Acts of Resistance: Subversive Teaching in the English Language Arts Classroom

The first edition of Acts of Resistance: Subversive Teaching in the English Language Arts (ELA) Classroom won the 2021 Society of Professors of Education's Outstanding Book Award and garnered other nominations. The second edition includes a foreword by Ashley Hope Pérez, author of the young adult literature novel Out of Darkness, one of the most frequently banned books across U.S. classrooms. Four new chapters reflect sociopolitical changes since the book's publication, including a widespread, coordinated uptick in the banning of books centering authors and characters from marginalized communities; the COVID-19 pandemic and with it, increased acts of violence against folks identifying as Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander; the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other victims of police brutality; the January 6th insurrection; the closing of the Trump era; the passing of anti-CRT and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation; and a "school choice" movement that defunds public schools, deprofessionalizes educators, and places democracy in peril. Chapters specifically illustrate the storied practices of subversive teachers across the 6-12 ELA context. They provide educators with instructional ideas on how to do anti-oppressive work while also meeting traditional ELA disciplinary elements.

Dr. Jeanne Dyches (she/her), an associate professor at Iowa State University, researches the relationship between curriculum, racial literacies, and antiracist teaching practices. Specifically, she works to understand how teachers and students resist limitations of their curriculum in order to engage antiracist, emancipatory, and joyful secondary literacy instruction. A former high school English teacher and literacy coach, Dr. Dyches has won awards for her teaching on both the secondary and post-secondary levels. The American Educational Research Association, American Reading Forum, Society of Professors of Education, and Iowa Academy of Education have recognized Dr. Dyches’ research and scholarly contributions to the field of education. Dr. Dyches has published in many journals, including Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Teacher Education, English Journal, and Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

Brandon Sams is an assistant professor of English education at Iowa State University. His work has recently been published in English Teaching: Practice and Critique, The ALAN Review, Changing English, and The Journal of Language and Literacy Education.

Ashley S. Boyd (she/her) is an associate professor of English/English Education at Washington State University, where she teaches graduate courses on critical theories and anti-oppressive pedagogies and undergraduate courses on Young Adult Literature and Methods for Teaching English. A former secondary English-language arts teacher, Ashley’s scholarship examines practicing teachers’ social justice pedagogies and their critical content knowledge; explores how young adult literature is an avenue for cultivating students’ critical literacies; and investigates how students select, organize, and implement social action projects. Her books, including Social Justice Literacies in the English Classroom: Teaching Practice in Action, analyze and amplify how teachers subvert traditional classroom curriculum to advance equity and justice. She is co-author of Reading for Action: Engaging Youth in Social Justice through Young Adult Literature, and she has also published in the Journal of Teacher Education, English Education, and The ALAN Review.