Conceptually Speaking

In this episode of Conceptually Speaking, I sit down with Dr. Al Filreis, the Kelly Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty director of the Kelly Writers House, and the creator of ModPo—a free massive open online course about experimental poetry that has drawn some 435,000 students from 179 countries. Our conversation, anchored in his recent book The Classroom and the Crowd: Poetry and the Promise of Digital Community, explores how ModPo became a genuinely thriving pedagogical co...

In this episode of Conceptually Speaking, I sit down with Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence, professor of 20th and 21st century American and Latin American literature at Rutgers University and author of Anxieties of Experience: The Literatures of the Americas from Whitman to Bolaño and the Spanish-language novel El Americano. Like me, Jeffrey has found himself intrigued by recent developments on Substack, where a growing literary scene is raising questions, debating issues, and engaging in conversations t...

In this episode of Conceptually Speaking, I sit down with Dr. Susan D. Blum, a cultural, linguistic, and psychological anthropologist and author of Schoolishness: Alienated Education and Authentic, Joyful Learning. Our conversation centers on a powerful concept that captures much of what constrains contemporary education: schoolishness. Drawing on thinkers from Marx to the Buddha, from school-aged children to sociolinguists, Susan's work reveals how the seemingly natural structures of institu...

In this episode of Conceptually Speaking, I sit down with Marcus Luther, a 13th-year high school English teacher and co-host of The Broken Copier podcast. After spending his first eight years teaching in Arkansas, Marcus recently returned to the Pacific Northwest, bringing with him a wealth of classroom experience and a passion for teacher-centered conversations. Our discussion explores the evolving landscape of teacher community-building, from the early days of Teacher Twitter to the current...

In this thought-provoking episode, I sit down with Dr. Remi Kalir, the Associate Director of Faculty Development and Applied Research with Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education at Duke University, where he also serves as Associate Director of the Center for Applied Research and Design in Transformative Education. He has also completely revolutionized my thinking about annotation. As someone who was relatively ambivalent about annotations, Remi's perspective transformed me into a fa...

In this episode of Conceptually Speaking, I sit down with Dr. Annie Abrams, author of Short Changed: How Advanced Placement Cheats American Students, to explore the complex relationship between policy, pedagogy, and the purpose of English education in America. Our conversation weaves between critiques of AP's corporatization of liberal arts education and deeper questions about what it means to teach literature meaningfully. Annie and I wrestle with how institutional forces shape (and often co...

To say we’re living through a moment of education polarization would be a mild understatement. Considering the digital echo chambers we all find ourselves in, I believe it’s more important than ever to engage with people who may move in different circles and have different perspectives, but share some foundational beliefs about democracy, wisdom, and advancing the public good. My guest this week is Dr. Ashley Rogers Berner—and she was the perfect person for just such an exchange. As the direc...

The emergence of ChatGPT has sent shockwaves through many secondary and post-secondary English departments. There’s no shortage of doomsaying and prognosticating about the future of writing instruction, even the discipline itself, in the wake of the large language model revolution. Luckily for us, my guest today is Dr. J Palmeri—Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program at Georgetown University. J’s work exploring the past, present, and future of multimodal composition is some ...

Complaining about the theory-practice divide in education feels a bit cliche, but there’s a reason why it’s a constant source of conversation and consternation in classrooms, conferences, and academic journals. As someone with their feet firmly planted in both worlds, I’m always excited to connect with other educators who can bridge that divide—and my guest today is an exceptional example of just such a person. Shawna Coppola is a literacy specialist, educator, and author of the recently rele...

What if I told you there’s a magical place where young people spend hours upon hours discussing, sharing, creating, and theorizing about their favorite books? What if I told you that place was TikTok? Or, more specifically, a corner of TikTok known as BookTok. Well, that’s what this week’s episode is all about. My guest this week is Dr. Sarah Jerasa, Assistant Professor of Literacy at Clemson University in the Department of Education and Human Development. In addition to being a friend of the...

There’s no shortage of authors, consultants, and coaches discussing the importance of culture when it comes to learning, especially literacy learning. However, I can’t think of any that brings the same level of depth, nuance, and accessibility to that work as this week's guest. Nawal Qarooni is a literacy coach, writer, specialist in family literacy, and author of the forthcoming book Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Exalting Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care. N...

Lately, it feels like the world is both literally and figuratively on fire. As a mere English teacher researcher and content creator, there are times when feel kind of powerless in the throes of political upheaval, culture wars, and social unrest. I’ve always believed English class is a place where students can cultivate the wisdom and discernment needed to create a more just, liberatory future, but I always wish I could do more. Luckily, last summer I stumbled upon the work of Dr. Mark Brach...

As melodramatic as it may seem, I’ll never forget the first time I encountered The New London Group’s A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. After an evening of mindless scrolling in the summer of 2016, I clicked on a fortuitous Facebook post from a fellow English teacher. As I read I became increasingly enraptured. It felt inspiring. It felt fresh. It felt innovative. I assumed it was cutting-edge research. Then I saw the publication date. 1996. Reading that publicati...