach, Richard, and Blaine E. Smith. Youth Created Media on the Climate Crisis: Hear Our Voices. Edited by Richard Beach and Blaine E. Smith, Routledge, 2023. Book website:       youthclimatecrisismedia.pbworks.com.

Beach, Richard, et al. Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference. Routledge / National Council of Teachers of English, 2017. Book website: climatechangeela.pbworks.com.

Share, Jeff, and Richard Beach. “Critical Media Literacy Analysis and Production for Systems Thinking about Climate Change.” Journal of Media Literacy, 1 Dec. 2022, ic4ml.org/journal-article/critical-media-literacy-analysis-and-production-for-systems-thinking-about-climate-change/.

Webb, Allen. “Opening the Conversation about Climate Refugees with The Grapes of Wrath.” English Journal, vol. 109, no 2., 2019, pp. 69–75, doi.org/10.58680/ej201930371.

Additional Publications Addressing Environmental Justice and Diversity

ClimateLit. Center for Climate Literacy at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development. www.climatelit.org.

Four Arrows. Point of Departure: Returning to Our More Authentic Worldview for Education and Survival. Information Age Publishing, 2016.

Ghosh, Amitov. The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis. U of Chicago P, 2021.

Roderick, Tom. Teach for Climate Justice: A Vision for Transforming Education. Harvard Education Press, 2023.

Sorensen, Whitney Lindsey. “Poetry on the Beach: Localizing Literary Value.” English Journal, vol. 112, no. 6, 2023, pp. 24–31, doi.org/10.58680/ej202332484.

Svoboda, Michael. “New and Recent Books about Climate and Environmental Justice.” Yale Climate Connections, 20 Feb. 2023, yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/02/new-and-recent-books-about-climate-and-environmental-justice/.

Turner, Rita J. Teaching for Ecojustice: Curriculum and Lessons for Secondary and College Classrooms. Routledge, 2015.

Vince, Gaia. Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World. Flatiron Books, 2022.

Windschitl, Mark. Teaching Climate Change: Fostering Understanding, Resilience, and a Commitment to Justice. Harvard Education Press, 2023.

Submission Deadline: September 1, 2024

Guest coeditors: Bridgette Davis, Tiffany A. Flowers, Ling Hao, and Hiawatha Smith

In this special, guest-edited issue of English Journal, we anticipate submissions from teacher scholars, researchers, activists, artists, and advocates who can speak back to new policies regarding topics in education such as critical race theory, curriculum mandates, teacher preparation, and evidence-based ELA (English language arts). Authors who publish in this special themed issue will document this moment in time, considering how middle-grade and secondary teachers in ELA classrooms are wrestling with these issues and how these policies may be affecting our youngest citizens. We encourage manuscripts that focus on reflections, practitioner pieces, and research articles related to policy that can affect historically underrepresented and marginalized youth in urban, suburban, and rural contexts.

We anticipate that this issue will address guiding questions such as the following:

• What are some of the ways that ELA teachers are keeping students engaged within the classroom despite new policies?
• What are our collective barriers to twenty-first-century ELA instruction and how do we overcome these issues?
• What role does multimodality play in our quest to engage students who are struggling due to current policy concerns?
• What are the implications of these new policies for classroom instruction?
• What do you believe policymakers should know and understand regarding ELA instruction of multilingual students?
• What is the new policies’ impact on historically marginalized voices?
• What considerations are missing from recent policies?
• Where do writing and composing fit into this new narrative regarding policy limitations of ELA instruction?
• Does policy limit the ways in which we engage with our students in the classroom?
• How do our classrooms look in light of these policy changes?
• What are the reactions of students to these policy issues?
• How are parents reacting to or promoting these new policies?
• What steps can educators take to fight against these policies?

If you have questions related to this guest-edited issue, please contact Tiffany A. Flowers and Hiawatha Smith.

In this unthemed issue, you may submit manuscripts on any topic that will appeal to EJ readers. Remember that EJ articles center classroom practice and contextualize it in sound research and theory. As you know, EJ readers appreciate articles that show real students and teachers engaged in meaningful teaching and learning. Manuscripts that foreground critical approaches to secondary English language arts and move the field toward justice for marginalized youth will be prioritized. Regular manuscript guidelines regarding length and style apply. We also occasionally publish unthemed manuscripts in a general interest section within themed issues.

