NOW
I’m teaching two courses this fall.
- Foundational Texts in English Education. This is the first course students take in our doctoral program, so it’s an important one. From the syllabus: “This course examines English Education through the lens of multiple ‘foundational texts’ that reflect a rich and textured context and trajectory for the field. We will explore key texts and perspectives that have shaped, both in the mainstream and in the margins, the evolution of English education, tracing its development from early purposes and theories to contemporary practices.” One new thing I’m doing in this course is integrating opportunities for taking “smart notes” and using Obsidian / the Zettlekasten method. I consider myself a Zettlekasten convert and it’s one of the best professional decision I’ve made. I’m hoping that trying out some of these routines will allow students to find the scholarly habits that not only help them meet their goals but experience joy along the way.
- Research in Practice. This is a research methods course that focuses on qualitative research on, about, or, in classroom and community practice. So it will cover the traditions of action research, teacher research, practitioner research, and participatory research. One new thing in this course is a module I developed on theories of change in research and research methodologies. Here is what it says on the syllabus: “This module has you work through your theories of change with respect to research and social change. This focus comes from the fact that we often want research to DO something: inform how people think, influence education policy, shape education practice, change the world in some way, etc. Yet, scholars are seldom explicit about how they think this change works and how their research and its design plays into that change. This module gives you an opportunity to do just this: to wrestle with your theories of change – not resolve them.”
- I’m revising a commentary article on Gulino v. Board of Education, a class action lawsuit that awarded $1.8 billion to Black and Latine teachers in New York City in response to a racially discriminatory teacher licensure exam. The article looks at this case from a standpoint of reparations. The case has received little scholarly commentary, which is shocking given its magnitude and significance. I’ve known for a long time that I would at some point extend my previous work on this topic, and this commentary piece has really accelerated this timeline. I may outline a full book proposal this semester and knock out a sample chapter.
-
I’m writing a book chapter with graduate students from my spring Emerging Genres of Scholarly Communication course. The chapter is titled “The Gift in Motion: Vulnerability and Deep Listening in Qualitative Pedagogy.” Here is the first sentence from the abstract: This chapter explores how vulnerability functions as a generative gift in qualitative pedagogy, and how deep, contemplative listening transforms who we are to one another in the becoming of qualitative researchers. It’s great to extend some of our work together beyond the course. The book project, edited by Maureen A. Flint and Kelly W. Guyotte, also has an arts integrated component, so our chapter will also have a “reciprocation” that is sound based.
- I have an article in motion with my friend and colleague Dr. LeConté J. Dill about solidarity exchanges in university classrooms. This is a practice we have been doing for a few years now, so the article is a chance to unpack the practice and tease out the ethical commitments that motivate it. The piece is for a special issue in Feminist Formations on “Feminist Visions and Struggles for a Gradeless University.” We sent the piece off for review this summer and will probably get feedback and get to a revision sometime this fall.
- I’m organizing an invited presidential session for the 2026 AERA conference called Futuring scholarly expression through sound, sound design, and music: A listening session with liner notes. The session will bring together some collaborators from Forms of Freedom and also expand to include some Teachers College collaborators as well. As always with this strand of work, it’s a shared project with Ruth Nicole Brown at Michigan State University and part of my broader arc in emerging genres of scholarly communication.
Here are a few items I have at the top of my personal reading list this fall.
- Musimathics, Vol. 2: The Mathematical Foundations of Music by Gareth Loy.
- RAMMELLZEE: Racing for Thunder.
On my “fun list” this fall is visiting Dream House, checking out the NYC botanical garden in the Bronx, and seeing the Mavis Pusey exhibit at ICA in Philly. I’m just finished a cassette tape project titled Cycles After Man that grew out of my single cycles. (See below for the cover collage put together by Caltrops Press.) I’m still putting on a monthly event called Crate Missions at the vinyl bar BierWax in Brooklyn with my good friend J. Rawls too. We will cross the year mark this fall, and that definitely calls for a celebration.
[This is a “now page.” What is a now page?]