Do you like reading about teaching? Do you like talking with others about what you’re reading? Write a review for us!
Recursive started publishing book reviews because more and more faculty are searching for better ideas about teaching college students, and we wanted to join that conversation. Reviews can help all of us know what’s going on and to get to know books we might not get a chance to see on our own. We are part of a small and lively community of folks already doing pedagogy book reviews, such as Elon University’s Center For Engaged Learning’s book review blog, Teach & Learn Inquiry, and The Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership. There are so many books about teaching that have already come out or will be soon, and so many books that a new generation of higher ed pedagogues will want to know more about. The core strength driving these reviews is your experience and expertise as teachers in higher ed.
We started with two issues (first issue here and second issue here) in 2021-2022, and would like to try for three issues for the next school year, starting this summer. We usually have one feature (900-1300 words) and two shorter reviews (500-900 words) per issue, though we are not opposed to adding more reviews or publishing review essays in the future. We’re also happy to consider reviews of higher ed pedagogy podcasts (such as Teaching in Higher Ed from Bonnie Stachowiak or the Pedagogue podcast from Shane Wood), so:
Pitch us! We want you to review a book or podcast about teaching in higher ed! We especially want you to write for us if:
- You teach more than one or two classes a semester at a “teaching institution”
- You’re a new professor
- You’re new to writing about teaching
- You’re an experienced professor who read something that made you change the way you teach
- You re-thought your pedagogy during the pandemic
- You’re in an administrative role and teach or are in regular contact with professors in your unit/sphere
We welcome reviews of new and forthcoming books or podcasts (or other media) on higher ed pedagogy, but also enthusiastically welcome reviews of older books that you think deserve a new reading or are “foundational texts” that new higher ed faculty hear of / read sections of but want to know more about. We are willing to consider books about higher ed more generally, if you can make an argument that they somehow touch teaching. Here are a few (but there are so many more!) random examples of new, forthcoming, or older books we’d be interested in reading reviews of. If you have an idea for a book not on this list, pitch us!
- Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (And What to Do Instead), by Susan Blum
- Above the Well: An Antiracist Argument From a Boy of Color, by Asao B Inoue
- 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students, by Lisa M. Nunn
- Sustainable. Resilient. Free: The Future of Public Higher Education, by John Warner
- Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation, by Saundra McGuire and Stephanie McGuire
- The Lifespan Development of Writing, By Charles Bazerman, Arthur N. Applebee, Virginia W. Berninger, Deborah Brandt, Steve Graham, Jill V. Jeffery, Paul Kei Matsuda, Sandra Murphy, Deborah Wells Rowe, Mary Schleppegrell, and Kristen Campbell Wilcox
- Lives on the Boundary: The Struggles and Achievements of America’s Educationally Underprepared, by Mike Rose
- Teachers as Intellectuals: Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Learning, by Henry Giroux
- Teaching To Transgress: Education as The Practice of Freedom, by bell hooks
How to pitch us (email rweaver [at] gsu.edu):
- Read our Style Guide to get a sense of what we want
- Submit electronically through attachment, link, or in the body of an email
- Read and abide by our ethical and editorial submission guidelines
- Tell us what book/podcast you want to review, and answer the following questions: why do you think it should be reviewed? Has it been reviewed elsewhere? What experience do you bring (as an instructor, writer, editor, or combination) to writing that review?
- If you’ve already completed a review, attach it to an email which answers the questions above
- Tell us if you’ve published other things (or send a CV or website link)
- Tell us if you need help getting the book
- Tell us if you’re open to suggestions as to which book to review
- Tell us if you think this would fit as a longer or shorter review
- Tell us if you want to do a review essay and why these 2-4 books should be reviewed together (maybe they’re from the same press, maybe they’re by folks discussing the same topic, maybe they grok in some other way)
- Tell us if you know the author of the book, and how you know that person (as per the guidelines)
- Tell us if you want to review something that isn’t a book but should be reviewed–we’re open to interesting ideas!
- Tell us if you’re interested in reviewing but have never written a review before–that’s cool–we can work with that!
Send us ideas! We look forward to hearing from you!