Submission Deadline: EXTENDED to January 1, 2025

This special issue focuses on teaching for joy: its purposes, methods, and outcomes. Gholdy Muhammad’s recent book Unearthing Joy (2023) describes teaching for joy as “helping students to uplift beauty, aesthetics, truth, ease, wonder, wellness, solutions to problems of the world, and personal fulfillment” (p. 17). In writing about abolitionist teaching, freedom dreaming, and Black joy, Bettina Love states that “acknowledging joy is to make yourself aware of your humanity, creativity, self-determination, power, and ability to love abundantly” (2019, p. 120).

We (the editors) assert that joy is not extracurricular. Joy is not exclusively an out-of-school pursuit. Joy belongs in English language arts (ELA) classrooms. Though ELA classrooms are sometimes viewed narrowly as places for building measurable literacy skills or preparing for standardized test writing, they are also often viewed as places for personal expression and creativity, admiration of beauty in language, and exploring the human experience, all of which lend themselves to the multifaceted joy Muhammad and Love describe.

We also assert that joy is a justice issue, too. Not centering the joy of marginalized youth in our teaching spaces is one way that schools participate in dehumanization. This themed issue is inspired by the calls of scholars who ask us to center joy in teaching, with a specific attention to cultivating Black joy (Dunn & Love, 2020; Love, 2019; Masterson et al., 2023; Mayes et al., 2024; Muhammad, 2020, 2023) as “a crucial mechanism of play, of creativity, and a life force unto itself” (Masterson et al., 2023, p. 566). This includes enacting anti-racist pedagogy that centers Black joy rather than solely pain (Dunn & Love, 2020).

We invite manuscripts that illuminate joy in ELA teaching and learning. How do learning communities define joy, and what does it look like in classrooms? What pedagogies facilitate the inclusion of joy? We can envision manuscripts focused on but not limited to the following questions:

• How does enacting an expanded understanding of literacy invite joy? For instance, what roles do talk, humor, movement, play, visual arts, music, and making play in joyous literacy learning?
• What is the relationship of joy and resistance? For instance, how has joy been used to address, process, or counter the multiple pandemics of COVID-19, racialized violence, transphobia, and more in our chaotic and stressful times—and to sustain students and educators during these times?
• What are the potentials and tensions of centering joy in a world filled with trauma, especially trauma that is racialized, gendered, or classed?
• How can joy specifically resist the single-minded “skilling” of students and the deskilling of the teaching profession in the context of standardization, scripted and skill-focused curriculum, and censorship?
• How can joy point youth toward positive futurity, especially amid economic, ecological, and sociopolitical uncertainty?
• What happens when we teach with young adult literature that centers joy?
• How has joy been activated through identity exploration and affirmation? How is disrupting the centering of white, monocultural, and monolingual ways of being, knowing, and languaging a part of teaching for joy?
• What does it look like to promote literacies that sustain (Skerrett, in press) youth? How can ELA teaching and learning promote wellness and healing for youth and the world they live in?

References

Dunn, D., & Love, B. L. (2020). Antiracist language arts pedagogy is incomplete without Black joy. Research in the Teaching of English, 55(2), 190–193.

Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon.

Masterson, J. E., Gilmore, A. A., & Moore, R. E. (2023). Literacies of joy: Responding to epistemic injustice in public education research and practice. Educational Studies, 59(5–6), 555–574.

Mayes, R. D., Kearl, B., & Ieva, K. (2024). Introduction to the special issue: Homeplace and Black joy in K–12 education. Theory Into Practice, 63(1), 1–6.

Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic.

Muhammad, G. (2023). Unearthing joy: A guide to culturally and historically responsive teaching and learning. Scholastic.

Skerrett, A. (2024). High-leverage literacies for thriving in and transforming a present and future world. English Journal, 113(5).

Submission Deadline: Ongoing

In this unthemed issue, you may submit manuscripts on any topic that will appeal to EJ readers. Remember that EJ articles center classroom practice and contextualize it in sound research and theory. As you know, EJ readers appreciate articles that show real students and teachers engaged in meaningful teaching and learning. Manuscripts that foreground critical approaches to secondary English language arts and move the field toward justice for marginalized youth will be prioritized. Regular manuscript guidelines regarding length and style apply. We also occasionally publish unthemed manuscripts in a general interest section within themed issues.

