Teaching in the Wild: Exploring Place-based Interdisciplinary Literacy Possibilities (030)
Teachers come to classrooms with care and a desire to make a difference. They also experience high rates of burnout, which they cannot fight without experiencing joy in their work. This session shares place-based interdisciplinary strategies through a roundtable format where teachers share practical strategies they are implementing with their students.
Organizer
Amanda Montgomery is a reading specialist for Marietta City School District. She is the co-author of A Place to Write: Getting Your Students Out of the Classroom and Into the World (NCTE, 2021) and co-editor of Place-Based Writing in Action: Opportunities for Authentic Writing in the World Beyond the Classroom (Routledge, 2024).
Dr. Gifford is an experienced classroom teacher for upper grades ELA in DeKalb County, GA, just outside of Atlanta. He also serves as a curriculum writer and master ELA teacher for the DCSD school District. He has given PLs on literacy, fluency, and using AI in the classroom for MS and HS teachers throughout the District and the State. Dr. Gifford is particularly proud of being a Fulbright Scholar, a continuing Fellow for the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project at KSU, and a writing coach for the National Writing Project.
Mary Ann teaches middle school Humanities at the Mount Vernon School in Sandy Springs, Georgia.
Floyd Seals teaches at Paulding County High School. He is a Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project fellow.
Margaret A. Robbins is a Teacher-Scholar at The Mount Vernon School in Atlanta, GA, and has a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from The University of Georgia. She has publications in several journals and books, including The ALAN Review, SIGNAL Journal, and Gifted Child Today. Her educational passions include Young Adult and Middle Grades Literature, pop culture, comics, community building, and writing instruction. She loves time outdoors and continues to look at ways to integrate that passion into her teaching.
Jennifer Dail is a professor of English Education at Kennesaw State University. She serves as the president of GCTE and as the director of the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project. Her research focuses on the intersection of digital literacy and anti-racist pedagogies, equitable assessment practices, and young adult literature. She actively works in mentoring graduate students and faculty.