English Journal
English Journal is NCTE's award-winning journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools.
Columns and Column Editors
Books in Review Michelle Zoss
The Future Is Now Luke Rodesiler and Alan Brown
Intersectional LGBTQ+ Identities Stephanie Anne Shelton
Journeys Inward Mary Ellen Dakin
Teaching Creative Writing Wendy R. Williams
Teaching Shakespeare Kevin Long and Mary T. Christel
Column Editor: Michelle Zoss
Associate Professor of English Education
Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia
zoss@gsu.edu
It is in moments of delight or surprise that we are open to new ideas, to rethinking, reimagining, renegotiating, or retooling. Teaching offers ample opportunities for surprise in conversations during work hours. But what about those times when we need something to remind us why we got into the profession in the first place? We can turn to books.
This book review column is organized around two thematic questions: What delights and surprises us? and What are we reading that sparks an idea about teaching in different, delightful ways? The column editor invites writers to consider the books that have altered their thinking about the teaching life and is especially interested in reviews of books that have influenced teachers’ beliefs about what might be possible in the classroom. A surprising idea can come from unexpected directions; therefore, this invitation is intentionally broad. The column may feature books that do not fit easily into the category of “professional development,” but that evoke thoughtful conversations. Please contact Michelle Zoss to discuss ideas for the column or send your book review essays of 1,200–1,400 words as attachments to zoss@gsu.edu for consideration.
Column Editors:
Luke Rodesiler
Associate Professor of Education, Purdue University Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Alan Brown
Associate Professor of English Education
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Since 2013, the “Future Is Now” roundtable session at the NCTE Annual Convention has provided a platform for prospective and early career teachers to present research, offer ideas, and share experiences as they prepare to enter the teaching profession. Inviting the next generation of English language arts teachers into the professional discourse benefits everyone. Experienced teachers may be introduced to novel perspectives—views that prod them to reconsider their practices and convictions about teaching English—while novices stand to sharpen their thinking, extend their development, and advance their budding expertise.
This column is committed to featuring the research, experiences, and creative activities of prospective and early career teachers. Submissions about teaching and learning in the ELA classroom, the development of prospective and early career teachers, and related topics are welcomed. Likewise, we encourage collaborations with others, including veteran teachers and university faculty. Authors might consider questions such as these: How do the methods you have learned through teacher education support your aims as an educator? What challenges have you encountered on initial entry into the classroom, and how are you working to overcome them? What texts have you found particularly helpful while developing your pedagogy? How and why do your instructional methods break from traditional classroom practices? Submissions grounded in scholarship are preferred.
Please send submissions of 1,200–1,400 words as a Microsoft Word file to Luke Rodesiler at rodesill@pfw.edu. Inquiries about potential submissions are also welcomed.
Intersectional LGBTQ+ Identities
Column Editor: Stephanie Anne Shelton
Assistant Professor, Qualitative Research
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
sashelton@ua.edu
The acronym LGBTQ+ incorporates ranges of identities and expressions related to genders and sexualities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual individuals. LGBTQ+ youth are present in classrooms worldwide and are among the most vulnerable; however, substantial research demonstrates that supportive teachers make incredible differences in LGBTQ+ students’ lives and school experiences.
LGBTQ+ students’ needs are shaped by more than gender identity, gender expression, or sexuality. Students navigate assigned, assumed, and self-asserted social categories, for example, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, able-bodiedness, and language usage. They also live and learn in specific geographic and cultural contexts. Their LGBTQ+ identities constantly intersect with these many factors; efforts to provide equitable, respectful, and effective learning spaces necessitate intersectional understandings of LGBTQ+ issues in schools.
This column seeks to share English educators’ stories on how they learn about, recognize, and affirm intersectional LGBTQ+ identities. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, instructional strategies that explore LGBTQ+ issues as intersecting with other identities or contexts; case studies of efforts to engage students or colleagues in intersectional considerations of LGBTQ+ issues; and reflective narratives that explore how awareness of intersectional LGBTQ+ identities has shaped
teachers’ professional identities.