Submission Deadline: April 1, 2025

Many of the students in our English language arts (ELA) classrooms belong to people groups or have cultural heritages that are not Western. Particularly for those students, but also for all students, we need to privilege indigenous, Eastern, African, and Arab voices, among others. Further, youth today are often already engaging with media and pop culture from different parts of the world through their music, television, and reading. Yet traditionally, the ELA classroom has focused on canonical literature that represents Western thought and ideas. Students often do not have sufficient exposure to new perspectives that center non-Western voices. This not only perpetuates ideas of superiority of one culture, language, or people group over a myriad of richly distinct ideas, but it also steals from our students the beauty of learning multiple ways of thinking, knowing, and being. Certainly, colonization is still evident today in our society and our curriculum, and we must take purposeful action to interrogate it and find new ways forward.

We want to explore ideas on how we might broaden our curriculum to promote more critical thinking, acceptance, and tolerance. For this themed issue, we ask the following questions that we hope authors will answer based on what they have done in the ELA classroom:

• What non-Western texts have you included in your curriculum and how did your students respond?
• What specific actions have you taken to decolonize (undo or remove colonial elements in) your curriculum? What were students’ learning outcomes?

Submission Deadline: Ongoing

In this unthemed issue, you may submit manuscripts on any topic that will appeal to EJ readers. Remember that EJ articles center classroom practice and contextualize it in sound research and theory. As you know, EJ readers appreciate articles that show real students and teachers engaged in meaningful teaching and learning. Manuscripts that foreground critical approaches to secondary English language arts and move the field toward justice for marginalized youth will be prioritized. Regular manuscript guidelines regarding length and style apply. We also occasionally publish unthemed manuscripts in a general interest section within themed issues.

Submission Deadline: September 1, 2025

English Journal invites submissions for manuscripts examining critical perspectives on the use and study of true crime, mystery novels, and crime fiction in secondary English language arts classrooms. As these genres continue to captivate students and the broader public, educators are increasingly incorporating such texts into their curricula. We seek articles that explore the methods, pedagogical implications, ethical considerations, and potential pitfalls of engaging with crime-related content in the classroom. How do teachers responsibly navigate the sensationalism often present in true crime while fostering critical thinking? In what ways might the study of true crime and/or crime fiction reinforce or challenge societal narratives about justice, law enforcement, and criminality?

We welcome submissions that address a range of topics, including but not limited to:

• Strategies for teaching critical media literacy through multimodal texts such as true crime podcasts or documentaries
• Approaches to analyzing representations of race, class, and gender in true crime, mystery novels, and/or crime fiction
• Ethical considerations when studying real-world criminal cases
• Approaches to leveraging crime narratives to facilitate meaningful discussions about social justice, power, and systemic inequities
• The potential for crime-related texts to engage reluctant readers
• Innovative approaches to teaching narrative craft, such as the use of detective fiction, noir, fiction, and/or podcasts

Submission Deadline: August 1, 2025

Guest coeditors: Lauren Leigh Kelly, Limarys Caraballo, Joanne Marciano, Robert Petrone, and Vaughn Watson

Drawing on this powerful time of youth leadership, activism, and imagination, this themed issue of English Journal will feature manuscripts from youth (approximately ages 14–21) or cowritten with youth whose practices involving activism, poetry, digital media, visual arts, research, mentorship, or creative writing can facilitate teachers’ understandings of the lives and dreams of today’s youth. This call invites youth to consider how their literacy practices (which we define as creating, consuming, or otherwise engaging with forms of text, including art and media) can help classroom teachers to support their students in building toward their desired futures through English education. This issue seeks to highlight the voices of youth whose participation in social justice writing, research, organizing, YPAR (youth participatory action research), multimodality, and collaboration can inform educators’ understandings of teaching and learning processes that center youth identities and can support the activation of youth literacies toward the building of hopeful, joyful, anti-oppressive futures. We welcome youth to submit manuscripts independently or in collaboration with peers and/or mentors.

