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Which journal did you read?

I read the article Being, Not Projecting by Lester L. Laminack published in Voices from the Middle.

One interesting thing I learned

One of the most powerful ideas from this article is the reminder that educators must see students for who they truly are, not who we assume them to be. Laminack challenges educators to reflect on how unconscious bias, deficit thinking, and projections of expectation can limit students’ identities and opportunities. Rather than shaping students into what we believe they should become, the article calls for honoring who they already are as thinkers, learners, and human beings.

How this applies to my role as an instructional coach

This article directly connects to my work as an instructional coach because much of my role centers on shifting teacher mindset, addressing implicit bias, and fostering asset-based thinking. I routinely support teachers in examining how expectations show up in instructional decisions, student grouping, grading practices, and access to rigorous coursework.

“Being, Not Projecting” reinforces the importance of coaching conversations that move teachers away from labels, assumptions, and fixed narratives about students. It affirms the work I do in helping educators reflect on how their beliefs influence classroom culture, student voice, and opportunities for agency. This article strengthens my commitment to coaching with compassion, curiosity, and a relentless focus on equity.

What professional organization I am interested in joining and why?

I am most interested in joining the National Council of Teachers of English and its state affiliate, the Georgia Council of Teachers of English. Both organizations align closely with my instructional leadership work in literacy, equity, culturally responsive teaching, and teacher professional learning.

Additionally, I am interested in the International Society for Technology in Education because of its focus on digital literacy, instructional innovation, and ethical technology use—all of which connect to my coaching work around instructional design and modern classroom practices.

These organizations would support my continued growth as a leader who bridges classroom instruction, coaching practice, and systemic change.

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After looking through the suggested journals, I chose to read the ALAN Review, which focuses on young adult literature and provides teachers with strategies for teaching language arts. The article was titled, Dispatches from Home: Student-authored Texts, written by Jewel Davis.  One point of interest that stood out to me was student-authored texts. Davis states that giving students opportunities to write their own story encourages creativity and provides an outlet to express themselves. She provides examples of stories written by teens such as Coming of Age in 2020 and We Say #NeverAgain which discusses their experiences during the pandemic and after the Parkland shooting. I found it interesting that these teens are writing their own narratives and bringing awareness to social issues that have affected them.

As a language arts teacher, I can easily integrate this into my classroom. Students could use platforms like Book Creator or StoryBird to write narratives that discuss meaningful issues or develop fictional stories that showcase their creativity.

This article also suggested having students express themselves through art or poetry to advocate for social causes. I would have students write a collection of poems that focused on social issues such as women’s rights or immigration policies. I could also have students collaborate on a book where one person wrote a story or poem, and the other illustrated it.

I’d like to join Shout Mouse Press, which the article mentioned. They focus on amplifying youth voices, especially those who are often unheard, by running writing workshops and publishing student-authored books. I love the idea of being part of a group that encourages young writers to share their stories with the world.

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Learning Activity #16: Identifying Professional Organizations

I read through quite a few of the journals and magazines listed before deciding which ones I thought were the most beneficial for my teaching. After looking into each of the listed organizations, I think I’d most be interested in joining The Georgia Council of Teachers of English. While getting a view of what’s happening with literature internationally and nationally are very important, and I will obviously make it a priority to keep up to date on new ideas and methods in teaching, constantly evolving standards and expectations on a state level mean that benign connected to other Georgia teachers would be more beneficial to me in the long run. Getting information and tips on the nitty-gritty of planning, organizing standards, and making sure I am conforming to statewide expectations would be much more helpful for my daily classroom needs. In that same vein, I decided to read Voices from the Middle for my journal, as it had a focus on Georgia middle grades standards, which made it very easy to link with my teaching.

