Literacy Teachers Navigating Turbulent Times in Canada ADRIAN M. DOWNEY1 Mount Saint Vincent University TIFFANY L. GALLAGHER Brock University AM LIE LEMIEUX Université de Montréal LORI MCKEE University of Saskatchewan JOE STOUFFER Brandon University JEFFREY WOOD Laurentian University Introduction to the special issue We are living in turbulent times. There are several reasons for the turbulence of this moment. One might point to the rapid technological advancements in generative AI and the ways they have disrupted academia and K-12 schooling. The record numbers of forest fires and the sequence of   hottest months on record   that mark the most recent manifestations of climate change might also be responsible. Further, the spectre of a global pandemic, yet to be mourned, still haunts at the edges of daily life. We could also point to the six Indigenous people who were killed in interactions with Canadian police forces between August 29-September 8, 2024, the most recent manifestation of systemic racism  s deadly consequences. Internationally, several ongoing wars and a tightly contested American presidential election have widespread implications, adding to this turbulence. So does the Palestinian genocide. Indeed,   turbulent   seems barely sufficient as a descriptor. As is sometimes the case, words fall short. Each of these markers of the current turbulence filter into classrooms, and each deserves pedagogical attention and consideration. In our work as literacy educators and researchers, we also acutely feel the rising tide of the reading wars   resurgence in Canada. The term   reading wars   refers to a longstanding debate about the ways reading should be instructed in schools (Tierney &amp; Pearson, 2021). The term first emerged in the 1980s amidst debates about whether whole language or phonics approaches were the best way to instruct readers (Wyse &amp; Bradbury, 2022). Today, we see the resurgence of these debates in Canada manifest in the rising popularity of the science of reading movement,  1  Authorship for this editorial is listed alphabetically.  Language and Literacy  Volume 26, Issue 3, 2024  Page 1  the narrow definitions of literacy often present in that work, and the credence provincial education officials have shown toward it (Cummins, 2023). We are not alone in our concern. This special issue emerges from discussions among Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada (LLRC/ACCLL) members at the 2023 Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE/SC  ) conference that called for a Canadian national response of literacy professionals to the current trends. As a result of these discussions, we, as a guest editorial team from six universities in five provinces across Canada, volunteered to work on this special issue. Through this special issue, we hope to open a forum for conversation among teacher educators and researchers upholding the vision of LLRC with respect to the contemporary landscape of reading instruction. Specifically, this special issue builds on the recent position statement issued by LLRC to forward research that understands   ...  literacy   broadly and situationally as the ways in which people make meaning and use language (written and multimodal) for a range of purposes and in a variety of forms as they navigate different linguistic spheres and sociocultural and material conditions   (LLRC Position Statement, 2023, Para. 1). This special issue on the state of Canadian literacy education is responsive to current international discussions related to reading pedagogies and literacy programming. The featured articles bring attention to the current and longstanding discussions related to the question of what constitutes effective reading instruction. Importantly, these articles foreground the significance of teacher agency and impactful reading pedagogies that respect the diversity of Canadian learners. From our perspectives as guest editors, there is urgency in advancing LLRC  s broad definition of literacy given that narrowed views on literacy and circulating in mainstream (Goldberg, 2019; Hanford, 2019) and social media. These views refute some long-standing approaches to reading instruction and presents a dichotomous view of reading science (MacPhee et al., 2022). This elucidates the challenges of teaching within a landscape where there is disagreement in understandings of literacies and how they can be supported through pedagogies. This special issue seeks to illuminate the ways teacher educators and teachers are engaging with expansive literacies teaching in Canada. Herein, we strive to add to national and international conversations about literacies pedagogies in turbulent times. We are pleased to highlight the articles of this special issue with the following summaries. In Boxed In and-and Busting Out: Playing in the Borderlands of Literacy Education, Ronna Mosher and Kimberly Lenters (University of Calgary) explore the   liveable possibilities in language and literacy instruction for the   right now   of literacy education (Kuby et al., 2018)   (this issue). In the Alberta context, the   right now   includes increasing dominance of synthetic phonics and the   boxing in   and   boxing out   of instructional practices. Mosher and Lenters offer descriptive and analytic explorations of a   Grade 1 teacher  s work with playful(l), expansive literacies amidst the paradigmatic and policied troubles of literacy education   (this issue) through theorizations of borderlands. The paper offers explorations of playful, embodied assemblages that