Some questions for writers to consider are, but are not limited to:

• How do young people experience and contribute to literacy learning in their schools?
• How are students engaged in intergenerational collaboration inside and outside of schools?
• What nonschool literacy practices inform students’ experiences in schools?
• What are the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ needs and experiences in schools today?
• What types of knowledge and experiences do young people seek in order to imagine, prepare for, and build their futures?

If you have questions related to this guest-edited issue, please contact Lauren Leigh Kelly at laurenleighkelly@gmail.com.

Submission Deadline: Ongoing

Cartoons should depict scenes or ideas potentially amusing to English language arts teachers. They can be submitted to Edito­rial Manager at the address above; we can accept any standard graphics format at 300 dpi.

Submission Deadline: Ongoing

Teacher photographs of classroom scenes and individual students are welcome. Photographs may be uploaded to Editorial Man­ager at the address above in any standard image format at 300 dpi. Photos should be accompanied by complete identification: teacher/photographer’s name, location of scene, and date photo­graph was taken. If faces are clearly visible, names of those photo­graphed should be included, along with their statement of permission for the photograph to be reproduced in EJ.

Submission Deadline: Ongoing

Editor: Alexa Garvoille
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham

In the pages of English Journal, we look to publish well-crafted poems that connect our readers to topics central to English edu­cation: the impact of reading and writing on young people, words and language, classroom stories, and reflections on teach­ing and learning. Poetry reminds us, as educators, how to live in this world.

Submit your work by emailing an attachment to english journalpoetry@gmail.com. Use the subject line “Poetry Submis­sion for Review.” The first page of the attached document should be a cover sheet that includes your name, address, email, and a two-sentence biographical sketch. In your bio, include how long you have been a member of NCTE, if applicable, and a publish­able contact email. Following the cover sheet, include one to five original poems in the same document. Though we welcome work of any length, shorter pieces (thirty lines and under) often work best for the journal. Poems must be original and not previ­ously published. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, though writers must immediately withdraw from consideration any poems that are to be published elsewhere by contacting the edi­tors via email.

Poets whose work is published will receive two complimen­tary copies of the issue in which their work appears. Additional inquiries about poetry submissions may be directed to the coeditors at englishjournalpoetry@gmail.com. We look forward to reading and celebrating your work.

Submission Deadline: Ongoing

We invite you to speak out on an issue that concerns you about English language arts teaching and learning. If your essay is pub­lished, it will appear in a future issue of English Journal. We wel­come essays of 1,000 to 1,500 words, as well as inquiries regarding possible subjects. Indicate that you are submitting an essay for the Speaking My Mind feature when you upload the document to the Editorial Manager.

Column Editor: Stephanie Toliver, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Over the past few decades, calls have abounded to prominently foreground the language and literacy practices of Black youth. Scholars have called for more attention to the historical literacies of Black people in hopes that educators see the inherent genius within Black youth (Muhammad 13). They have asked for teach­ers to consider the ways in which Black youth engage in play with text, genre, language, and each other (Baker-Bell 8; Gaunt 3; Bryan 74). They have demanded that educators uplift Black young people as they challenge the anti-Blackness embedded within school systems (Coles 36; Love 12), and they have implored educational stakeholders to make space for Black youth to imagine worlds in which they are free to experience the full range of humanity: love, anger, joy, excitement, sadness, pride, hope, and all the emotions in between (Toliver 85; Turner 128).

It is within these calls that this column exists. Specifically, this column is dedicated to the teachers, teacher educators, com­munity members, and young people who are committed to the liberatory futures of Black youth. It is for all who imagine and create alongside young Black folx to ensure that the next genera­tion of Black youth can thrive. With this in mind, this column welcomes commentary that attends to the expansive language and literacy lives of Black young people. Toward this goal, authors might consider questions such as the following: What texts (written by and about Black people) have you found partic­ularly useful in the classroom? How have you made space for Black joy, Black dreams, Black genius, and Black pride in your classroom, research, and/or community work? What assign­ments have you created that enable Black youth to voice their concerns about the world? What does the future of education, schools, or schooling look like for Black youth?

Rather than just accepting traditional practitioner articles (i.e., research essay, nonfiction, or narrative nonfiction), this column aims to be as expansive as Black youth’s literacies. Thus, poems, narratives, comics, paintings, and the like are also welcome. Please send submissions of 1,200–1,400 words as a Word document to Stephanie Toliver at stoliver@illinois.edu. Inquiries about poten­tial submissions are also welcomed.