I read "Teaching Dystopias during Difficult Times to Build Criticality” from the December 2024 issue of Voices from the Middle This article was very interesting, and it fits amazingly well with thoughts that I already have as a 7th grade ELA teacher. We cover a fiction novel every year, as it’s necessary to teach the standards. I usually use The Hunger Games because 1) it’s a wonderful book that kids love and 2) it covers every type of literary device that we study. I know that it is diverse and it focuses on the issues we have in our world by hyperbolizing the oppression and division that we already experience in America today. This article focuses on using novels to teach criticality. It says “ Criticality is the ability and practice of naming, researching, understanding, interrogating, and ultimately disrupting oppression (hurt, pain, or harm) in the world”. This is a lesson that is so needed in our world today and goes far beyond the standards necessary to pass kinds, but into creating a better and more just society. One thing that this article says that really made me reevaluate the way I teach dystopian novels is how disconnected we let them become from our real world. They talk about being willing to look at—and not turn away from—atrocities happening in our world. So often we strive to protect our kids from the bad things happening around them, but in doing so we make sure that they have no real understanding of what is happening in their own world. They focus in this article on the conflict in Palestine. They bring up how so few grown teachers knew where Palestine is, what the borders are, how they’ve changed, and what the conflict is really about. They then focus on a lesson on dystopias and utopias, focusing on connecting things the students are learning in history and things they’ve already learned about the world with our ideas of propaganda, government control, and human suffering. This gives us a chance to teach about the realities of the atrocities happening around us in a way that focuses on things that we know for certain: it’s not about who is right or wrong, it’s not about where you or your family stand politically- we can look at these events in the same way that we look at events in a book and connect that to our readings. This helps students understand in as unbiased a way as we can what is happening in our world while also connecting the ideas back to a book they’ve already been reading. In the example they used The Giver, but I think that using The Hunger Games would be just as useful. In many ways it may be better, because so much of the basis of Panem is the crises we now struggle with in modern America. In fact, we can link these with cross-curricular instruction using one of the Georgia standards, which focuses on “historical factors contributing to the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948” and the other focuses on “how land and religion plays a role in continuing conflicts in the Middle East” and specifically mentions “the Palestinian–Israeli conflict” (Georgia Department of Education, 2016, p. 3). We have so much opportunity to help our students understand the realities that are happening right now overseas with the US aide. We can also directly relate this back to The Hunger Games. One of the lines in this article that really hit home for me was “What allows us to identify dehumanizing rhetoric and actions and then intervene?” How long did people in Panem see the atrocities and not act? How many in the Capitol view the districts as less than human? Is that why they allow the murder of children to continue? How are we like those in the Capitol as we view the atrocities happening to children in Gaza and do nothing? Some even condone what’s happening and view those in Palestine as less than because of their religious views or skin color. How can we use fiction to embolden our children to look critically at the world they are a part of? The article really made me reconsider how politically correct we try to be in our classrooms and wonder if we aren’t doing more harm than good by pretending these things aren’t happening.

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I forgot to add that I would like to consider joining ILA- International Literacy Association as it appears to be a great place to find and stay current with reading research and the conversation that surrounds it.

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I am beginning the process of research for my dissertation, and one thing I have realized is that there is not a lot of research to be found in the area of teaching adults how to read. Because we are now finding ourselves working with high school students who cannot read, I feel this is the type of research I need to integrate into my literature review so that I might find some nuggets of gold for my action plan. I looked through several different reading journals, but the one that could build my understanding for working with adults, and I believe young adults as well, would be The Journal of Research in Reading. The best article I've found in a quick search is titled, "Using orthographic support to reduce the impact of noise on oral vocabulary learning in adults." Although the aim of the article was to find ways of teaching adult literacy in less than ideal environments, I was curious as to the impact on students with headphones in or with the accommodations of keeping headphones on when reading silently. My students often argue that they can't focus without noise (that is another conversation for another day) and I am also curious if classroom environment can cause more issue with learning and reading. This article confirmed, first that noise is a negative, and second that in a hectic class setting, which cannot always be avoided, I can still build vocabulary with orthographic facilitation. I feel that I will find many more resources within this journal and that is exciting.

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I chose to read Voices from the Middle journal, as I figured it would be more pertinent to me. I read an article called 'Rapping It Up In The Middle Level,' by Carole Boston Weatherford about the use of photography in writing and the use of rap lyrics in poetry lessons. I love incorporating music into my lessons about figurative language and poetry but I have a hard time finding rap lyrics that are school appropriate. In the article she provided some examples that she called 'mentor texts' that I will be looking at because I would love to use them in lessons. I am torn between two organizations, NCTE and GCTE. I can see the positives in being a part of a national organization but I feel like with the new Georgia ELA Standards, it would probably be more beneficial joining the GCTE.

