Professor, Middle, Secondary & Mathematics Education

Office: Memorial Hall 3265A
Email: shoffnme@jmu.edu
Phone: (540) 568-4314

About

Dr. Melanie Shoffner specializes in English language arts (ELA) teacher education. She frequently teaches education courses in secondary ELA methods and curriculum theory as well as an English course addressing resistance and power. Her current research examines care as a pedagogical construct for teacher educators and discomfort as professional development for preservice and beginning English teachers. 

Dr. Shoffner is the editor of English Education and a member of the Advisory Board for Routledge’s Key Thinkers in English and the Language Arts series. At JMU, she is the Speaker of the Faculty Senate, Director of MSME Graduate Programs, and a Faculty Associate in the Center for Faculty Innovation (CFI). She is also a former Fulbright Scholar in Romania.

Research Areas

• ELA teacher education pedagogy
• preservice teacher development
• care & caring
• reflective practice

Education

• PhD    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Education: Culture, Curriculum & Change
• MAT    Duke University – English Education
• BA      Duke University – English and History

Selected Publications

Edited books

•  George, M., Goodwyn, A., Sawyer, W., & Shoffner, M. (Eds.) (2026). International perspectives on the teaching of English to generate hope: Inspiration in an age of anxiety [IFTE Vol. 6]. Routledge.
• Goodwyn, A., Manuel, J., Durrant, C., George, M., Sawyer, W., & Shoffner, M. (Eds.). (2024). English language arts as an emancipatory subject: International perspectives on justice and equity in the English classroom [IFTE, Vol. 5]. Routledge.
• Webb, A. W., & Shoffner, M. (Eds.). (2024). Care and teachers in the induction years: Supporting early career educators in today’s teaching landscape. Routledge.

Journal Articles

• Bodle, A., Kang, S. J., Koubek, E., & Shoffner M. (2025). Learning from the process: Developing communities of practice through arts-based inquiry in teacher education. The Educational Forum, 89(3), 380-394. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131725.2025.2501892 
• Bentley, H., & Shoffner, M. (2024). “You write what you want and what you need”: Incorporating reflective practice in the ELA classroom through caring pedagogy. Reflective Practice, 26(2) 173-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2024.2424595   
• George, M. A., Shoffner, M., Lewis, M.A., & Boyd, A.S. (2024). Pedagogy as perspective: Exploring purposes and practices for young adult literature with teacher candidates. Ubiquity: The Journal of Literature, Literacy, and the Arts 11(1), 14-53. https://ed-ubiquity.gsu.edu/wordpress/9416-2/ 

Editorials

•  Shoffner, M. (2026). A room where it can happen. English Education, 58(2), 80-83.
• Shoffner, M. (2025). Learning something. English Education, 58(1), 4-7.
• Shoffner, M. (2025). Learning as an act of resistance. English Education, 57(3), 176-180.
• Shoffner, M. (2025). Navigating the human element of our political profession. English Education, 57(2), 88-94.