BCTELA

Articles and reviews can be submitted to Matt Rosati at: mrosatisd42@gmail.com or to Starleigh Grass at: starleigh.grass@gmail.com

English Practice provides you with the opportunity to write and be read. Your viewpoints, lessons, opinions, research (formal or informal) are welcomed in formats ranging from strategies, lesson plans and units, to more formal compositions and narratives exploring big ideas in teaching and learning, to creative writing.

English Practice publishes contributions on all facets of language arts learning, teaching and research, focusing on the intermediate, middle and secondary grades. The journal offers teachers of grades 4 to 12 a practical, user-friendly guide to research-based practices.

We have four departments with the following guidelines to assist you in preparing and submitting your writing:

Teaching Ideas (teaching strategies, lesson plans, unit plans)

• Purpose is clear (i.e. articulates specific learning goals for students)
• Acknowledges perspective/background/role (i.e. grade 6 teacher; have
  used reading workshops for 10 years; trying to embed more targeted
  strategy instruction in my teaching)
• Description of instruction outlines how modeling or scaffolding are used
• Offers specific classroom practices that are grounded in research (backed up with current thinking, research reference(s))
• Piece is well organized and clear
• Student samples must be reproducible and readable
• Formative and summative assessment and instruction are aligned
• Includes links to student and professional resources
• Includes a summary and/or reflection

Investigating Our Practice (action research, reflection on practice over time, narrative)

• Introduces and outlines purpose and process of inquiry
• Explores a big idea in teaching and learning over time
• Acknowledges perspective/background/role in relation to issues, big
  idea, and/or inquiry question(s) (i.e. “I believe in democratic
  schooling, but I hadn’t recently looked at how what I do was or was not
  working”; “I have been teaching for 18 years and oral language has
  always been important in to me. However, I want to know how I can help
  my students actually improve their speaking and listening abilities.”)
• Includes reflections made before and after the teaching practice
• Typically narrative in style
• Relates own thinking and practice to current thinking and research
• Piece is well organized and clear
• Includes synthesis and/or next steps

Musings and Meanderings (students’ and teachers’ creative writing, opinion pieces)

• Any topic but prefer those related to teaching and learning and English language arts
• Effective use of form
• Engagingly written (first person, present tense, ideas are effectively linked and language choice heightens meaning)
• Acknowledges perspective/background/role in opinion pieces

Check This Out (includes reviews, announcements of contests and conferences)

• Acknowledges perspective/background/role (i.e. teach grades
  9-12 English; looking for novels related to the theme of…; “I am always
  looking for new ideas related to diversity in the classroom”)
• Ideas and/or opinions are clear, supported and explained
• Reviews include target audience, some ideas for application (good for what?)
• Author should not have a personal or a financial stake in what is being announced or reviewed

Articles and reviews can be submitted to Matt Rosati at: mrosatisd42@gmail.com or to Starleigh Grass at: starleigh.grass@gmail.com