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Alex Ellis ENGL 7750 LA#16

I read the article from English Journal called “Italian Brain Rot and Skibidi Toilets: Students' Joyful Literacies in an ELA Space: This article shares a rationale for teaching joyful literacies and provides insight into a teacher and students' joyful experiences analyzing self-selected pop culture trends,” which discusses how an AP Lang teacher, Holly Sheppard Riesco, and her coauthor Christian Z. Goering thoughtfully considered “how to adapt the joy and engagement of pop culture to the academic challenge expected in an English credit course” (2025).

Like the author, I absolutely feel the pressure of a county mandated “skills-based, rote instruction that seemingly leaves little room to embed joy in daily learning” and have been trying to find ways to regain my own joy in teaching (Riesco & Goering, 2025). As I formulate my proposals to school and county leaders about how deviating from a mandated curriculum would be beneficial to student engagement and teacher retention, the idea of the importance of joy may become an essential factor that I will explore in future units to test their outcomes. I already have tested the waters of student choice on engagement through allowing choice topics of podcasts that students produce, but I am curious about how to incorporate analysis of trends and texts; this may be an appropriate avenue to attempt. I will consider applying it to the end of my current unit where students are analyzing informational articles and then attempting to write their own.

I am considering joining NCTE for now, while I am a student, but the price may be a barrier after I graduate. I like the idea of keeping a pulse on the ideas spreading across the nation, and I didn’t realize that NCTE produced English Journal, so keeping access is an attractive benefit.  However, I am more interested in joining at least GTCE to be informed and potentially contribute to the culture of teaching Language Arts locally, within my own community. As I explored their journals and publications, I was pleasantly surprised to see a name I recognized: our class’s very own Charles Penn! I read his contribution “Artistic Options of Excellence” in their “Scribbles n Bits” newsletter, enjoyed his take on teaching Shakespeare, and was encouraged both as a student and a Language Arts teacher. His students are blessed to have him. As I refine my view on what makes quality teaching, I hope to one day contribute as well and make an impact on Language Arts teachers.

References

Riesco, H. S., & Goering, C. Z. (2025). Italian Brain Rot and Skibidi Toilets: Students' Joyful Literacies in an ELA Space: This article shares a rationale for teaching joyful literacies and provides insight into a teacher and students' joyful experiences analyzing self-selected pop culture trends. English Journal, 114(6), 23+. https://link-gale-com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/apps/doc/A858534669/AONE?u=kennesaw_main&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=caf9fff5

- Alex Ellis from ENGL 7750

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Alex Kirby

I read The English Journal for today, specifically the article "'Everyday We Lit': Hip Hop pedagogy and Critical, Joyous Literacy Learning: In this article, a Black male English educator and White female middle school English language arts teacher share insights from their cross-racial collaborative practitioner-inquiry on a White teacher's Hip Hop pedagogies with non-Black students," by H. Bernard Hall and Michele Devirgilio. I chose this article to think about cross racial collaboration, as well as much of the ways we see cultural influence and language crossing within our classes. When I think of revoicing, I think of how often it strips our students of their identity. As someone who is non-Black, I think of how I have subconsciously learned AAVE through many Black peers and friends, as well as my interest in Hip Hop, and how many of my White students have as well. We tend to speak in our own dialects, but register AAVE with full comprehension. Hip Hop has similar pedagogies, and is more recently being viewed in a literary context, as a storytelling device with poetry. I was intrigued by translating the concept of MCing into a pedagogical one, which let students study the wordplay of Hip Hop's greats, as well as translating that into their own spoken word writing. I could absolutely see this as something I would try to use. I've had projects to a similar degree in my own classes in school, and I find them so fundamentally fun. I think there could be an option for students to legitimately rap if they would like to. It would be a more engaging and interesting experience, while giving an option to express themselves through spoken word, or through lyrics. We often forget that many students hold Hip Hop in high esteem, and being able to engage with the medium in a pedagogical way could serve as a further incentive for their wordplay. I am already a member of PAGE, but I have considered joining NCTE and GCTE (Georgia Council of Teachers of English), as I am an English teacher and find it to only be beneficial.

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After examining several journals, I decided to delve into the English Journal (High School Edition), published by the National Council of Teachers of English. There were several interesting titles in this journal’s two most recent publications, involving a range of interests from the importance of mentorship in reading and writing workshops, to exploring identity using literature, to empowering students with authentic learning, to explicitly teaching queer texts, and to youth participatory research. To my surprise, several of the articles were centered on the concept of joy. I was quite surprised that this emotion appears to be a hot topic in the research arena. The publications in this journal are relevant to both my teaching context and my graduate program.

