Call for Book Chapter Proposals Inside Stories: Teach For America Corps Members Speak Up and Speak Out

Call for Book Chapter Proposals

Inside Stories: Teach For America Corps Members Speak Up and Speak Out

Founded in 1989, Teach For America (TFA) has grown into a massive
organization with a presence in thirty states and twenty-six
countries, financially supported by a host of philanthropic
foundations and other organizations with considerable influence.
Additionally, TFA constitutes an integral part of the larger
neoliberal goal of privatizing education and teacher training. Though
a number of narratives from corps members exist, the vast majority of
them are controlled or suppressed by TFA. Moreover, as the
organization uses supportive narratives to further its rhetoric of
educational reform, the large body of corps member and alumni voices
that desire to express discontent, discouragement, frustration, and
even anger associated with their experiences with TFA has, until now,
been largely silenced. Following the lead of a critique of TFA by
academics over the last few years, slowly TFA corps members and alumni
have offered narratives to challenge the official rhetoric of TFA and
the supposed "prestigious" position of being a TFA teacher.

In an effort to highlight and continue this counter-narrative, this
volume will provide a collection of stories from current and former
TFA corps members. We would also consider narratives of parents of TFA
corps members. While the most effective tool of promoting TFA as a
righteous and prestigious organization are the narratives from
supportive corps members who tend to parrot approved talking points,
this volume will provide a necessary counter-narrative that should be
heard.

Proposals could highlight overall experiences, specific experiences
with recruitment/application into TFA, summer Institute experiences,
placement experiences, leaving TFA, etc. The finished narratives
should be between 5 and 10 double-spaced pages in APA format.
Alternative formats such as poetry or other arts-based representations
are also welcome.

Audience
Given the broad audience interested in TFA, we anticipate the audience
to include researchers, school board members, principals, parents, and
teachers and pre-service teachers.

Schedule
1) Proposals due by May 17, 2014. Include the following to Jameson
Brewer at tbrewer2@illinois.edu:
a) Proposed title of chapter
b) Author(s) name, with complete addresses and 150-word biography for
each author
c) 500-word abstract of proposed chapter

2) Confirmation of selected chapters by June 17, 2014;
3) Contributors will have their first drafts completed by July 17, 2014.
4) The editors will review these first drafts, and provide detailed
comments and suggestions by September 17, 2014.
5) The contributors will make all of the necessary edits, and send the
final chapters to the editors by October 17, 2014.
6) The editors will draft a comprehensive introductory chapter and
have the foreword written by a well-known scholar in the field, which
will be ready along with the index and other editorial issues by
November 17, 2014.
7) Once the publisher's Editor has approved the text, the finalized,
formatted volume will be submitted to the publisher shortly after
November 17, 2014 which should allow for copy-editing and other
related matters to be completed for a publishing date sometime mid
2015.

For questions or queries, contact Jameson Brewer at
tbrewer2@illinois.edu and/or Kathleen deMarrais at kathleen@uga.edu