Upcoming Themes
Teaching in a Consumerocracy
Postmark Deadline: May 15, 2009
Publication Date: January 2010
Countless appeals to buy goods and services appear on street signs, radio and television commercials, Internet pop-ups, and newspaper and website ads. Our government encourages us to spend to grow the national economy. Credit card companies inundate us with seductive gimmicks to spend more than we can afford. Our neighbors, friends, and family encourage us to spend to keep up with them, or give us gifts that they have felt pressured to purchase. Perhaps the most relentless feature of our culture, across socioeconomic classes, is the pressure to spend, spend, spend.
How do you help students make responsible decisions about consumption? Do you have creative methods for analyzing the rhetoric of advertising, the use of language, images, and marketing data to encourage spending? How do you examine literature that takes up themes related to consumerism? How do you get students to consider how happy their “stuff” really makes them? Do your students research where the products they buy, use, and wear are made and where the profits go? Have you incorporated green ideas into your curriculum, helping students to attend to practices of environmentally sustainable consumption? Do you discuss ethical investment of capital with your students or help them to develop the kind of leadership skills that will enable them to influence our consumerocracy? Do you help them develop the kinds of critical-thinking skills that will prevent them from falling into serious debt? Do you incorporate service learning in a way that encourages positive use of monetary resources and provides lasting satisfaction? We seek English language arts articles related to the theme of consumerism that emphasize well-researched teaching practice.
Keeping It Real: Teaching Nonfiction
Deadline: July 15, 2009
Publication Date: March 2010
Biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, essays, scientific studies, government reports, travel books, culinary guides, cultural studies, philosophical treatises, how-to manuals, consumer guides, creative nonfiction, documentary films, op-ed essays, political blogs, product websites. The list of nonfiction genres is long, and the possibilities for teaching them are endless. This issue of English Journal focuses on nonfiction texts and innovative ways of teaching them. What nonfiction texts have you taught and why and how have you taught them? Are there rarely covered genres that more English teachers should teach? How have you creatively engaged students in nonfiction texts? Have you built productive bridges between nonfiction and fiction texts or between different nonfiction texts? How have you used nonfiction texts to teach forms of critical thinking that fiction texts don’t easily lend themselves to? What nonfiction texts motivate students to write and conduct research? How have you used nonfiction texts to engage students in school or community service? Anyarticles focusing on nonfiction texts in middle and secondary English classes are welcome.
Student Voices
How could English class help you make better decisions about spending your money (now and in the future)?
Teacher to Teacher
What is the proper role of an English teacher in an economy that depends on consumption?
Collaboration and Social Interaction
Postmark Deadline: September 15, 2009
Publication Date: May 2010
Working productively with others is essential in the workplace and in daily life. Those who develop effective people skills can be more successful in their careers and in building meaningful human relationships that enhance their social lives. English class is an important place to develop many skills of social interaction, for example, those that come from group work, collaborative writing, debates, small- and large-group discussions, etc. What is the place of English classes in the development of social skills? What writing and reading activities have you found successful in helping students develop collaborative skills? How have you assessed students’ collaborative abilities? What challenges have you found in collaborative assignments and how have you learned to deal with them? How have you helped students to work with difficult people and to curtail their own less-than-collaborative behaviors? Any aspect of student collaboration related to English teaching is welcome for this issue. We also encourage articles on teacher collaboration: for example, co-teaching among teachers of different disciplines or levels of instruction; collaborations among English teachers and school administrators, community or business organizations, parents, or other members of the public. Be sure also to see the “Teacher to Teacher” and “Student
General Interest (May submit any time)
We publish articles of general interest as space is available. You may submit manuscripts on any topic that will appeal to EJ readers. Remember that EJ articles foreground classroom practice and contextualize it in sound research and theory. As you know, EJ readers appreciate articles that show real students and teachers in real classrooms engaged in authentic teaching and learning. Regular manuscript guidelines regarding length and style apply.
Ongoing Features
Speaking My Mind: 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 with your photo in a future issue of English Journal. We welcome essays of 1,000 to 1,500 words, as well as inquiries regarding possible subjects.
Student Voices: This is a forum for students to share their experiences and recommendations in short pieces of 300 words. Teachers are encouraged to submit the best responses from their classes, not whole class sets, please. Individual students are welcome to submit as well. Topics are as follows:
- What could English teachers do that would make English class more fun, while still ensuring students are learning? (Deadline: November 15, 2008)
- How has performing Shakespeare helped you appreciate his work? (Deadline: January 15, 2009)
- What is your favorite outlet for your imagination, in or out of school? (Deadline: March 15, 2009)
- How could English class help you make better decisions about spending your money (now and in the future)? (Deadline: May 15, 2009)
Teacher to Teacher: This is a forum for teachers to share ideas, materials, and activities in short pieces of 300 words. Topics are as follows:
- What is your “guilty pleasure” within the field of English language arts? (Deadline: November 15, 2008)
- What value do side-by-side or parallel-text editions such as No Fear Shakespeare or Shakespeare Made Easy have in a classroom? (Deadline: January 15, 2009)
- How have students inspired your imagination? (Deadline: March 15, 2009)
- What is the proper role of an English teacher in an economy that depends on consumption? (Deadline: May 15, 2009)
Original Photography
Teacher photographs of classroom scenes and individual students are welcome. Photographs may be sent as 8" × 10" blackand-white glossies or as an electronic file in a 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.
Original Cartoons
Cartoons should depict scenes or ideas potentially amusing to English language arts teachers. Line drawings in black ink should be submitted on 8 1/2" × 11" unlined paper and be signed by the artist.
For EJ Submission Guidelines, click here.
For more information, contact English_Journal@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.