Kiran Subhani
NORTHFIELD — For the second time in her career, New Trier High School educator Kiran Subhani has won a prestigious writing award from English Journal, a scholarly peer-reviewed publication.
Subhani was recently awarded the 2016 Paul and Kate Farmer English Journal Writing Award from the National Council of Teachers of English for her article, “Photos as Witness: Teaching Visual Literacy for Research and Social Action.” She also won the same award in 2007.
“I feel honored to receive this award for the second time,” said Subhani, an English teacher at New Trier. “Both of the articles I’ve published in the English Journal are closely connected to the equity work I am involved in at New Trier. My writing is inspired by my collaboration with all of my students across the years whose mature, impassioned and reflective voices are the driving force behind my teaching.”
The late NCTE President Paul Farmer and his wife, Kate, established the award to recognize outstanding articles published during the previous school year in English Journal. The award is given to two educators annually.
In Subhani’s commended article, she discusses helping her students research and work toward a call to action using photographs in the news. The article emphasizes the importance of visual literacy in today’s world as students are confronted with an abundance of visual images.
“In a visual literacy–based research project that uses photojournalism as a catalyst for social action, students investigate both the story behind a photo and the opposing viewpoints on the social issue it represents, moving toward a call to action,” Subhani’s article stated.
The article provides thoughtful, guided plans for other teachers to incorporate a relevant and hands-on project in their own classrooms, according to The Farmer Award Committee.
Subhani gave credit to three students – Caroline Iserloth, Grace Lyman and Gigi Picard – who also contributed to the article.
“Their research led them to present compelling calls to action on the ongoing social conflicts connected to racial profiling, domestic abuse and domestic terrorism and immigration,” she said.
In 2007, the committee also awarded Subhani for her article titled “Beyond Mirrored Worlds: Teaching World Literature to Challenge Students’ Perception of the Other,” which discussed teaching English after 9/11.
The 2016 award will be presented at the NCTE Annual Convention in Atlanta, Ga. in November.
To learn more about the award and read Subhani’s article, visit www.ncte.org/second/awards/farmer
Submitted by New Trier Township High School
