Call for Papers    

Louisiana English Journal, Fall 2003 Issue

DEADLINE: 15 September 2003

Inquiries Welcome

Handling the Paper Load (Hard Copy and Online)

The LCTE Louisiana English Journal invites original essays for its Fall 2003 issue on how to handle the paper load. Because it continues to be a challenge-one to which electronic technologies add a whole new dimension--teachers must continue to seek and find innovative and efficient ways to resolve ongoing issues about the writing classroom,
issues that remain pervasive and persistent at all levels of instruction. The LEJ is looking for fresh, original descriptions and accounts of teachers' new-and-improved ways of handling the paper (and now electronic) load.

Articles should explore questions such as these: How do you evaluate students' papers? How often? What aspects of students' writing do you focus on? What kinds of feedback do you give? And which sets of papers do you actually grade? How do you use computers and other instructional technology to help you handle the paper load? How do you handle the 
electronic load? What strategies and solutions have you found to monitor and evaluate students' online work frequently and efficiently? How do you cope with the paper/electronic load resulting from journal writing? Research papers? What kinds of ungraded writing activities do you use that are especially practical and valuable? What do you and your students do with them? How do you evaluate student projects and
performances that incorporate writing? How do you handle peer editing of papers and/or classroom conferences with students? How do you use rubrics in your instruction? How do you use portfolios?

Connecting Critical Theories: Literature and Composition Most English majors, even those who focus on rhetoric and composition, learn about literary theories through their coursework, particularly the introduction to literature courses. Some rhetoric and composition courses include various composition and rhetorical theories that have
guided the study of writing over the past 50 years. But it is rare to find an opportunity for students to discover the commonalities, differences, blending, and overlap of the two sister fields of literature and composition in the English Department. This section of
the Fall 2003 issue of the Louisiana English Journal will explore the relationships between twentieth century literary criticism and composition theory with relevance to LOUISIANA authors. The Louisiana English Journal invites papers addressing connections among the many lenses of literary and composition theory, instruction, and research.

Political Issues in the Classroom
 Focus: Papers that deal with political issues-particularly those germane to LOUISIANA politics-in the classroom and how we, as teachers, address them. We are especially interested in focusing on the following issues as they pertain to the classroom: labor, education spending/inequities, war and civil conflict, and the electoral process. Some questions arise when considering these issues, such as: how do we address them, how might we include them in our lessons and lectures, and ought we give voice to these concerns or not? As well as discussing the problems that exist, we would like this panel to be positive, informative, and maybe even mobilizing. Interesting strategies that showcase how to engage in productive dialogue about political issues, texts that foster such a dialogue, and student reactions to these issues are encouraged.

Shakespeare and the Institution
Unlike any other writer, Shakespeare has become an institution which variously represents a conservative social order, Englishness, and a guide to human nature. But how exactly did one Elizabethan/Jacobean writer, who largely plagiarized other people's plot lines, gain such a hold not just on the national psyche but on that of Western culture as a whole? This focus area will explore how Shakespeare, the man, has become Shakespeare, the institution, by centering on the use that that has been made of his work in the past and the use that continues to be made of it in schools, universities, and the culture at large, with particular focus on LOUISIANA institutions. Can Shakespeare simultaneously be the 
embodiment of orthodoxy and a means of challenging received opinion? What innovative pedagogical approaches make his works come alive in the classroom for students with an MTV-attention span?

Contemporary Perspectives on Composition, Culture, Creative Writing, the Cannon, and Beyond Possible topics include, but are not limited to: Modern-Contemporary Rhetorics, Current Rhetorics, Digital Rhetorics, Composition Research (Quantitative & Qualitative), Writing Centers, Writing Across the Curriculum, Community- and Service-Based Pedagogies, ESL Instruction, and Writing Instruction.

Length of submission: 4-10 double-spaced pages using MLA documentation.

Contact information: Please include a cover sheet that contains your name, postal address, telephone number, school/institution, fax number, and e-mail address.

Deadline: September 15, 2003

Send submissions to: Dr. Thomas D. Petitjean Jr.

                             Northwestern State University

                             Department of Language and Communication

                             Kyser Hall 316 M

                             Natchitoches, LA 71497

                             E-mail: petitjeant@cox-internet.com