Congratulations to the 2023-2026 editorial team for English in Texas!
University of Houston Downtown
Janeth Cornejo, M.A.
Diane M. Miller, Ph. D.
Angela López Pedrana, Ed.D.
Kim Pinkerton, Ed.D.
Kelly Tumy, M.A.
Stephen J. Winton, Ed.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.
Calls for Submissions
English in Texas, Vol. 53.1—Spring/Summer 2023
THEME: Embracing Boldness: An Exploration of the Power of Language
MANUSCRIPT DEADLINE: April 1, 2023
“Words are to be taken seriously. I try to take seriously the acts of language. Words set things in motion. I’ve seen them doing it. Words set up atmospheres, electrical fields, charges. I’ve felt them doing it. Words conjure. I try not to be careless about what I utter, write, sing. I’m careful about what I give voice to.” ~Toni Cade Bambara
With this reference, TCTELA President Dr. Roni Burren announced the 2023 conference theme: Embracing Boldness: An Exploration of the Power of Language. Language has the ability to pull us apart, but it also has the profound power to name common understandings. Words can be politicized, divisive, and marginalizing, yet they can also be restorative, connective, and universal.
For the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of English in Texas, we invite you to consider the role language plays in every aspect of our classrooms. Some pedagogical questions to consider for manuscript submissions are any of the following, any fusion of the following, or any extension beyond the following:
- How does written and spoken language impact classroom instruction? How do we teach students about the intricacies of language?
- Which texts, characters, or real-life heroes exemplify what it means to use language in a profound way?
- How do we teach writers to write boldly and bravely?
- How has the language of the current political climate, nationally and/or in the state of Texas, positively or negatively impacted the ELAR classroom?
- How are we positioning multiple languages and dialects within our classrooms? Why does this matter?
More broadly, you may also consider the following:
- How can we cultivate more linguistically inclusive schools?
- How does language bring us together?
- What does it mean to teach literacy in a bold fashion?
FOCUS ON THE THEME: We invite interested individuals to submit manuscripts, conceptual, creative, reflective, student-authored, pedagogical, research-based, and/or theoretical, as related to this topic of Embracing Boldness: An Exploration of the Power of Language.
INQUIRIES AND INNOVATIONS: Additionally, we welcome educational research relevant to the work of ELAR educators. These submissions could either be theme dependent or could be more generally relevant to the ELAR education community.
STANDING COLUMNS:
We also encourage brief contributions in the form of standing columns. These center on topics that interest you but do not necessarily align to an issue’s theme or full-length manuscript requirements.
A Seat and a Voice at the Table
This column focuses on supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion to empower groups that are too often marginalized in the ELAR classroom.
What does your seat at the table look like day-to-day? How are you striving to bring diverse texts, methods, and instructional design to the forefront of 21st -century instruction?
“Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard.” ~Liz Fosslien
Keeping Your Wits About You
This column focuses on teacher self-care in today's often challenging educational environment.
How do you keep your wits while the world spins–often wildly!–on its axis each day? What are your personal and professional approaches to bringing hope and balance to the world of teaching?
“If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you… The world will be yours and everything in it…”
~Rudyard Kipling
Teaching Outtakes
This column focuses on sharing the “aha” lessons from the “uh-oh” moments in your classroom.
As educators, we often talk about “what works,” but how has the “not working” turned you into a more knowledgeable practitioner and a more streetwise professional? How did the “not working” inform you in your teaching and help you to grow?
“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts.”
~Nikki Giovanni
To submit any of these standing columns for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at [email protected] with a 100-150-word summary of your idea BEFORE submitting.
English in Texas, Vol. 53.2—Fall/Winter 2023
THEME: Pandemic Panacea: Enacting & Extending Lessons Learned about ELAR Instruction
MANUSCRIPT DEADLINE: September 1, 2023
“As literacy education professionals, we must reject the notion of ‘behindness,’ expecting instead that children come to us rich with experiences, new knowledge, and multiple ways of speaking, writing, and drawing that we can learn about and teach into going forward." ~Katherine Bomer
The Fall/Winter 2023 issue of English in Texas is focused on lessons learned (and those that we are still learning) about what ELAR instruction looks like when the world is beset by a global pandemic. The last three years brought many challenges to the doorsteps of ELAR classrooms. In the spring of 2022, The New York Times reported on significant reading losses for early childhood and high-poverty students (2022, March 9). It did not take long for those outside of our classrooms to characterize negatively the impact of online, hybrid, and other nontraditional learning environments in regard to literacy.
Rather than being driven by deficits, let us be guided by Bomer’s image of teaching “into” what comes next. For the Fall/Winter 2023 issue of English in Texas, we invite you to consider how you met and are still meeting the challenges that have been swirling about our classrooms since March 2020. Some pedagogical questions to consider for manuscript submissions are any of the following, any fusion of the following, or any extension beyond the following:
- What happened in your classroom and in your pedagogy when you opened the door beyond the physical walls?
- Did you learn something new about online literacy education?
