Writing for JAAL IRA 2013

Writing for JAAL

Emily N. Skinner & Margaret C. Hagood

Co-Editors

College of Charleston

Session Overview

• Introductions

• Vision for 2012-2016

• Description of features

• Review process

• Questions?

Vision

• Connections and conversations of various stakeholders: teachers, adolescent and adult learners, researchers, teacher educators, media specialists/librarians, policy makers

• Inclusion of readers of the journal in both consumption and production of texts

• Balance of theory, research, and practice

• Driven by expanded definition of text and of multifaceted view of literacy, including reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and designing

Seeking submissions that attend to:

• Connections among six literacies—reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and designing—grounded in multidisciplinary topics and inquiries both responsive to school standards and relevant to students’ lives.

• 21st century learning that merge Web 1.0 and 2.0 features (and moving into Web 3.0) and connect local and global literacies

• Producing literacies- writing/designing

• Teacher advocacy through negotiations of state standards, testing culture, and technology issues

• Teaching diverse groups of students

• Disciplinary literacies

• Qualitative and/or quantitative research

Feature Articles• Criteria: High-quality research into practice manuscripts that

make a significant contribution to advancing and integrating theory and practice in adolescent and adult literacy

• Format: Research studyTeacher action researchConceptual piece

• Tone: Accessible and engaging

• Length:5,000 to 6,000 words, including citations, required Take Action! And More to Explore sidebars, and

reference list

Encourage inclusion of charts, tables, figures, photographs, video clips

Recommendation: Choose a model JAAL article and set up your work similarly

Required Feature Article Sidebars

Take Action

• Short (270 words) sidebar that accompanies JAAL feature articles and lists author’s ideas teachers might implement in their classrooms.

• Clear and concise, including content area examples

More to Explore

• Sidebar listing 3-4 texts (encourage both print and non-print texts [videos, websites, applications, etc.]) that readers can go to to learn more about the subject matter of your piece.

These features must be included in initial submission before they will be sent out for review.

Manuscript Review Process• Acceptance determined by the 3 reviewers’ recommendations

and editorial evaluation based on originality, significance, scholarship, clearly articulated relationship between theory and practice, audience appeal, organization, and writing style appropriateness for JAAL audience. The acceptance rate has been 16–20%.

• Initial decision (accept with minor revisions, revise and resubmit, reject) provided within ten weeks of submission.

• Revise and resubmit decisions have a very good chance of proceeding towards publication if recommendations are addressed.

• Early View Publication: Feature articles will be published online as soon as they are processed and can be cited at that time.

• Podcasts of feature articles posted when ejournal becomes available.

• Publication date of accepted manuscripts is currently slated for upcoming volume year (2013-2014).

Other Special Features

• Cover art

• Meeting of the Minds

• Literacy Lenses

Cover Art• Adolescent and adult representations of adolescent and

adult literacies in action.

• Answers the question, How are literacies enacted in the lives of adolescents and adults and what do they look like?

• Welcome photographs, paintings, illustrations, word clouds, and digital art.

• Adhere to appropriate releases.

• Include no content copyrighted by a third party.

• Submit in digital format.

Cover Art Examples

“The Good Stuff Found Therein”

James F. Wolgom

“Documenting the Occupy Movement”

Elizabeth Beier

“Fretboard to heaven”

Patrick Benner

Meeting of the Minds

• Highlights discussion around journal's content and current literacy issues

• "Like" JAAL on FB and join the conversation

Literacy Lenses• Essays by middle school and high school teachers, media

specialists, librarians, literacy coaches, curriculum specialists, administrators, pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and by adolescent and adult learners.

• Highlight authors’ perspectives of teaching and/or learning with literacies to inspire reader reflection of the literacy issues

• Non-academic writing (written in first person without citations or references included).

• Approximately 500 words

• One-year, online-only subscription to any IRA journal for either yourself or a colleague if selected.

Get involved!• Write a feature article

• Write a piece for Literacy Lenses or work with students and have them submit first person pieces

• Submit cover art

• Like the JAAL Facebook page and join in the conversation with other JAAL readers

• Offer to be a guest reviewer

Contact Information

Emily Skinner [email protected] Hagood [email protected]

Meg Manuel (Administrative Assistant)

[email protected]

Shannon Fortner [email protected]