Address:
Steven C. Beering Hall of
Liberal Arts and Education
100 N. University Street
West Lafayette Indiana 47907-2098
BRNG 4108D

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Janet Alsup

Professor of English Education

English Education,
Curriculum and Instruction

Email:
jalsup@purdue.edu

Phone:
765-494-5675

Address:
Steven C. Beering Hall of
Liberal Arts and Education
100 N. University Street
West Lafayette Indiana 47907-2098
BRNG 4108D

Profile

Janet Alsup is professor of English Education at Purdue University, where she has been a faculty member since 2000. She is a former department head in Purdue’s College of Education, as well as a former high school teacher. Her research focuses on teacher professional identity development; young adult literature, empathy and identity; qualitative and narrative inquiry, and leadership identity. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in English and literacy education.

+ Education

+ Career Experience

+ Awards & Honors

+ Professional Appointments

+ Professional Affiliations/Memberships

Research & Publications

Professor Alsup has authored, co-authored, or edited seven books, including But Will It Work with Real Students? Scenarios for Teaching Secondary English Language Arts (co-authored with Jonathan Bush, NCTE, 2003), Teacher Identity Discourses: Negotiating Personal and Professional Spaces (NCTE/Erlbaum, 2006), Young Adult Literature and Adolescent Identity Across Cultures and Classrooms: Contexts for the Literary Lives of Teens (Routledge, 2010), Literacy Teaching and Learning in Rural Communities: Problematizing Stereotypes, Challenging Myths (co-edited with Lisa Eckert, Routledge, 2015), A Case for Teaching Literature in the Secondary School: Why Reading Fiction Matters in an Age of Scientific Objectivity and Standardization (Routledge, 2015), Millennial Teacher Identity Discourses: Balancing Self and Other (Routledge, 2019), and First Opinions, Second Reactions: A Collection of Innovative Online Reviews of Literature for Children and Young Adults (co-edited with Christy Wessel-Powell, Purdue University Press, 2025). She is currently working on a new book titled Critical Reflections on Leading in Educational Contexts: Entering Identity Portals (upcoming, Palgrave MacMillan), which integrates qualitative interviews with auto-ethnography and animal studies.

+ Selected Publications

Books

First Opinions, Second Reactions: A Collection of Innovative Online Reviews of Literature for Children and Young Adults. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2025.
Millennial Teacher Identity Discourses: Balancing Self and Other. New York: Routledge, 2019.
A Case for Teaching Literature in the Secondary School: Why Reading Fiction Matters in an Age of Scientific Objectivity and Standardization. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Teacher Identity Discourses: Negotiating Personal and Professional Spaces. Mahwah, NJ:National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)/Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (LEA) Presses, 2006. 234 pp. +vii-xvi. [This book was published as part of the NCTE/LEA Research Series in Literacy and Composition.
Alsup, Janet and Bush, Jonathan. But Will it Work with Real Students? Scenarios for Teaching Secondary English Language Arts, Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Press, 2003. 189 pp. + ix-xii. [This was a fully collaborative project with no lead author. However, I had primary responsibility for writing the Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 4, and the Conclusion.]

Edited Collections

Eckert*, Lisa Schade and Alsup, Janet, Eds. Literacy Teaching and Learning in Rural Communities: Problematizing Stereotypes, Challenging Myths. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Young Adult Literature and Adolescent Identity Across Cultures and Classrooms: Contexts for the Literary Lives of Teens. New York & London: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2010. 225 pp. +v-ix.

Book Chapters, Refereed

“Teacher Identity Discourse as Identity Growth: Stories of Authority and Vulnerability.” Research on Teacher Identity and Motivation: Mapping Challenges and Innovations, Ed. Paul Schultz, Ji Hong, and Dionne Cross Francis. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2018, 13-24.
“More Than a Time of Storm and Stress: The Complex Depiction of Adolescent Identity in Contemporary Young Adult Novels.” The Critical Merits of Young Adult Literature, Ed. Crag Hill. New York: Routledge, 2014. 25-37.
Eckert, Lisa Schade and Alsup, Janet, “Continuing Education and the English Teacher: How Graduate Programs Transform Secondary Classrooms.” Teaching Teachers: Approaches in Improving Quality of Education, Eds. Issa M. Saleh and Myint Swe Khine. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2011. 215-226. [This was a fully collaborative project with no lead author.]
“Beyond Member Checks: Moving Toward Transformative Data Analysis.” Change Matters: Qualitative Research Perspectives for Moving Social Justice Theory to Policy, Eds. sj Miller and David E. Kirkland. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. 97-104.
“My Two Identities: Negotiating the Challenges of Being ‘Jointly Appointed.’” The Doctoral Degree in English Education, Ed. Allen Webb. Kennesaw, GA: Kennesaw State University Press, 2009. 211-219.
Liu*, Lu, with Irwin Weiser, Tony Silva, Janet Alsup, Cindy Selfe, and Gail Hawisher, “It Takes a Community of Scholars to Raise One: Multiple Mentors as Key to My Growth.” Learning the Literacy Practices of Graduate School: Insiders’ Reflections on Academic Enculturation, Eds. Christine Pearson Casanave and Xiaoming Li. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. 2008. 166-185.
“Speaking From the Borderlands: Exploring Narratives of Teacher Identity.” Identity Papers: Literacy and Power in Higher Education, Ed. Bronwyn T. Williams. Logan, UT:Utah State University Press, 2006. 109-121.
“Protean Subjectivities: Qualitative Research and the Inclusion of the Personal.” Ethnography Unbound: From Theory Shock to Critical Praxis, Eds. Sid Dobrin and Stephen Brown. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2004. 219-240.
“A Pedagogy of Trauma (or a Crisis of Cynicism): Teaching, Writing and the Holocaust.” Witnessing the Disaster: Essays on Representation and the Holocaust, Eds. Michael Bernard-Donals and Richard Glejzer. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. 75-89.
Alsup*, Janet and Bernard Donals, Michael, “The Fantasy of the Seamless Transition: Writing From High School to College—a Dialogue.” Teaching Writing in High School and College: Conversations and Collaborations. Ed. Tom Thompson. Urbana, IL: NCTE Press, 2002. 115-135.
“Washing Dishes or Schoolwork: Reflective Action as Renewal.” Updrafts: Case Studies of Teacher Renewal. Ed. Roy F. Fox. Urbana, IL: NCTE Press, 2000. 65-84.