- Upon our return, what did you learn about face-to-face interactions with students as they read, write, and talk?
- How did the pandemic expand or shrink literacy learning?
- What new perspectives and experiences did your students bring into your classroom?
More broadly, you may also consider the following:
- How did you “teach into” the new?
- How did you collaborate with colleagues and professional organizations in new and unexplored ways?
- pan·a·ce·a /panəˈsēə/ noun A solution or remedy for difficulties.
FOCUS ON THE THEME: We invite interested individuals to submit manuscripts, conceptual, creative, reflective, student-authored, pedagogical, research-based, and/or theoretical, as related to this topic of Pandemic Panacea: Enacting & Extending Lessons Learned about ELAR Instruction.
INQUIRIES AND INNOVATIONS: Additionally, we welcome educational research relevant to the work of ELAR educators. These submissions could either be theme dependent or could be more generally relevant to the ELAR education community.
STANDING COLUMNS:
We also encourage brief contributions in the form of standing columns. These center on topics that interest you but do not necessarily align to an issue’s theme or full-length manuscript requirements.
A Seat and a Voice at the Table
This column focuses on supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion to empower groups that are too often marginalized in the ELAR classroom.
What does your seat at the table look like day-to-day? How are you striving to bring diverse texts, methods, and instructional design to the forefront of 21st -century instruction?
“Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard.” ~Liz Fosslien
Keeping Your Wits About You
This column focuses on teacher self-care in today's often challenging educational environment.
How do you keep your wits while the world spins–often wildly!–on its axis each day? What are your personal and professional approaches to bringing hope and balance to the world of teaching?
“If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you… The world will be yours and everything in it…”
~Rudyard Kipling
Teaching Outtakes
This column focuses on sharing the “aha” lessons from the “uh-oh” moments in your classroom.
As educators, we often talk about “what works,” but how has the “not working” turned you into a more knowledgeable practitioner and a more streetwise professional? How did the “not working” inform you in your teaching and help you to grow?
“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts.”
~Nikki Giovanni
To submit any of these standing columns for publication consideration, please contact the editorial team at [email protected] with a 100-150-word summary of your idea BEFORE submitting.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, 2023-2025:
Do not hesitate to contact the editorial team at [email protected] should you have any questions.
REFERENCE:
Bomer, K. (2021). Leaving behind the "learning loss": Loving and learning from the ways students talk, write, and draw right now. Language Arts, 98(6), 352-359. See p. 353.
FORMAT FOR MANUSCRIPTS
- All submissions should be blinded; that is, all information identifying the author(s) and affiliation(s) should be anonymized for peer review purposes. Columns do not need to be blinded.
- Manuscript submissions should be no more than fifteen double-spaced, typed pages in length (approximately 4,000 words, excluding references). Lengths for standing columns is 900-1200 words, but this length will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
- Manuscripts should be typed in 12-point, Times New Roman font and be double-spaced throughout (including quotations, endnotes, and references) with standard, one-inch margins. Microsoft Word is preferred. Please save copies of anything you send to 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, 7th 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 their content should be included in the word count.
- Provide an abstract of 150-200 words and a list of 5 key words pertaining to your manuscript.
STEPS TO SUBMIT
- In a separate file, provide a cover letter that includes the following:
- Identify the category of your submission: Focus on the Theme, Inquiries and Innovations, OR Standing Column. For columns only, specify which one of three types: A Seat and a Voice at the Table, Keeping Your Wits About You, OR Teaching Outtakes.
- Briefly describe the submission’s format, overall purpose, and word count.
- Include 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 in the cover letter only, not on the manuscript. If there are co-authors, list their names, school affiliations, and email addresses.
- Please note that a submission consists of separate files: e.g., cover letter, abstract/keywords, tables/figures (each in a separate file), and full text.
- Receipt of manuscripts will be acknowledged by e-mail to the single/lead author. Please ensure that the contact information provided is accurate throughout the calendar year, including the summer months.
- Student consent and copyright/reprint permission forms will be requested upon acceptance of the article for publication as needed.
- Manuscripts should be sent by e-mail as an attachment to [email protected].
PROCESS OF REVIEW
- 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 manuscript submitted within two months after the submission deadline.
- In order to be considered, submissions must be received on or before the call deadline.
CALL FOR REVIEWERS
English in Texas, the premier journal of Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (TCTELA), carries a readership of 1,000+ throughout Texas and the U.S. and is seeking reviewers to join the current group of professionals serving on our Editorial Review Board. We highly value peer review by all stakeholders: practitioners, academicians, and administrators who support the teaching of English language arts and reading, and we recognize that the work of peer reviewers is a contribution that adds depth, breadth, and credibility to our professional voices. 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 [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you.
A printed copy of English in Texas is included with paid TCTELA membership. Additional copies can be purchased here for $30 each (including shipping). After purchase email [email protected] to confirm shipping address.
ENGLISH IN TEXAS HAS RECEIVED NCTE's JOURNAL OF EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR 2022!
