The Language Arts Journal of Michigan is issuing this call for manuscripts for their fall issue.  The deadline is July 15.  All manuscripts should be submitted through their website at http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm . Here is how they describe their next theme:

Music, art, drama, language and mathematics are all communication systems.  In semiotics, these are called sign systems, ways that human beings construct and express meaning. Berghoff, Egawa, Harste, and Noonan (2000) point out that when we engage in other sign systems such as art, drama, and music, we engage in multiple ways of knowing.  And, they argue, that the use of and movement within these various sign systems begins at a very early age and continues to develop in ever more sophisticated ways.  This issue will focus on the ways that teachers and students use the arts in all their varied forms to help mediate the world.

Articles for this issue might focus on one or more of the following questions:

• In what ways can the arts inspire meaningful literacy experiences?
• How can the arts help students expand their ideas or focus their thinking about a particular issue, theme, or text?
• How can a focus on one art form support development in another?
• Are there creative habits of mind that transfer from one art form to another?
• In a time when standards and standardized testing seem to squeeze out the arts, how can English language arts educators argue for making room for the arts?
• How can the arts challenge students to inquire deeply into a topic?

For more information, contact Nancy Patterson at Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids MI.