We know that successful middle level education depends most on establishing and nurturing both inspiring and enduring relationships. Hearts and minds are forever touched and indebted to noble giants whose helpful and wise influence lasts for lifetimes. As we have struggled with the exact word with which to name these individuals, we left the word “giant” because of the ways that our most valued mentors, teachers, and colleagues have been so influential in nurturing our growth in figurative ways that the increase seemingly has literal dimensions. Indeed, as we dedicate this issue to the theme of middle level teacher education, we exhort emerging professionals to develop strong relationships with mentors, colleagues, parents, students, and others.
In this final column of our work as editors, we think back on the enriching moments of these past four years in this role. We sought to advance our profession of middle level education and nurture the innovative practices featured in the 78 articles and 20 columns published during this time—always with the hopes that we have inspired teachers and other middle level leaders to have courage in stretching the minds and imaginations of middle level students and colleagues alike.
In our younger days, we might have asked “What did the ‘best’ articles do?” But thanks to wisdom we have gained from our mentors, we now believe that words like “best” ask us to narrow and restrict our vision into binaries that are too simplistic, too singular. Just as accomplished teachers focus more widely and simultaneously on the potential of all students, we rephrase our novice question into focusing on the aspirations for the articles published in this journal. Did they present elegant sentences? Inspire practice? Carve out a new lens with which to look at our students, our profession, or ourselves? While we say yes to all these questions, our reflection leads us to believe that a professional journal like this one should work diligently to expand the complexity that we seek and that we embrace—intellectual, social, moral, emotional, multimodal, and beyond. Reflection is an ever-elusive quest to capture ideas that are so expansive, so inspiring, and so enriching that they will likely escape a single narrative, lesson, or discussion, but we also know that the articles we published offered new and vivid roadmaps to middle level success.
The support and collaborative efforts of many helped to sustain, inspire, and encourage us during this rewarding, memorable journey. We offer our sincerest gratitude to all of the AMLE staff members, in particular the support of Will Waidelich, April Tibbles, and Dawn Williams. The partnership between AMLE and Taylor & Francis continues to thrive in large part because of the work of Tony Dimitry and Megan Hein whose guidance and resources enrich the journal. The foundational work of three of this publication’s former editors—John Lounsbury, Tom Erb, and David Virtue—had a profound influence on our work as well as our sense of responsibility for upholding the aims and scopes of this journal. The inaugural members of the Middle School Journal editorial board enthusiastically and graciously accepted the opportunity to help promote the journal and begin new initiatives: Katherine Batchelor, Robin Dever, Kristina Falbe, Michael Mann, Kathleen McCaffrey, Gary Senn, Tracy Smith, Kathy Thompson, and Kim Winter. We further acknowledge the integral role of over 100 reviewers who generously provided thoughtful, critical feedback to authors during the double-blind peer review process.
For many years we worked together at Georgia College where we had the privilege of working with remarkable “giants”—Dr. Lounsbury, Karynne Kleine, and Nancy Mizelle, each of whom tremendously influenced/impacted who we are as teacher educators, thinkers, writers, leaders, advocates, and people. They encouraged and supported this work and continue to be instrumental in our development.
Finally, we thank the numerous authors who shared their work. As middle level professionals, they exhibited great courage and perseverance due to the time and efforts required in the publication process. Making their work and their understanding public has likely positively influenced the lives of many young adolescents.
We welcome the new incoming editors of MSJ who will continue the editorial teamwork: Kathleen Brinegar (Johnson State College), Lisa Harrison (Ohio University), and Ellis Hurd (Illinois State University).