include rocks, sand, shovels, worms and a fence to identify possibilities in the boundedunboundedness of literacy education. In and amongst the reading wars, the authors invite us to envision possibilities in locating pedagogical practices in emergence. Language and Literacy  Volume 26, Issue 3, 2024  Page 2  The article written by Judith  mery-Bruneau (Université du Québec en Outaouais) and Fednel Alexandre (Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue) presents a cross-examination of how Quebec poets and teachers conceive poetry as a teachable subject in secondary school. Titled « Quelle est votre vision de la poésie? » : conceptions croisées de poètes québécois contemporains et d  enseignants du secondaire, their study presents results from a qualitative study reporting on 20 teachers   and 32 poets   conceptualizations of poetry in Quebec. Findings point to the complementary and distinguishing features of the definitions and uses of poetry. These further indicate new ways of teaching poetry in high school, insofar as they highlight the cognitive and aesthetic dimensions of poetry for teachers, while poets hold a more affective, experiential, and creative view of poetry. Amélie Lemieux (University of Montreal), Georgina Barton (University of Southern Queensland), David Lewkowich (University of Alberta), Boyd White (McGill University) and Stephanie Ho (St. George's School of Montreal) profile a rich research project highlighting Canadian and Australian adolescents   communication through InstaPoetry (poetry with images on Instagram). This paper, Teaching Poetry using Instagram: An International, Interdisciplinary Study with Adolescents Mobilizing Literacy and the Arts, elucidates how teachers skillfully immerse their learners in a bricolage of both the arts and literature as they virtually visited museums and art galleries for poetry writing inspiration during the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time when adolescents need outlets for expression, creativity, voice, and validation, this work offers an example for educators and researchers to follow. Lori McKee (University of Saskatchewan) and Tara-Lynn Scheffel  s (Wilfred Laurier University) Thoughtfully Navigating the Terrain of Teaching English Language Arts: An Examination of Two Teacher Educators   Literacies Pedagogies presents a collaborative self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP) examining their instructional practices teaching undergraduate literacy education courses at their respective institutions. The authors examine if and how they shifted their pedagogy with/in the current turbulent climate that calls for narrowed views of reading instruction. In a time of highly polarized debate, this paper offers the journal  s readership much to reflect on in relation to their own pedagogical alignment, shifts, and pushing back within their own contexts and calls for a reconsideration of how teacher educators and teachers situate their responses within the broader purposes of teacher education. The paper, Growing Our Roots: Exploring the Home Language and Literacy Environment within the Context of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being co-authored by Lois Maplethorpe (Red Deer Polytechnic) and Eunice Eunhee Jang (University of Toronto) offers insightful perspectives on language interactions among Indigenous parents and their children including how early language learning and development is supported. The study is contextualized in an Indigenous research paradigm that honours Indigenous parents   traditional perspectives, beliefs and values related to language and literacy. After presenting four meaningful themes, there are recommendations for supporting Indigenous culture and important implications. A final few words conclude this work that punctuate the main message of this article,   On our shared journey to Language and Literacy  Volume 26, Issue 3, 2024  Page 3  reconciliation, we must continue to co-research, educate, understand, and celebrate our differences, where celebration is   a way of spreading the light around.     The article, Pulled In All Directions: Kindergarten Educator Challenges for Teaching Reading in Play-Based Programs by Yvonne Messenger (Brock University) explores guidance from 10 Kindergarten teachers who are working in schools where there are conflicting messages about reading in relation to play-based and direct instruction methods in the province of Ontario. Findings highlight shifting guidance from school boards, a lack of clarity regarding direction, and the introduction of scripted phonics programs that seemed at odds with the Kindergarten Curriculum. Messenger identifies helpful recommendations to support educators as they are pulled in different directions in early literacy instruction and sees collaboration as key to supporting educators working within this complex and evolving context. Michelle Honeyford and Jennifer Watt (University of Manitoba) share a conceptual paper called   What  s the Use?  : Undoing, Decolonizing, Liberating, and Righting Literacies Assessment in Turbulent Times. This paper presents assemblings of stories, relations, complications and questions and draws attention to assessment in relation to noticing, positioning, and dis/re/connecting. The authors identify,   we feel tremendous urgency to re-imagine literacies assessment if we hope to realize more just, equitable, anti-oppressive practices and policy in language and literacies education.   