Journal of Curriculum Theorizing

Just a friendly reminder that the deadline for early registration is Monday, September 1.  After Monday, the registration fees will increase just slightly.  However, it is helpful for our planning if people register earlier than later. Instructions for online registration are at:

http://www.jctonline.org/online-registration/

Over 180 people had proposals accepted for this year’s conference (some more than one proposal!!). We will have the full conference schedule available very shortly. For now, we have included the Schedule for Conference Events on the website to help you in making your plans to attend the conference. The schedule is at:

http://www.jctonline.org/conference/schedule

Also, we are approaching full capacity for rooms at the Conference Center. There are still rooms available so we’re still taking requests (visit the accommodations page on the website for instructions on how to make these requests). We will be listing information about local hotels. We will also have information to help you with local transportation. We should have this information up in about a week. Please check our accommodations page for information at:

http://www.jctonline.org/accommodations/

We look forward to seeing you in October!

Bergamo Conference Leadership Group

We are pleased to share the outline for the 2008 Bergamo conference schedule with our online community.  The finalized schedule will be available soon.  At this time we cannot provide specific information about when papers and panels will be scheduled, however as soon as we have completed the schedule we will inform everyone.

The leadership of Bergamo and JCT Online are excited to announce that the AAACS Commission will be meeting and sponsoring a special session at the conference this fall. Below is more information from the Chair of the Commission Madeline Grumet.

Conversations about teaching curriculum theory:

Some of you may recall the interest in discussing how we teach curriculum theory that was expressed at the Town Hall meeting of AAACS last spring. We are eager to initiate these conversations, hoping to hold them this year at Bergamo and AAACS. In both of these venues we plan to announce the session before the meeting, inviting four professors who teach curriculum theory to sign up for the session at the beginning of the conference. We will record their remarks and conversation and ask that papers be submitted after the conference for an archive and for possible publication. At each session we ask that these questions be addressed:

• How do you distinguish this course from social foundations or cultural studies courses?
• What are you trying to convey to students in this course?
• How have you designed the course and why have you made these choices?
• What are the texts that you consider to be central to your course?
• What processes do you ask students to engage in their work?
• What are the pedagogical questions or dilemmas that this course brings to you?

We hope that these conversations will not only generate information about the teaching of curriculum theory, but will also provide a forum for the discussion of the subtle and significant issues of teaching.

The Critical Issues in Curriculum and Cultural Studies Website is being updated and we wanted to help spread the word.  They are looking for contributions to gathering the history of the Sig.  Please take a few minutes and stop by the site.

We wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know about a possible publication opportunity.  If you have any questions or to request the full call for submissions please follow the contact information at the end of the announcement.

A bodied curriculum attends to the relational, social, and ethical implications of “being-with” other bodies differently and to the different knowledges such bodily encounters produce. It is a practice of being oriented to others, to touch, to reflect, and to dwell with others relationally. Re-conceptualize m/othering as a bodied curriculum opens up maternity to the in-between of corporeality, materiality, and difference.

Submissions are sought from scholars interested in the intersections between mothering, educational scholarship, and identities of difference. The following topics among others are encouraged: readings of the maternal body in teaching and learning; mothering as curriculum; historical examinations of teacher-mothers; understandings, experiences, and practices of mothering that de-centre the western norms of motherhood; artistic documentation of aspects of motherhood; mothering and popular culture; the embrace of motherhood in education; the problematics of motherhood as a theme; the challenges of maintaining a balance between motherhood and teaching/research; making motherhood a “legitimate” topic for research; issues of motherhood and family leave in the workplace; mothering “success stories” in the face of adversity.

If you are interested in submitting to this co-edited collection please send an abstract by October 15, 2008. Submit to Stephanie Springgay, sss23@psu.edu. Subject line: M/othering.

Deadline for initial abstract: October 15, 2008. Include: Include: Title, Abstract (500-800 words), Name, Institutional Affiliation, Address, Phone, Email Address, and Brief Bio (50 words). Arts-based submissions are also welcome.