Column Editor: Carlin Borsheim-Black, Central Michigan University

This column invites submissions that explore pedagogical possibilities for teaching literature in critical ways. We are especially interested in portraits of practice that target the how of literature study—that is, ways in which teachers, students, and stakeholders of English language arts exercise agency—rather than the what. We welcome manuscripts that offer examples of centering silenced histories through counterstory, building capacity for critical literature instruction in restrictive spaces, fostering critical literacies using young adult literature, pairing literary nonfiction with current events, or engaging students in dialogue about literature across cultural or political difference, for example. While critical approaches to literature study are often aimed at naming, questioning, and disrupting systems of power, we are also interested in approaches that illuminate joy, creativity, community, and agency as forms of resistance. Manuscripts should be 1,200–1,400 words in length; email questions and submissions (as Word documents) to Carlin Borsheim-Black (borsh1cc@cmich.edu).

Column Editors: Nicole Amato and Katie Priske, University of Iowa

Curate: Make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing, and sharing resources of personal relevance.

— AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANS

Critical curation invites both students and teachers to take criti­cal stances and “explore multiple perspectives, challenge domi­nant ideologies, and include marginalized voices within and beyond the literary canon” (Lechtenberg 3). Alongside the importance of curation is the importance of representation, which as Hamad asserts has “real world consequences’’ (27). Work around the importance of curation and representation has been ongoing in English language arts spaces. We align this col­umn with the work of #DisruptTexts, asserting that curriculum choices are never neutral, and curriculum must center Black, Indigenous, and other voices of color (Ebarvia et al.).

We believe critical curation of texts in the ELA classroom is an exploratory practice that honors curiosity and inquiry. These curations aim to support teachers in critical literacy and critical inquiry work within and beyond the classroom. This column is guided by the following questions: (1) What themes and issues are urgent points of discussion in 7–12 literacy classrooms? (2) How can ELA teachers and librarians collaboratively curate multimodal and multigenre text sets for their students? We invite essays dedicated to exploring these questions while curat­ing texts (broadly defined) around critical topics for discussion in ELA classrooms, such as but not limited to race, gender, sexu­ality, class, and ability. We aim to curate and review 3–5 texts per column around a central topic.

Please contact Nicole Amato and Katie Priske to discuss ideas for the column or send your essays of 1,200–1,400 words as Word documents for consideration to Nicole (nicole.amato@csuci.edu) and Katie (katie-priske@uiowa.edu).

Column Editors: Melinda McBee Orzulak, Bradley University
Danielle Lillge, Illinois State University

In November 2023, the “Future Is Now” roundtable sessions at the NCTE Annual Convention will celebrate a decade of pro­viding opportunities for beginning English teachers to present their scholarship. Building on the strength of these sessions, this column shines a light on the inquiries of beginning ELA teach­ers, who are navigating the early stages of their professional learning journeys as preservice or inservice teachers with one to four years of teaching experience.

Acknowledging that none of us—beginning and veteran teachers alike—have arrived, we invite submissions that fore­ground a genuine question which drives beginning teachers’ inquiries through teaching, research, or creative activity. We encourage authors to illuminate the origins of their question in relation to their own experiences as well as in relation to other voices—whether students, colleagues, mentors, researchers, par­ents, authors, creators, or other stakeholders. And we urge authors to explore layered considerations that lead to possibili­ties for future learning, teaching, research, or creative activity. Instead of easy fixes, simple solutions, or truisms, let us highlight what we gain from assuming an inquiry stance in scholarly con­versation with others as we look to the future by celebrating the nuance and complexity of ELA teaching.

We seek to support beginning teacher authors who, through their writing, will join and shape the conversations in our field of ELA. Toward that end, we invite single-author submissions as well as those coauthored with colleagues, mentors, or students. Please send submissions of 1,200–1,400 words as a Word docu­ment to the editors, Melinda McBee Orzulak and Danielle Lillge, at EJfutureisnow@gmail.com. Include in your email your full name(s), school affiliation(s), and the main email contact for the lead author, if the submission is coauthored.

