Alan’s Bio
Greetings! My name is Alan Brown, and I am Associate Professor of English Education and Chair of the Department of Education at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Originally from Summerfield, N.C., I was a high school English teacher and basketball coach at Southwest Guilford High School before moving to teacher education. I received a B.S. in English and Secondary Education from Appalachian State University and a M.A.Ed. in English Education from Wake Forest University. I completed my Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with a concentration in secondary English education at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in the summer of 2012. I currently live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with my wife, Brandi, our sons, Finley and Quinton, and our dog, Maisy.
Teaching
In Wake Forest University’s Department of Education, I teach a number of courses including EDU 101: Issues and Trends in Education (with a focus on the impact of sports culture on K-12 schools), EDU 103: Participating in Community Engagement, EDU 231: Adolescent Literature, EDU 222: Arts and Movement in the Elementary Curriculum, EDU 223: Theatre in Education, EDU 309L: Introduction to Secondary Education, and EDU 715: Action Research. I also supervise the clinical experiences and student teaching internships of English language arts pre-service teachers.
Research
My primary research interests include aspects of secondary teacher education, young adult literature, and adolescent literacy as well as various intersections of sport, literacy, education, and culture. My dissertation centered on the experiences of novice core content area teachers/athletic coaches in secondary schools, and I regularly present on topics that include engaging reluctant readers through extra-curricular interests (e.g., sports), connecting adolescents with out-of-school literacies, and mentoring pre-service and in-service academic teachers and athletic coaches.
Scholarship
I was invited to guest edit a themed issue of English Journal with Dr. Chris Crowe on the topic of sports and culture in the English classroom, which was published in the fall of 2014. My first book, Developing Contemporary Literacies through Sports: A Guide for the English Classroom, co-edited with Luke Rodesiler, was published by NCTE Books in 2016. My second book, Reading the World through Sports and Young Adult Literature: Resources for the English Classroom, co-authored with Luke Rodesiler and Mark A. Lewis, was published by NCTE Books in 2024. I have also published in various journals, including English Journal, The ALAN Review, SIGNAL Journal, Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature, Teaching and Teacher Education, Teacher Education Quarterly, Teacher Education and Practice, Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education, and Sport, Education and Society.
Service
I led my first after-school sports literacy program for 9th and 10th grade boys at Southwest Guilford High School in 2014. For years, I led a similar group for 7th and 8th grade boys at Paisley IB Magnet School in Winston-Salem, NC, with student-athletes from Wake Forest University. This initiative is called the Paisley Sports Literacy Program. Since 2017, I have also coordinated the Skip Prosser Literacy Program, including the Skip Prosser READ Challenge, which is a collaboration among the Wake Forest Department of Education, Wake Forest Athletics, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.
Awards
In November 2015, I was awarded the Conference on English Leadership (CEL) Innovative Leadership Award for my work connecting sports and literacy as well as my work with pre-service English teachers, including the “Future Is Now” session that I co-chair with Luke Rodesiler at the NCTE Annual Convention each year. In 2018, I was awarded the Faculty Service Excellence Award by Wake Forest University as well as named Champion of Change for Service and Social Action with Bailey Allman and Wendell Dunn by Wake Forest’s Office of Sustainability as a result of my work as an Academic and Community Engaged (ACE) Fellow for Wake Forest University’s Pro Humanitate Institute. In 2019, Christina Soriano (Director of Dance at Wake Forest University) and I were awarded a Wake Forest Innovative Teaching Award for our collaboration with EDU 222: Arts and Movement in the Elementary Curriculum. In 2020, I was awarded the Donald O. Schoonmaker Faculty Award for Community Service by Wake Forest University. In 2021 I was honored to be invited to deliver the 21st Annual Poteat Lecture at Wake Forest University entitled “Lizzie, Mamie, & Mo’ne: Exploring Intersectionality through an Examination of the History of Women in Baseball.”
For More Information
I hope you enjoy perusing the books and resources found on this blog. My work with sports literacy began in 2010 as I began brainstorming my first sport sessions for NCTE and ALAN. Since that time, sports literacy has become one of my favorite hobbies and primary research interests. It has afforded me many wonderful opportunities to collaborate, write, and present with teachers and scholars from across the country, not to mention some of my favorite young adult authors.
For the Media
Dr. Alan Brown is Associate Professor of English Education at Wake Forest University. He is a former high school English teacher and basketball coach who now serves as department chair and English education coordinator in the Department of Education. He is the inaugural director for the Wake Forest Center for Literacy Education, director of the Skip Prosser Literacy Program, and co-PI for Winston-Salem TEACH, an inter-institutional teacher residency program among Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem State University, Salem College, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Dr. Brown teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on topics including action research, adolescent literacy, arts integration, educational leadership, English methods, secondary education, and young adult literature. His scholarly interests include critically examining the culture of sports in schools and society while connecting contemporary literacies to students’ extra-curricular interests. He is the co-author of Reading the World through Sports and Young Adult Literature (NCTE, 2024), co-editor of Developing Contemporary Literacies through Sports (NCTE, 2016), and has published in numerous English language arts, education, and sport journals.
Alan Brown's Sports Literacy Blog 