JCT Online

We are excited to share this year’s call for proposals for the JCT Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice. October 8-10th at the Bergamo Conference Center in Dayton, Ohio

Curriculum as Luminous

In concert with special issue editors Morna McDermott McNulty and Chris Osmond, I am pleased to announce the publication of the final 2019 issue of JCT, which is entitled “Curriculum of the Monstrous.” The work on this special issue began with a 2018 Bergamo panel on the curricular richness to be found in all things monster, which was organized by Morna and by which I became fascinated or maybe bewitched is a better term. Morna and I began at that conference to discuss the possibility of turning the work into a special issue and were pleased to win Tom Poetter’s approval and Chris Osmond’s agreement to come on board as Morna’s co-editor. The issue focuses on the question of what it means to be a monster and, as a result, what monsters have to teach us about what it means to be human. In the issue, you can find discussions of the wealth of curricular thought that can be derived from examining works of popular culture, from the present and extending back to the origins of the Western Gothic (see separate essays by Janiki, O’Hara, Waldrop, Kelley, and Helfenbein), conceptions of how we may use the monstrous to forge new ground in our understanding of currere (see essays by McDermott McNulty and Huddleston), and unique explorations of what it means to learn and to teach (see essays by Osmond and Huddleston). We had a lot of fun putting this issue together, and I think that enthusiasm comes through in the writing, making the issue an engaging entry into the literature of modern curriculum thought. I hope that its readers may find it to be useful in helping them to consider all of the things we may learn from that which goes bump in the night.

-Respectfully submitted, Kelly Waldrop, Managing Editor JCT

This award will be presented to one graduate student in recognition of an outstanding paper presented at the 2019 Annual Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice. This award recognizes the innovative scholarship of one student whose work expands on this year’s conference theme of The Transformational Power of Curriculum Studies by situating the present moment in curriculum studies within the context of the broader field of education—and beyond. The award encourages the participation of emerging scholars in promoting new ideas and welcomes all viewpoints in forming more transformative and reflective curriculum, theory, and practice.

Procedure: Interested graduate students should have already submitted a proposal to the conference. Proposals must be accepted for presentation at the 2019 Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice. The completed paper must be submitted by 5 p.m. EST on Friday, September 27, 2019 via email to Isabel Nuñez at: nunezi@pfw.edu.

Submissions must be single-authored by the graduate student and may not exceed more than 20 pages (excluding references, tables, appendices). Names and university affiliation should appear only on a separate document for blind review. Papers must be in APA style. If no paper is identified that meets the criteria of the award, no awards will be given for this year.

Award: Publication in a future issue of the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing and recognition at the conference. Details regarding the specific issue of publication will be determined by the author of the winning paper and the editors of the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing.

We are getting closer to our 40th Bergamo Conference! This year’s conference theme is the Transformational Power of Curriculum. There is a now an online draft of the Conference Program available at https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/fct/fct19/.

With the depth and breath of this year’s presentations, there really is something for everyone. We encourage you- teacher, administrator, scholar, student- to join us! Registration for the conference is open athttp://www.jctonline.org/conference/2019-conference-registration/

Sincerely,

Tom Poetter, JCT Editor and FCT President

Cynthia Sanders, Bergamo Conference Organizer and Program Chair

Dear Friends,
Remember that proposals for the Bergamo Conference are due this week, August 10.  We are looking forward to receiving and reviewing your proposals to present at this year’s conference, October 10-12, 2019, the 40th conference of JCT held in Dayton, Ohio.  
Just two weeks ago we announced that Janet Miller will be our keynote speaker on Saturday October 12, and two amazing colleague scholars from the curriculum field will also be joining us as keynote speakers:  Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez on Thursday night October 10 and Theodorea Berry on Friday night October 11.  We are so pleased to have all three of these great scholars with us for the conference, to share in our time together and to speak directly to us about their work.  More details about their talks will be forthcoming.
Also, please join me in thanking Rouhollah Aghasaleh, special edition editor and organizer, for the outstanding special issue of JCT just published at our website on Post-Truth. Go to http://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct to take a look at the articles.  This is a thoughtful, stimulating, and provocative set of articles, several of which I’m already working into my Fall reading for students.  Be sure to read Rouhollah’s acknowledgments at the end of his opening piece, noting the many hearts and minds that contributed to this timely special issue.
Finally, when we return to Dayton in October, we will be returning to a great city, torn apart by violence.  Dayton recently lost much in devastating Spring tornados, and of course this weekend, like El Paso, lost more citizens in a mass shooting that claimed so many lives.  But as an Ohioan, I can attest to the robust and indefatigable spirit of our citizens, who are tough and kind and good.  My hope is that much will change in the meantime, and that we will be steps down the road toward healing, and perhaps further into the complicated conflicts that could yield justice, and peace.  I hope.
Best regards to all, Tom Poetter, JCT Editor