Leah A. Zuidema

Making Space for Informal Inquiry: Inquiry as Stance in an Online Induction Network

This study brings the concept of inquiry as stance to bear on current understandings of how inquiry occurs within online networks for teacher induction. The author presents a case study of an online network that allowed 36 new teachers to participate in informal, spontaneous conversations. Genre research is used to examine the on-network, off-network relationship of teachers’ inquiry activity. Using integrated analysis of the online messages and of interviews that focused on teachers’ contexts and actions, the author presents a holistic portrait of teachers’ participation in informal inquiries. The online discussions allowed novice teachers to collaboratively consider new possibilities and to individually develop and reconsider their frameworks for teaching secondary English. Inquiry mentors and researchers should recognize and make space for inquiry as stance by attending to ties between new teachers’ on- and off-list activities—to how teachers enact inquiry as stance within and beyond online spaces.

Myth Education: Rationale and Strategies for Teaching Against Linguistic Prejudice

People frequently make assumptions about others because of their spoken or written use of a particular dialect or language. The varieties of English that people use are often regarded as indicators of corresponding intelligence, competence, motives, and morality. Such assumptions—frequently based on myths and misconceptions about the nature of language—can lead to discriminatory practices. Literacy educators should work to combat prejudice by dispelling linguistic myths and working with students to expose and critique the processes and institutions that perpetuate such misconceptions. This article outlines and critiques common myths that contribute to language-based discrimination. These myths include misunderstandings about grammar and usage rules, misinformed beliefs about particular language varieties as “random” rather than rule governed, and misconceptions about how to judge the relative value or quality of specific language varieties. In addition, the author suggests activities that encourage learners to investigate the actual nature of linguistic diversity and to question the ways that linguistic prejudice is propagated institutionally.

Understanding teachers’ writing: authority in talk and texts

In this article, we explore how teachers who make their work public through talk and texts may find their composing complicated by issues of authority. These public composing acts include drafting articles, preparing workshop presentations, authoring op-ed pieces and letters to the editor, developing book manuscripts – creating any of the spoken and written texts by which educators communicate as a field. We draw from three studies in different contexts to examine the authority concerns that teacher-writers experience during the composing process. Our aim is to draw attention to (a) the struggles in process that teachers face as they develop individual pieces and wrestle with rhetorical decisions, as well as (b) the struggles with people, power, and authority that occur as teachers consider how their words, ideas, and experiences circulate in public venues. We see these as intrinsically linked: The writing process is a site where the wider struggles are played out and become visible.