One of my new instructional interests that I am actively working to incorporate into my classroom this school year is Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). There were three articles centered around this work, but Leah Panther, Kimberly Stephens, and Sally Stanhope’s In the Shadow of Stone Mountain: Youth Participatory Action Research to Expand English Language Arts caught my interest because of its local Stone Mountain setting and the research topic explored. I am considering incorporating this article into my YPAR unit to serve as an example of this type of research for students, as it is concise, written at an understandable level, explores an interesting and relevant topic, and presents several pictures and illustrations that support student engagement with the article.

I am already a member of the Georgia Council of Teachers of English (GCTE) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). I plan to renew my membership with Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) and subscribe to Urban Education, Equity & Excellence in Education (EEE), and The Journal of African American Males in Education (JAAME), as these publications are directly aligned with my research interest.

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I read the article "Teaching Dystopias during Difficult Times to Build Criticality" by Nadia Behizadeh (2023), published in Voices from the Middle.

One of the most interesting things I learned was how Behizadeh used stories like The Giver as an anchor text to help preservice teachers build criticality, which is the practice of questioning and disrupting oppression through literature. At a time when so many bookes are "banned," it was interesting to see how she was able to still connect the themes such as control and dehumanization to real world examples and global events. She then modeled how to create a safe, community-based classroom where students can critically examine complec and emotional topics. This article really spoke to me because I love reading "banned" books and distopian literature, and it is so natural to shift the conversation from the books to real-world injustices. This shows how literature can be a powerful lens for empathy, critical thinking, and social awareness, all of which are severely lacking in middle school students nowadays, at least in my experience.

I do see the information in this journal applying in my teaching scenario. This article helped me see how I can use literature to spark meaningful discussion about justice and humanity, even with my middle school students. Being that I teach predominantly hispanic students, they are seeing so much injustice currently, and it's important for them to have a safe space to talk about these things in the lens of reading skills, critical thinking, how to question inequality, and how to recognize their role in creating change. I especially like her reminder that building community and trust is essential before tackling any hard conversations, which is something I strive to do every day but can act more intentionally about this in my teaching.

I would be most interested in joining the Georgia Council of Teachers of English because it connects directly to my teaching context and provides development opportunities tailored to educators in Georgia. GCTE also aligns with the values of the article I read because it promotes literacy, equity, and critical thinking through meaningful, student-centered instruction. Joining this organization would allow me to collaborate with other Georgia educators who also share these values.

-Nancy Ortiz-Daley

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Beth Wright

I read the English Journal published by NCTE, specifically Gholdy Muhammad's article 'Conceptualizing Joy through the Language Arts of Rumi,' which explores how educators can intentionally cultivate joy in literacy education through poetry and artistic expression. What particularly resonated with me was Muhammad's approach to using Rumi's poetic language as a framework for understanding joy not just as a fleeting emotion but as a pedagogical practice that can transform how students engage with texts and express themselves. I can absolutely see this applying to my teaching scenario, as incorporating joy-centered literacy practices could help create a more engaging and emotionally supportive classroom environment where students feel empowered to explore literature through multiple perspectives and find personal meaning in their reading and writing experiences. While I already have a membership with NCTE and have for many years, I'm also thinking about joining GCTE (Georgia Council of Teachers of English) and attending their conference in February to connect with local educators.

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I chose to read Voices from the Middle, which focuses on literacy practices and classroom ideas specifically for middle school students. One interesting thing I learned from this journal is how teachers are using multimodal writing projects to help students connect personal experiences with academic writing. One article shared how students used digital storytelling to build confidence and voice in their narratives, which reminded me a lot of what we’ve been reading about participatory culture and critical literacy.

I can absolutely see this applying to my teaching because it connects perfectly to the way I already use creative responses and digital tools in my 6th grade ELA classroom. Allowing students to blend images, sound, and text gives them new ways to engage with reading and writing, especially those who might not express themselves as comfortably through traditional essays. It also reinforces important writing skills like tone, structure, and audience awareness in more meaningful ways.

After exploring the different professional organizations, I’m most interested in joining the National Council of Teachers of English. I’ve used their lesson ideas and journals many times, and I like how they focus on both social justice and practical classroom strategies. I think being part of NCTE would help me stay current with new teaching approaches, connect with other ELA teachers, and find more ways to bring creativity and critical thinking into my classroom.