Be bold in your choice of literature! Be innovative in your teaching! A variety of contributors provide informative, dynamic viewpoints on important issues along with analyses of recently published high-quality books and explain why they are valuable either for classroom use or for you to recommend to your students. Proposals or ideas for future columns should be sent to Don Gallo, 34540 Sherbrook Park Drive, Solon, OH 44139, email: GalloDon@aol.com.

The first few years in a classroom present teachers with unique obstacles and opportunities. We must be confident in our profession while still questioning ourselves as educators. We must learn to function within the complexities of an individual school culture while mastering the complexities of the classroom. We are enthusiastic yet uncertain, inexperienced yet knowledgeable. Although our colleagues offer expert advice, we also have our own insights to develop as we question the basic notions of what it means to be an English language arts teacher.

"New Voices" serves to raise questions, offer insights, and provide a forum for novice teachers to engage in the professional conversations surrounding the teaching of English. This column will showcase the experiences, ideas, and concerns of teachers in the first five years of their career. We also invite experienced teachers to provide additional perspectives. Send inquiries, ideas, or submissions to Tiffany J. Hunt, 2275 Harvest Street, Fort Collins, CO 80528, email: hunt_bud@stvrain.k12.co.us.

English teachers find time not only for the reading we must do for classes but also for the reading we want to do for enjoyment. After all, a love of reading and talking about it probably brought us to this profession. We invite you, therefore, to join us in discussing personal reading. Sometimes we will write the reviews; we also encourage you to submit reviews of your personal reading, whether fiction or nonfiction, current or classic. We are especially interested in multicultural works; however, our interests are probably as eclectic as yours. This column runs in November, March, and July.

For every book you review, we ask that you provide author, title, city, publisher, publication date, ISBN, and price, if possible. Manuscripts should be 1,000–1,500 words and may be submitted as email attachments if written in Microsoft Word. Please include a statement that your review has not been published or submitted elsewhere. Manuscripts will not be returned. Send submissions to Suellen Alfred and Linda Null, Tennessee Technological University, Box 5042, Cookeville, TN 38505-0001, email: Salfred@tntech.edu.

Poetry is everything from The Iliad to the lyrics of Tracy Chapman and Willie Nelson. Poetry is elegant and refined. Poetry is down and dirty. Poetry was created by men and women long dead and in their graves. Poetry is created by your next-door neighbor—or by you. Poetry is greeting card verse, hymns, advertising jingles, and Slam! Of course, not all poems ought to be in EJ, but we encourage readers to submit your best work for our consideration.

Submit two copies of up to five poems—in any style, on any topic—with a cover letter that includes your phone number, email address, and brief biographical information. Include your name, address, and email address on each poem. Notification regarding receipt of your poems, acceptances, and rejections is by email. If you want materials returned, enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. No previously published poems or simultaneous submissions, please, and no email submissions. Generally, poems should be no longer than forty lines. Poets whose work is published will receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears. Due to space limitations, we accept fewer than 10 percent of submissions. Send submissions to James Brewbaker, College of Education, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA 31907-5645.

When we attend to what particular research studies have to offer us as teachers, we may find support for our current teaching methods or more reason to explore changes in our practice, as well as challenges for common but unexamined approaches. "Research Matters" will provide teachers with review and application of a single piece of research that illuminates teachers’ work in developing students’ literacy. With a focus on research that matters within the daily concerns and activities of English language arts teachers and classrooms, this column will depict a familiar classroom vignette; discuss a research report, book, or article; and then revise the vignette based on insights from the research.

Contributors should focus on a particular research study and link the research to familiar classroom practice, and they should mix exposition and narrative to show how the research informs teaching approaches. Send inquiries, ideas, or submissions to Rick VanDeWeghe, Department of English, Campus Box 175, P.O. Box 173364, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO 80217-3364, email: Rick.Vandeweghe@cudenver.edu.

Seeing that lightbulb go on in a child’s eyes and feeling a sense of accomplishment for a job well done are the rewards or “bonus checks” that brought many of us to teaching. It is gratifying to see a challenge, diagnose it, research a solution, give it a go, and see it succeed. We want to celebrate these choices in “Stepping into the Classroom."

Another perk of the profession is the willingness to share what has worked. Wonderful lessons and units have been gleaned from chance meetings at conferences and associated events. This column will go one step further by sharing great ideas grounded in current literature or action research. Send in what worked with the support to back it up, and we will share your insights and findings.

This column appears in November, March, and July, and contributions of 500–1,500 words addressing English Journal themes (see “Call for Manuscripts”) are encouraged. Contributors should check the EJ Web site Themed Issues page for specific themes and deadlines; contact Michael J. Vokoun, Independent Day School-Corbett Campus, 12015 Orange Grove Drive, Tampa, FL 33618 or email Terry Patrick Bigelow at Terry.Bigelow@sdhc.k12.fl.us.

"Taking Time" is about slowing down to examine important issues that affect English language arts teachers. Emphasizing the value of reflective practice, we will focus on teaching the middle level child in urban, rural, and suburban schools. This column runs in September, January, and May and will address challenges in pedagogy and content and issues that affect middle level education. Teaching writing effectively, working with struggling readers, and meeting the needs of each child as an individual learner top the list of opportunities for English language arts teachers to share. We need to take time to think deeply and reflectively about our practice and our profession. This column will be a place to do that. Send inquiries to Tonya Perry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Education, 901 South 13th Street, Birmingham, AL 35294-1205, email: tperryteacher@cs.com.

Because literacy instruction teaches values implicitly, English classes help students interpret and express their own social, cultural, and political priorities inside our classrooms and well beyond them. As we teach our students, it is important that we engage our educational work’s significance to the larger world. "Teaching English in the World" will focus on the teaching of English in a global context. We will examine the social and political work that we do when we teach English. And, we will explore how practices and contexts of literacy teachers outside of the United States could enhance our instruction. This column should encourage us to bring the outside world into our classrooms and explore critical problems of the community service we accomplish as English teachers.

Column contributions of 500–1,500 words addressing English Journal themes (see "Call for Manuscripts") are encouraged. Contributors should check the EJ Web site at http://www.englishjournal.colostate.edu/issuetopics.htm for specific themes and deadlines or contact Kenneth Lindblom, Department of English, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5350, email: KLindblom@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.

Editor: Colleen A. Ruggieri

Teachers are energized by new ideas, new publications, new resources. Yet, sorting through all of the available materials can be overwhelming. This column can help you find the print and electronic tools you need. What is the latest "must have" title? What are the newest resources available? What Web sites offer authentic tools for teaching? In this column we will review materials selected for classroom relevance, depth of content, and innovative ideas. In upcoming columns, we will focus on books and electronic media published within the last two years that relate to the themes of the issues. I also welcome your suggestions and review manuscripts of subjects and materials that you think would most benefit teachers in the language arts community. Send inquiries to Colleen A. Ruggieri, 6675 Pheasant Run Drive, Canfield, OH 44406, email: colleen_ruggieri@breadnet.middlebury.edu.