Ideas That Changed Literacy Practices: First Person Accounts from Leading Voices

How do ideas change practices and people? In Ideas That Changed Literacy Practices, 32 influential scholars in literacy education get personal about how they have worked on ideas and how those ideas have worked on them. Together, the essays offer never-before revealed personal histories of the authors’ published writing about ideas that have shaped the field of literacy education. As a collection, the essays highlight some of the major themes that have guided and changed literacy practices over the last few decades. They also offer a rare glimpse into the complex ways histories of research emerge alongside personal and political influences on policy and practice.

The volume includes an introductory chapter by Sumara and Alvermann in which they detail the processes they used in creating a context for the significance of this work. They begin with the premise that most literacy scholars rarely, if ever, reveal their personal and intellectual investments in ideas that have animated their research and other scholarly endeavors. That this observation rang true for all of the contributors was evidenced in their responses to the invitation. For example, some replied by saying this was the most exciting project they had engaged in because it required reflection on what motivated them to write the requested 3,500-word essay; others mentioned they were looking forward to reading what their peers would share.

Ideas That Changed Literacy Practices is a unique collection of autobiographical essays that situates literacy learning and teaching in a rich context of personal and professional knowledge that highlights and celebrates the vibrant complexities of the field of literacy education. It is a unique and valuable resource for researchers and educators, whether in K-12 or higher education.

Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Literacy Research ӏ Literacy Research and Methods ӏ Language, Literacy and Culture ӏ Literacy Policy and Practice ӏ Narrative Research ӏ Interpretive Inquiry ӏ Research Methods in Education ӏ Foundations of Literacy Education ӏ Research Methods in Language and Literacy ӏ Popular Culture in Literacy Classrooms ӏ New and Digital Literacies ӏ History of Literacy Practices ӏ Educational Philosophy ӏ Reading and Language Arts ӏ Critical Theory ӏ Poststructuralism ӏ Digital Media Education ӏ Creative Writing ӏ Politics of Literacy

Dennis Sumara is Dean Emeritus and Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Calgary. His areas of research and teaching include literacy education, queer studies in education, curriculum theory, and teacher education. His scholarly work has critiqued problematics associated with normativity in literacy education, curriculum studies, and teacher education. It also has informed creating productive ways to make schooling more inviting to the many individuals and groups who have in the past found themselves excluded. In so doing, he has been able to demonstrate how critically analyzing conceptions of normal and normativity in teaching and learning can create more inclusive and productive situations for everyone. Sumara was co-founder of the Journal for the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, former Editor of Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, and currently is Editor of Teaching Education Journal. He was awarded the 2003 Ed Fry Book Award by the National Reading Conference for his book Why Reading Literature in School Still Matters and the 2019 Canadian Association for Teacher Education Award for Distinguished Research Contributions.

Donna E. Alvermann is the Omer Clyde and Elizabeth Parr Aderhold Professor in Education and Distinguished Research Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. Her interests include developing historical-autobiographical methods for uncovering silences that keep literacy research and scholarly writing from masking more than they disclose. Alvermann's research focuses on young people’s critical digital literacies, their uses of popular culture, and a Foucauldian approach to genealogy involving historical texts. She is lead editor on the 7th edition of Theoretical Models and Processes of Literacy, and has published in the field's leading research journals, including, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, and the American Educational Research Journal. She is the recipient of numerous awards and was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 1999. From 1992-1997, Alvermann directed the National Reading Research Center at the University of Georgia (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6881-0657).