Such practices are needed in literacy classrooms at all levels across Canada. These articles unite voices from universities and public institutions across many Canadian provinces in thinking with and through literacies instruction in Canada in turbulent times. As stated above, changes and disruptions in our society at large are mirrored in our educational contexts. Communication and collaboration are vehicles to both guide and pilot through these challenges and language and literacy teachers have a particularly important role to play. Teachers are at the fore to provide all language and literacy learners with the values, dispositions, understandings, and skills that they will need to maneuver their futures. We hope this special issue offers support and provokes thinking through its examinations of impactful reading pedagogies that respect the diversity of Canadian learners.   References Cummins, J. (2023). Right to read implies opportunity to read: A contribution to the ongoing dialogue concerning the Ontario Human Rights Commission Right to Language and Literacy  Volume 26, Issue 3, 2024  Page 7  Read Report. Journal of Teaching and Learning, 17(1), 129-144. https://doi.org/10.22329/jtl.v17i1.7950 Goldberg, M. (2019, December 18). Balanced literacy  s crumbling foundation    what we can do about it. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/rightread/balanced-literacy-s-crumbling-foundation-what-we-can-do-about-it Hanford, E. (2019). At a loss for words: How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/677722959/why-millions-ofkids-cant-read-and-what-better-teaching-can-do-about-it Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada. (2023). Position statement. https://www.llrc-accll.ca/ MacPhee, D., Handsfield, L. J., &amp; Paugh, P. (2022). Conflict or conversation? Media portrayals of the science of reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(S1), S145   S155. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.389 Tierney, R. J., &amp; Pearson, P. D. (2021). A history of literacy education: Waves of research and practice. Teachers College Press. Wyse, D., &amp; Bradbury, A. (2022). Reading wars or reading reconciliation? A critical examination of robust research evidence, curriculum policy and teachers' practices for teaching phonics and reading. Review of Education, 10, e3314. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3314 Author Biographies Adrian M. Downey, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in the Faculty of Education. His research is eclectic but broadly situated in curriculum studies, educational foundations, and Indigenous education. In recent years, his particular foci have included affect and emotion, posthumanism, and ex-colonialism, among other things. Tiffany L. Gallagher, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Brock University. She is recognized for her research that aims to enhance the learning of students with literacy difficulties and learning challenges. Supporting the professional learning of teachers through instructional and inclusion coaching is also a focus of her work. Longitudinal, multi-varied participant perspectives are the cornerstone of Tiffany  s research projects. She has extensive experience applying research findings to support teacher development, mentoring and tutoring. Tiffany is also the Director of the Brock Learning Lab which offers community-based tutoring for K-12 students and mentors undergraduate volunteer tutors. Amélie Lemieux, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Montreal  s Faculty of Education, in the Department of Teaching and Learning. Her research interests include: reading research, literature teaching, and multimodality, all informed by critical social justice epistemologies and posthumanist perspectives. Her work has been published in such journals as Reading Research Quarterly, Literacy, Professional Development in Education, Discourse, Language Arts, and British Journal of Educational Technology. Language and Literacy  Volume 26, Issue 3, 2024  Page 8  Dr. Lori McKee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Lori  s research focuses on the intersections of literacies, pedagogies, and teacher professional learning. She is currently a co-investigator on the Reading Pedagogies of Equity: Networked Literacy Pedagogues as Resources for Academic Reading Praxes in Teacher Education project (funded through a SSHRC Insight Grant, Rachel Heydon, PhD, Principal Investigator). Joe Stouffer holds a PhD in Language and Literacy Education and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy and Chair of the Undergraduate Education Committee at Brandon University. Drawing on over twenty years of experience as a former classroom teacher, Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, and work as literacy consultant across Canada, his teaching and research interests focus on formative reading and writing assessment, early literacy pedagogies, and Reading Recovery. Jeffrey Wood is from Métis and settler ancestry and lives as a guest on the traditional lands of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek under the Robinson-Huron Treaty. He is a full professor in the School of Education and the School of Indigenous Relations at Laurentian University and is the Early Learning Lead for the Moosonee and Moose Factory District School Area Boards. A former kindergarten teacher, Jeffrey has been working with young children for the past twenty-five years. His research interests include: early childhood education, early literacies and Indigenous education.  Language and Literacy  Volume 26, Issue 3, 2024  Page 9