Column Editor: Mónica Baldonado-Ruiz, San Diego State University

Column Editor: Stephanie Anne Shelton, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

The acronym LGBTQIA+ incorporates ranges of identities and expressions related to genders and sexualities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual individuals. LGBTQIA+ youth are present in class­rooms world-wide and are among the most vulnerable; how­ever, substantial research demonstrates that supportive teachers make incredible differences in LGBTQIA+ students’ lives and school experiences.

LGBTQIA+ students’ needs are shaped by more than gender identity, gender expression, or sexuality. Students navigate assigned, assumed, and self-asserted social example, race, ethnic­ity, socioeconomic class, ablebodiedness, and language usage. They also live and learn in specific geographic and cultural con­texts. Their LGBTQIA+ identities constantly intersect with these many factors; efforts to provide equitable, respectful, and effective learning spaces necessitate intersectional understand­ings of LGBTQIA+ issues in schools.

This column seeks to share English educators’ stories on how they learn about, recognize, and affirm intersectional LGBTQIA+ identities. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, instructional strategies that explore LGBTQIA+ issues as intersecting with other identities or contexts; case stud­ies of efforts to engage students or colleagues in intersectional considerations of LGBTQIA+ issues; and reflective narratives that explore how awareness of intersectional LGBTQIA+ identi­ties has shaped teachers’ professional identities.

Inquiries, submissions, or suggestions for future columns should be directed to Stephanie Anne Shelton at sashel@unc.edu. Submissions of 1,200–1,400 words should be sent as attachments.

Column Editor: Brady Nash, University of Florida

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)—and conversations on what to do about it—has become ubiquitous. Across the field of English education, scholars are debating the ethics and applications of GenAI tools within English classrooms (Enriquez et al., 2023; Nash et al., 2023; Young et al., 2024). Many teachers have begun incorporating GenAI into their planning practices, into their writing instruction, or as a topic of study in their curricula. Many have participated in the creation of new departmental or school policies. And all of us have watched as people working both in and outside of schools have tried to figure out what to do about a technology with great potential to reshape major areas of life, for good or for ill.

Of central concern to English educators is whether particular uses of GenAI support or supplant students’ writing, reading, and learning, as well as the ethical questions raised by GenAI. Outside of classroom-specific applications, GenAI poses a host of concerns, including the propensity to provide false information in authoritative tones, the theft of artistic content, the ecological impact of the infrastructure required to power AI platforms, and the ways in which GenAI subtly reproduces the societal biases and prejudices of the language from which it draws (Tacheva & Ramasubramanian, 2023). In short, there is a lot to explore when considering the impact of these technologies in and outside of schools.

This column seeks to amplify the voices of English educators who are exploring the role of GenAI in secondary classroom settings. The column editor invites submissions that feature research, examples of practice, and reflections from a variety of perspectives about any aspect of GenAI in relation to English teaching. Possible topics include the use of AI-infused tools for reading and writing support, composition in partnership with multimodal AI platforms, ethical considerations when employing GenAI for assessment and feedback, , explorations of the critical media and digital literacies needed to engage with GenAI platforms, and examinations of how GenAI engagement intersects with issues of race, language, or culture. Please send inquiries and submissions of 1,200–1,400 words as Word documents to bradylnash@gmail.com.

References

Enriquez, G., Gill, V., Campano, G., Flores, T. T., Jones, S., Leander, K. M., McKnight, L., & Price-Dennis, D. (2023). Generative AI and composing: An intergenerational conversation among literacy scholars. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 23(1), 6–22. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-08-2023-0104

Nash, B. L., Hicks, T., Garcia, M., Fassbender, W., Alvermann, D., Boutelier, S., McBride, C., McGrail, E., Moran, C., O’Byrne, I., Piotrowski, A., Rice, M., & Young, C. (2023). Artificial intelligence in English education: Challenges and opportunities for teachers and teacher educators. English Education, 55(3), 201–206. https://doi.org/10.58680/ee202332555

Tacheva, J., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2023). AI empire: Unraveling the interlocking systems of oppression in generative AI’s global order. Big Data & Society, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231219241

Young, C. A., Jacobs, L., Celaya, A., Lathrop, B., Hackett-Hill, K., Scialdone, M., Moehrke, H., Gaddis, B., Settie, K., Kuriny, D., & James, N. (2024). In conversation about GenAI in ELA education. In C. M. Moran (Ed.), Revolutionizing English education: The power of AI in the classroom (pp. 31–78). Lexington Books.

