Every three years, Texas Council of English Language Arts (TCTELA) selects a new editorial team for English in Texas.  English in Texas is a national, peer-reviewed journal focusing on teacher research, classroom application, student writing, and professional development in English Language Arts.  The journal editorial team has responsibility for all final decisions pertaining to the content and quality of each issue of English in Texas.  Email questions to the editorial team at englishintexas@uh.edu

Editorial Team from University of Houston

Margaret Hale, Ed. D.
Dawn Westfall, Ed. D.
Glen Russell, Ed. D.
Heather Pule, Ed. D.
Eve Zehavi, Ph. D.
Roni Dean-Burren, Ph. D.

The editorial team of English in Texas, the peer-reviewed journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts, invites you to submit your manuscripts. Speak to Texas teachers about the practice of teaching the English language arts in Texas.

We also welcome submissions for our NEW standing columns (500-1000 words):

Putting It All Together:  This column focuses on opportunities teachers provide to integrate reading, writing, listening and speaking.  What are some successes you’ve had in integrating reading, writing, listening and speaking?  What resources have you consulted?  How do your students respond to integrated lessons as opposed to isolated lessons?  To submit a column for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.

The Tech-Savvy Teacher:  This column focuses on ways to incorporate technology into your daily teaching.  What are some technology tools you’ve found useful?  How do these tools inform your instruction?  How do students respond to these tools?  What is required to use these tools?  To submit a column for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.

New Teacher Voices:  This column provides a space for teachers with 3 or fewer years of classroom experience to have a voice.  Share with other young teachers and remind veterans what it is like at the beginning of a teaching career.  What are some of your great successes?  What lessons have you learned from your failures?  What is the best advice you have received?  What resources do you count on to get you through? To submit a column for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.

Call for Reviewers

English in Texas, the premier journal of TCTELA with a readership of 1,000+ throughout Texas and the U.S., is seeking reviewers to join the current group of professionals serving on our review board.  We highly value peer review by all stakeholders: practitioners, academicians, and administrators, who support the teaching of English Language Arts.  We are looking for reviewers with a wide variety of interests and areas of expertise.

If selected you agree to review no more than THREE manuscripts in a 12 month period.  Manuscripts should be reviewed and returned within 15 days.  If you are unable to complete your review within 15 days you can decline to review for that cycle.  Please note, however, that after two failures to review or two late reviews, you will be removed from the active list of the review board.

If you are interested, please let the editorial board know by contacting us at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.  We look forward to hearing from you. 

Calls for Submissions

English in Texas, Vol. 49.2
Fall/Winter 2019
Theme:  Teachers as Readers and Writers
Manuscript Deadline:  September 1, 2019
Column Deadline:  September 1, 2019

Call for Submissions:  The Fall/Winter issue of English in Texas is focused on teachers as readers and writers.  Language diversity in the classroom is growing at a rapid pace.  Standards for English Language Arts teachers from professional organizations such as the National Council for Teachers of English, the International Literacy Association, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards all include standards calling for English teachers to possess an enthusiasm for both reading and writing.  

As English language arts teachers, our goal is to not only teach the standards, but to promote lifelong reading and writing. In order to accomplish that, we must be positive models of reading and writing for our students.  As Katherine Paterson wrote in her book Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children (1981), “We cannot give them what we do not have.  We cannot share what we do not care for deeply for ourselves.  If we prescribe books as medicine, our children have a perfect right to refuse the nasty-tasting spoon.” 

How do you see yourself as a reader? As a writer? How does your reading impact your instruction?  How does your writing impact your instruction?  How do you share your literacy with your students?  What impact does this sharing have on them?  How do you work to, as NCTE says, build your stack of to-read books?  In what kinds of writing do you engage?

We encourage you to think about yourself as a reader and writer, and we invite interested individuals to submit manuscripts, conceptual, pedagogical, research-based, and theoretical related to teachers as readers and writers.  Please refer to the English in Texaswebsite for manuscript submission guidelines.  Do not hesitate to contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edushould you have any questions.

Furthermore, we invite interested individuals to submit ideas for our Fall/Winter columns, “Putting it all Together” and “The Tech-Savvy Teacher” as related to the theme of teachers as readers and writers.  The below descriptions detail each column as well as provide information for contacting the column editor regarding your column idea. Please query the column editor BEFOREsubmitting you full column.