Journal Articles, Refereed

Premont, D., Kerkhoff, S., & Alsup, J. (2020). Preservice teacher writing identities: Tensions and implications. Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education, 8 (1), 1-19.
Kerkhoff*, S.N., Dimitrieska, V., Woerner, J., & Alsup, J. (2019). Global teaching in Indiana: A Quantitative case study of K-12 public school teachers. Journal of Comparative Studies and International Education, 1 (1), 5-31.
Alsup, Janet. Literature in the Age of Google: Why Read Books When You Can Surf? Independent School. 76.2 (Winter 2017): 36-39.
Richardson, Jennifer* and Alsup, Janet*. “From the Classroom to the Keyboard: How Seven Teachers Created Their Online Teacher Identities.” The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 16.1 (2015): 142-167.
Shoffner, Melanie; Johnson, Tara Star; Alsup, Janet; and Sedberry, Tiffany. “The Difficulty of Teacher Dispositions: Considering Professional Dispositions for Pre-service English Teachers.” The Teacher Educator 49.3 (June 2014): 175-192.
Alsup*, Janet and Miller, sj. “Reclaiming English Education: Rooting Social Justice in Dispositions.” English Education 46.3 (April 2014): 195-215.
“Teaching Literature in an Age of Text Complexity.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 57.3 (November 2013): 181-184.
“CEE and Life as an English Educator.” English Journal 101.1 (September 2011): 121-122.
Alsup, Janet, Jonathan Bush, Elizabeth Brockman, and Mark Letcher. “Seeking Connections, Articulating Commonalities: English Education, Composition Studies, and Writing Teacher Education.” College Composition and Communication 62.4 (June 2011): 668-687. [This was a fully collaborative project with no lead author.]
Zancanella, Don and Alsup, Janet, “English Education Program Assessment: Creating Standards and Guidelines to Advance English Teacher Preparation.” English Education 43.1 (October 2010): 65-71. [This was a fully collaborative project with no lead author.]
Kuo, Nai-Hua* and Alsup, Janet, “’Why Do Chinese People Have Weird Names’: The Challenges of Teaching Multicultural Young Adult Literature?” The ALAN Review 37.2 (Winter 2010): 17-24.
Alsup*, Janet; Conard-Salvo, Tammy; and Peters, Scott J., “Tutoring is Real: The Benefits of the Peer Tutor Experience for Future English Educators.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 8.2 (Spring 2008): 327-347.
Alsup, Janet; Emig, Janet; Pradl, Gordon; Tremmel, Robert; and Yagelski, Robert, “The State of English Education and a Vision for Its Future: A Call to Arms.” English Education 38.4 (July 2006): 278-294. [This was a fully collaborative project with no lead author.]
“Teachers as People.” Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice 18.1 (Spring 2005):19-24.
“The Artistic Identity: Art as a Catalyst for ‘Self Actualization’ in Lowry’s Gathering Blue and Park’s A Single Shard.” The ALAN Review 31.1 (Winter 2004): 13-16.
“Politicizing Young Adult Literature: Reading Anderson’s Speak as a Critical Text.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 47.2 (October 2003): 158-167.
English Education Students and Professional Identity Development: Using Narrative and Metaphor to Challenge Pre-Existing Ideologies.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 3.2 (Spring 2003): 277-280.
Alsup*, Janet and Wastal, Carrie King, “Writing Culture: Using Media Literacy and Popular Culture in the Middle and Secondary School.” The Writing Instructor (January 2002): URL: http://flansburgh.english.purdue.edu/twi/
“Power and Play in the Classroom: A Discussion about Media Literacy with Donna E. Alvermann.” The Writing Instructor (January 2002): URL: http://flansburgh.english.purdue.edu/twi/
“Seeking Connection: An English Educator Speaks Across a Disciplinary Contact Zone.” English Education 34.1 (October 2001): 31-49.

+ Current Grants & Funded Research

Courses Typically Taught

ENGL 39100 — Composition for Teachers
EDCI 42200 — Teaching English in the Secondary School
EDCI 43400 — Teaching English in the Junior High/Middle School
ENGL 49200 — Teaching Literature in the Secondary School
EDCI 49800F — Seminar for English Education Student Teachers
EDCI 55100 — Young Adult Literature
EDCI 61300 — Seminar in English Education