Column Editor: Tiffany DeJaynes, Lehman College, City University of New York

This column aims to highlight thoughtful conversations about youth as knowledge generators, rethink the dominance of the traditional research paper in English language arts classrooms, and consider the ways in which young people’s original research can inform public policies and activism. As such, the column publishes accounts of youth conducting research in innovative ways in schools and communities; research innovations might include collaborative, multimodal, digital, action-oriented, community-focused, or arts-based practices.

Educators employing research practices that creatively engage young people in critical participatory action research, archival research, working with unconventional sources, or creatively sharing and disseminating research and more are invited to share their curricular approaches and lessons learned. Please contact Tiffany DeJaynes to discuss ideas for the column or send manu­scripts of 1,200–1,400 words as Word documents to tiffany.dejaynes@lehman.cuny.edu for consideration.

Column Editors: Ann D. David, University of the Incarnate Word; Katharine Covino, Fitchburg State University; Natalie Chase

It is no longer if you will experience a book challenge, but when.

That reality is the genesis for this column that seeks to share teachers’ stories of teaching texts in a time of censorship. We are seeking to highlight conversations that both speak truth and encourage English language arts (ELA) teachers to be on the forefront of building brave systems (Clear, 2018) to ensure students’ continued access to diverse texts in their classrooms, schools, and districts.

Ideas you could explore include how you use book rationales in your planning or advocacy, create and nurture alliances with colleagues and parents, and collaborate with school administrators. Additionally, we would welcome reflections on how you navigate text selection, specifically with books that are frequently challenged, and how you engage in challenging conversations with students around those texts. Finally, you could offer examples of how you have used NCTE resources like book rationales and relevant position statements (The  Students’ Right to Read, NCTE Position Statement regarding Rating or “Red-Flagging” Books, and Statement on Classroom Libraries) to support your use of diverse and high-quality texts.

ELA teachers’ professionalism is regularly called into question by the “intransigent minority” (Taleb, 2018). These uncompromising and closed-minded people seek to ban books, inspect and approve curriculum, and enact ad hominem attacks on teachers. These individuals, often informed and supported by state and national media and political organizations, are seeking to limit and restrict all children’s access to diverse books and stories. Sharing stories of your experiences will help other teachers reclaim—or find—their voices and agency, while expanding their professional know-how. Please send inquiries and submissions of manuscripts of 1,200–1,400 words as Word or Google documents to Ann David (addavid@uiwtx.edu) for consideration.

References

Clear, J. (2018). Atomic habits: An easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones. Avery Publishing.

Taleb, N. N. (2018). Skin in the game: Hidden asymmetries of daily life. Random House.

Column Editor: Melody Zoch, University of North Carolina–Greensboro

Multilingual learners (MLs) are the fastest-growing group of stu­dents entering US public schools. In the next few years, an esti­mated one out of every four school-aged children will speak a language other than English at home. ELA teachers must be deft at addressing the needs of MLs, which can include drawing on their funds of knowledge (Moll et al. 71), embracing their iden­tities as MLs, and understanding the challenges language-minoritized learners and their families may experience. Too often, middle- and high school spaces privilege monolingual instructional models where English language and literacy profi­ciency are considered the norm. This is counter to the needs of MLs, whose linguistic repertoires should be honored rather than repressed or punished.

This column seeks to amplify the voices of ELA teachers who are committed to the growth and well-being of MLs. The column editor invites submissions that feature research, examples of prac­tices, and reflections on practice that support MLs in the ELA classroom. All submissions should engage asset-based approaches to discussing and supporting MLs in equitable ways. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the incorporation of translanguaging practices (García et al. 256), how identity work and affirmation are explored in the ELA classroom, and using culturally sustaining practices (Paris and Alim 85). Questions authors might explore include: In what ways does language inter­sect with other identities? In what ways do you incorporate fami­lies and the community in your teaching of MLs? In what ways do you engage MLs in exploring activism and social justice issues in the ELA classroom? What are some critical incidents (Tripp 8) that have shaped your teaching of MLs? What specific strategies and texts have supported your MLs?

Please send inquiries and submissions of 1,200–1,400 words as a Word document to mzoch@uncg.edu.