The columns to be published in the Fall Winter Issues:

Putting It All Together:  This column focuses on opportunities teachers provide to integrate reading, writing, listening and speaking. What are some successes you’ve had in integrating reading, writing, listening and speaking?  What resources have you consulted?  How do your students respond to integrated lessons as opposed to isolated lessons?  To submit a column for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.

The Tech-Savvy Teacher:  This column focuses on ways to incorporate technology into your daily teaching.  What are some technology tools you’ve found useful?  How do these tools inform your instruction?  How do students respond to these tools?  What is required to use these tools?  To submit a column for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.

 English in Texas, Vol. 50.1
Spring/Summer 2020
Theme: 
Manuscript Deadline: April 1, 2020
Column Deadline:  April 15, 2020

Call for Submissions:  The 2020 conference theme is “Vision and Voice:  Raising the Literacy Volume in Texas.”  Many professionals have spoken of the need for a voice to lead us forward in the teaching profession.  Don Graves served as one of those voices, but we lost him in 2010.  Tom Newkirk, at a 2013 NCTE breakfast, called for voices to carry Graves’ wisdom forward.  

In this issue of English in Texas, we want readers to see pieces that do just that:  that create a Texas voice, a Texas vision, and carve a new path in teaching.  We want you to show the state how our very best can change the world for the better.  We know that Texas teachers are creative and innovative every day in every class, and we’d like you to submit manuscripts that let readers see you, hear you, and learn from you.

 Think about how you see classrooms changing.  How do we engage students with integrated standards and teach them to absorb a variety of texts?  With new standards comes much responsibility to teach them well.  How is your classroom changing to fit the new landscape of integration and fluency in reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking?  How will we teach students to THINK?  Finally, what is your promise to yourself as an educator?

We encourage you to think about these questions, and we invite interested individuals to submit manuscripts, conceptual, pedagogical, research-based, and theoretical, as related to this topic of “Vision and Voice:  Raising the Literacy Volume in Texas.”  Please refer to the English in Texaswebsite for manuscript submission guidelines.  Do not hesitate to contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edushould you have any questions.  

Furthermore, we invite interested individuals to submit ideas for our Spring/Summer columns, “Putting It All Together” and “The Tech-Savvy Teacher” as related to the theme of “Voice and Vision:  Raising the Literacy Volume in Texas.”  The below descriptions detail each column as well as provide information for contacting the editorial team regarding your column idea.  Please query the editorial team BEFORE submitting your full column.

The columns to be published in this issue include:

Putting It All Together:  This column focuses on opportunities teachers provide to integrate reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  What are some successes you’ve had in integrating reading, writing, listening, and speaking?  What resources have you consulted?  How do your students respond to integrated lessons as opposed to isolated lessons? To submit a column for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.

 The Tech-Savvy Teacher:  This column focuses on ways to incorporate technology into your daily teaching.  What are some technology tools you’ve found useful?  How do these tools inform your instruction?  How do students respond to these tools?  What is required to use these tools?  To submit a column for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at EnglishinTexas@uh.edu.  

English in Texas Submission Guidelines

  • Inquiries and Innovations manuscripts are those that follow the biannual themes. Research articles should be no more than ten to fifteen double-spaced, typed pages in length (approximately 2,500 to 3,750 words), but classroom innovation articles should be eight to twelve pages in length (2,000 to 3,000 words).

  • Manuscripts should be typed in 12-point font and double-spaced throughout (including quotations, endnotes, and works cited), with standard margins. Microsoft Word 2004 or later is preferred. Please save copies of anything you send us. We cannot return any materials to authors.

  • Number all pages.

  • Adhere to the style guidelines set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 6th edition.

  • Ensure that the manuscript conforms to the NCTE Guidelines for Gender-Fair use of Language.

  • Tables and figures should be in separate file(s), but with their content included in the word count.

  • Provide an abstract of 150-200 words and a list of 5 key words pertaining to your Manuscript.

  • In your cover letter, please provide a statement guaranteeing that the manuscript has not been published or submitted elsewhere.

  • List your name, address, school affiliation, telephone number, and e-mail address on the title page only, not on the manuscript. Receipt of manuscripts will be acknowledged by e-mail.

  • Student consent forms for research-based articles will be requested upon acceptance of the article for publication.

Manuscripts should be sent by e-mail as an attachment.

English in Texas is peer-reviewed, and virtually all manuscripts are read by two or more outside reviewers. We will reach a decision on each article submitted for a themed issue within two months after the submission deadline, and articles of General Interest within five months after the submission deadline. In order to be considered, submissions must be received on or before the call deadline.