Inquiries, submissions, or suggestions for future columns should be directed to Stephanie Anne Shelton at sashelton@ua.edu. Submissions of 1,200–1,400 words should be sent as attachments.
Column Editor: Mary Ellen Dakin
Retired English Teacher and Literacy Coach
Revere High School
Revere, Massachusetts
maryellendakin@gmail.com
English teachers work at the crossroads of the epic and the everyday. We wander with our students through the terrain of literature, and we sometimes find that the texts we teach and the conversations they provoke challenge us to explore our own “inner landscapes.” These moments urge us to consider the kind of teacher we have been and also the kind of teacher we are becoming.
This column invites writers to craft authentic nonfiction narratives of self-discovery, redirection, and renewal. When have you seen your life reflected in the literature you teach and paused to ponder the implications? What specific events, situations, texts, classes, or ideas challenged the teacher within and sent you on a journey toward some greater understanding of your subject, your students, your world, and yourself? We are especially interested in lively, personal writing that shares specific classroom moments that inspired introspection, challenged your thinking, and pushed you to consider how who you are influences how you teach. We welcome submissions that showcase voice, sensory details, dialogue, and dynamic characterizations that encourage readers to reflect on their own teaching journeys.
Inquiries and submissions should be directed to Mary Ellen Dakin at maryellendakin@gmail.com. Submissions of 1,500–1,800 words should be sent as an attachment.
Column Editor: Wendy R. Williams
Associate Professor of English
Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication
College of Integrative Sciences and Arts
Arizona State University
Mesa, Arizona
Wendy.R.Williams@asu.edu
In both school and out-of-school settings, young people are employing multiple modes, formats, and genres to share the stories that matter to them, and they are reaching authentic audiences through various platforms. Songs, spoken word poems, fan fiction, short films, animated works, and comics have taken their place alongside traditional poems, short stories, and novels.
This column invites teachers to consider how creative writing—broadly defined—can engage students as writers, thinkers, and activists. Each column will explore practices that readers will be able to implement in various teaching contexts. What activities, events, and community partnerships have inspired your students? How have you used creative expression to honor students’ experiences, backgrounds, and identities? How have your students used creative writing to examine social justice and current issues and events? How has your teaching of creative writing evolved in response to curriculum mandates and changing expectations from school districts?
Inquiries, submissions, or suggestions for future columns should be directed to Wendy Williams at Wendy.R.Williams@asu.edu. Submissions of 1,200–1,400 words should be sent as attachments.
Column Editors:
Kevin Long
Associate Professor of Theatre
William Rainey Harper College
Palatine, Illinois
klong@harpercollege.edu
Mary T. Christel
Retired English Teacher
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Lincolnshire, Illinois
teachshakes@gmail.com
This column serves as a forum for teachers to share instructional activities, innovative lessons, and useful tools they have developed to help students enter a Shakespearean text.
Writers for the column might consider how the strategies they discuss are relevant to those teaching struggling readers and emergent English learners, as well as those teaching students with advanced literacy skills. The editors invite stories about the language of the plays and poems, innovative ideas about staging, multimodal interpretations of the texts, and how reading Shakespeare may help students explore culture and identity.
Writers are encouraged to explore interdisciplinary approaches to Shakespeare, particularly how his works intersect with history, politics, economics, or other unique fields of study. We are particularly interested in examining how Shakespeare can be used in unexpected contexts or with unlikely text pairings. How might Shakespeare fit into a course on American literature or contemporary world literature?
Inquiries, submissions, or suggestions for future columns should be directed to the editors, Kevin Long and Mary T. Christel, at teachshakes@gmail.com. Submissions of 1,200–1,400 words should be sent as attachments.
For general EJ Submission Guidelines, click here.