Papers by Sarah J . Donovan
Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teaching/Writing, 2024
Writing groups in teacher education typically focus on providing faculty, usually junior faculty,... more Writing groups in teacher education typically focus on providing faculty, usually junior faculty, with a supportive environment to share their work and to help one another create publishable manuscripts and/or improve teaching practices. Writing groups, however, are also about engaging in the act of writing in both personal and professional ways alongside others. In this collaborative autoethnography, we explored how we, three ELA teacher educators, made sense of ourselves the world around us through a writing group focused on writing as self-service and witness. We portray this exploration in the form of a collage that pieces together our writing, transcripts from the group conversations, and discussion notes. Across those collages, we found value in the opportunity to write in ways that served us at the time, even if that meant the writing was not in service to our students or institution. We also found value in having others witness our writing because it provided support, validation, and motivation. Implications provide permission and guidance for creating faculty writing groups focused on self-service and witness and recommendations for engaging in collaborative autoethnographic research within these groups to better understand how and why they work.
Literacy Research and Practice, 2024
This phenomenological study explored five literacy academics' experiences with utilizing social m... more This phenomenological study explored five literacy academics' experiences with utilizing social media as scholarly practices and the factors that influenced their experiences over time through a participatory culture lens. The research questions investigated the experiences that contributed to their decisions to participate, in what ways, and on what platforms. Our interpretive phenomenological analysis surfaced six themes that have implications for digital scholarship and contextualized scholarly identities.
Research in the teaching of English, Feb 1, 2024
Action in teacher education, Mar 4, 2024
's spatial shifts in The Things They Carried (1998); the verse form of Patricia McCormick's Sold ... more 's spatial shifts in The Things They Carried (1998); the verse form of Patricia McCormick's Sold (2006); the temporal shifts in Pam Muñoz Ryan's Echo (2015); the point of view in. E. Lockhart's Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything (2006). These books invited me into different places, times, and experiences while I was grieving the loss of my dad. At times, I was escaping. At times, I was comforted. But all the time, my relationship with words was changing. I think this is the psychology of books. Jesus, one of my students (all student names are pseudonyms), sketched panels inspired by G. Neri's Yummy (2010) and devoured Todd Strasser's If I Grow Up (2010) in one day, which inspired him to write an advice piece for his younger brother. Last year, Erin read Marilyn Hilton's Full Cicada Moon (2017) followed by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminist (2015), after which she wrote a TED-like talk about women in science and how she is going to change the world. Books plus readers equal a synergistic effect that defies measurement. When teachers make choice the reading and writing curriculum, students learn about books, writing, and life, as well as the writers and readers we are and are becoming. We read and we write to make sense of our lives, to stretch moments, to imagine conversations, to remember smells and sounds, and sometimes, to reimagine memories with new endings. Writing is a way of bearing witness to our lives, and I think many authors write as a way of witnessing humanity and making accessible to readers the This article is also available in an online format that allows direct access to all links included. We encourage you to access it on the ALAN website at http://www. alan-ya.org/publications/the-alan-review/the-alanreview-columns/.
The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado eBooks, Jun 10, 2024
The Perspectives on Writing series addresses writing studies in a broad sense. Consistent with th... more The Perspectives on Writing series addresses writing studies in a broad sense. Consistent with the wide ranging approaches characteristic of teaching and scholarship in writing across the curriculum, the series presents works that take divergent perspectives on working as a writer, teaching writing, administering writing programs, and studying writing in its various forms. The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado are collaborating so that these books will be widely available through free digital distribution and low-cost print editions. The publishers and the series editors are committed to the principle that knowledge should freely circulate and have embraced the use of technology to support open access to scholarly work.
Writing and Pedagogy
In this reflective article, we draw upon Richardson’s (2002) advice for configuring words to view... more In this reflective article, we draw upon Richardson’s (2002) advice for configuring words to view the world through poetry, through an analysis of our own social and digital selves into and through the early days of COVID-19. Verselove is a month-long digital poetry challenge, a space to welcome teacher-writers from around the world to create, learn, and share. Through the common passion for poetry, Verselove is a space of new creative professional growth and inquiry through a poetic lens. Since we did not come to Verselove as a research project or with this framework in place, we share what Verselove is and then offer our theorizing about how we are coming to understand this poetic professional development project
THE BEST LESSON SERIES: WRITING, 2018
The Oklahoma English Journal, 2024
Often considered a weed, dandelions are both nutritious and a symbol of perseverance and the abil... more Often considered a weed, dandelions are both nutritious and a symbol of perseverance and the ability to thrive in difficult conditions.
