楼凤天堂

Columns and Column Editors

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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鈥檚 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.

 

 

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In this column, authors present pedagogical possibilities for teaching literature in critical ways. While critical approaches to literature study take up, examine, confront, and address systems of power, they can also illuminate joy, creativity, community, and agency as forms of resistance.

This column offers possibilities for engaging with literature as a vehicle for opening up justice-oriented conversation and just futures. Importantly, columns target the how of literature study鈥攖hat is, ways in which teachers, students, and stakeholders of ELA exercise agency鈥攔ather than the what. Column authors may illuminate literature study approaches utilizing a variety of genres. We welcome columns that examine ways to teach subversively with canonical texts, foster critical literacies using young adult literature, pair literary nonfiction with current events, or decenter the role of specific texts entirely. Columns should be 1,200-1,400 words in length and can be sent to carlinborsheim@gmail.com.

 

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This column aims to highlight thoughtful conversations about youth as knowledge听generators, rethink the dominance of the traditional research paper in English language arts听classrooms, and consider the ways in which young people鈥檚 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听participatory action research, archival research, working with unconventional sources, or听creatively sharing and disseminating research and more are invited to share their curricular听approaches and lessons learned. Please contact Tiffany DeJaynes to discuss ideas for the column or send manuscripts of 1,200鈥�1,400 words as Word documents to tiffany.dejaynes@lehman.cuny.edu for consideration.

 

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Teaching Multilingual Learners in ELA Classrooms

Column Editor: Melody Zoch, University of North Carolina鈥揋reensboro

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., 1992), 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 (Garc铆a et al., 2017), how identity work and affirmation are explored in the ELA classroom, and using culturally sustaining practices (Paris & Alim, 2014). Questions authors might explore include: In what ways does language inter卢sect with other identities? In what ways do you incorporate fami卢lies 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, 1993) that have shaped your teaching of MLs? What specific strategies and texts have supported your MLs?

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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鈥淐urate: Make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing, and sharing resources of personal relevance.鈥� 鈥擜merican Association of School Librarians, 2018

Critical curation invites both students and teachers to take critical stances and 鈥渆xplore multiple perspectives, challenge dominant ideologies, and include marginalized voices within and beyond the literary canon鈥� (Lechtenberg 3). Alongside the importance of curation is the importance of representation, which as Hamad asserts has 鈥渞eal 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鈥�1,400 words as Word documents for consideration.

 

 

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For nearly 15 years, the 鈥淔uture Is Now鈥� roundtable sessions at the 楼凤天堂 Annual Convention have provided opportunities for beginning English language arts (ELA) teachers to present their scholarship. Inspired by the generative community in these sessions (early career voices, their questions, and their contributions to the field alongside mentors), this column explores inquiries related to ELA teachers who are navigating the early stages of their professional learning journeys as preservice or inservice teachers with 1 to 4 years of teaching experience. We seek to highlight voices of early career ELA teachers as well as those whose scholarship centers these teachers鈥� voices and experiences.

We invite column authors to share the inquiries that have sustained early career ELA teachers鈥� learning and instruction. Such inquiries may include research focused on these teachers鈥� experiences and professional identity formation, or other findings with clear implications for early career teachers and their inquiries. Instead of easy fixes, simple solutions, or truisms, we hope to 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. Therefore, we encourage authors to illuminate the origins of their question in relation to their own experiences as well as in relation to other voices鈥攖hose of students, colleagues, mentors, researchers, parents, authors, creators, or other stakeholders. And we urge authors to explore layered considerations that lead to possibilities for their own and other teachers鈥� future learning, teaching, research, or creative activity.

Please send submissions of 1,200鈥�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.

 

 

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Telescopes: Possibilities in YAL

Arianna Banack

abanack@usf.edu

 

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Navigating Generative AI

Brady Nash, University of Florida

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)鈥攁nd conversations on what to do about it鈥攈as 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鈥� 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鈥�1,400 words as Word documents to听bradylnash@gmail.com.

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