English Journal
A former elementary teacher and a former high school teacher collaborated to envision a comprehen... more A former elementary teacher and a former high school teacher collaborated to envision a comprehensive approach to inclusive ELA instruction.
English Education
In this qualitative study, the authors explore how preservice teachers select, read, and imagine ... more In this qualitative study, the authors explore how preservice teachers select, read, and imagine teaching representations of disability in young adult literature. Adding disability to the list of diversity categories can be problematic in that thinking about disability as a singular identity group ignores abling or disabling contexts and diversity within disability (Davis, 2011; Watson, 2002). However, findings indicate that preservice teachers may only see disability in the context of special education if representations of disability are not explicitly applied in English coursework using a disability studies lens (Dunn, 2014).
English Education
To understand trends in what seems to be an explosion of books written about young adult literatu... more To understand trends in what seems to be an explosion of books written about young adult literature (YAL), the authors conducted a content analysis of scholarly books published between 2000 and 2020. The question What trends in YAL research and pedagogy do the books published in this span of time reflect? guided this inquiry to support English teacher educators in their engagement with YAL scholarship within and beyond teacher preparation. After examining 191 books, with the majority of them focusing on research and theory in YAL, findings emerged in five areas: critical events in society, shifts in public education, literacy movements, publishing trends, and scholarly community influence.
English Journal
Sarah J. Donovan drew inspiration from an article published in English Journal in the early 2000s... more Sarah J. Donovan drew inspiration from an article published in English Journal in the early 2000s to teach middle schoolers to facilitate whole-group discussions.
Voices from the Middle
all, to make that power and privilege available to all. To that I say, excuses be damned. We have... more all, to make that power and privilege available to all. To that I say, excuses be damned. We have sent people to the moon and yet we still cannot figure out how to have science labs in all schools, art classes in all schools, the same rigorous AP and pre-AP classes in all schools, libraries in all schools, counselors in all schools, books for children to read in all classrooms-we can't even figure out how to have clean bathrooms in all schools. And we certainly haven't figured out how to stop the killing in schools. Until we elect local, state, and national lawmakers who are not racist, not homophobic, not misogynistic, not bought by special-interest groups; until we elect leaders who understand that we were founded as a nation with respect for people from all religions including those who have no religion; until we learn that blindly accepting the views of political pundits without understanding the issues means giving up our own thinking; until we recognize that the reading and writing we do in schools should prepare us to question, to wonder, to grow, and to change, not merely to pass a test; until this nation stands together demanding equity for all, then our democracy will be at risk and your job will remain harder than we ever thought possible. And you will need to be brave as you stand against all that would make your teaching less. I'm standing there with you, as always. In awe. In solidarity. In hope. My greatest hope is that you will be brave. My best to each of you-Kylene Beers Educator, Author You will need to be brave as you stand against all that would make your teaching less.
English Education, 2023
To understand trends in what seems to be an explosion of books written about young adult literatu... more To understand trends in what seems to be an explosion of books written about young adult literature (YAL), the authors conducted a content analysis of scholarly books published between 2000 and 2020. The question "What trends in YAL research and pedagogy do the books published in this span of time reflect?" guided this inquiry to support English teacher educators in their engagement with YAL scholarship within and beyond teacher preparation. After examining 191 books, with the
majority of them focusing on research and theory in YAL, findings emerged in five areas: critical events in society, shifts in public education, literacy movements, publishing trends, and scholarly community influence.
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Papers by Sarah J . Donovan
majority of them focusing on research and theory in YAL, findings emerged in five areas: critical events in society, shifts in public education, literacy movements, publishing trends, and scholarly community influence.
majority of them focusing on research and theory in YAL, findings emerged in five areas: critical events in society, shifts in public education, literacy movements, publishing trends, and scholarly community influence.