President's Message Education Matters - I'd Almost Forgotten What Engagement Looks Like
- Writing for Ourselves
Blast from the Past - Northwords 1990: Letting Teachers Teach
Book Recommendations |
President's Message Education Matters - I'd Almost Forgotten What Engagement Looks Like
- Writing for Ourselves
Blast from the Past - Northwords 1990: Letting Teachers Teach
Book Recommendations |
| Educator Opportunities - MCELA Conference: Cultivating Possibilities 3/21/25 in Portland, Maine.
- Preconference event 3/20/25 Poetry Night at Portland Stage w/free play ticket
- Terry Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival 4/26/25
- Readers' Retreat with Maine Humanities Council 4/5/25
MCELA Membership |
Educator Opportunities - MCELA Conference: Cultivating Possibilities 3/21/25 in Portland, Maine.
- Preconference event 3/20/25 Poetry Night at Portland Stage w/free play ticket
- Terry Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival 4/26/25
- Readers' Retreat with Maine Humanities Council 4/5/25
MCELA Membership |
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| | Author: Patti Forster, NBCT, patti.forster@fivetowns.net, MCELA President, English Teacher Camden HIlls Regional High School, Rockport, Bay Area Writing Project Consultant |
Author: Patti Forster, NBCT, patti.forster@fivetowns.net, MCELA President, English Teacher Camden HIlls Regional High School, Rockport, Bay Area Writing Project Consultant |
I had written something else for this President’s Message, something connected to our conference theme of cultivating possibilities, but I kept thinking about all that is going on and the importance of community. So for this message, I am sharing an excerpt from an article I wrote that was published in English Leadership Quarterly (vol. 47, no. 2, October 2024): …Rising above my own fear and bringing organizations together are the most important leadership lessons I have learned being the NCTE affiliate president of the Maine Council for English Language Arts. When we work together in service of others we can help each other survive the harsh winters of attacks on intellectual freedom so that we can thrive to support education and educators in our state and beyond. This is not a new epiphany. The same lessons are shown in the origin story of the Native Alaskan Iñupiaq Messenger Feast, which I learned about from reading Eagle Drums by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson. In this story, individual families feared others, and like most other families in surrounding areas, the main character and his family survive independently. However, the eagle god Savik takes the boy away from his family and teaches him the skills he will need to bring people together in community to help each other not just survive during the harsh winters of Alaska but thrive. He must learn skills to conquer his own fears and to build a community. I learned the importance of building a community from Dolly Sullivan at Educate Maine when a dear friend and librarian, Iris Eichenlaub, and I were chatting with Dolly about some local school board issues with book bans showing up in 2020. We were nervous about personal attacks happening to English teachers and librarians and tried to determine what we could do to support educators throughout the state. We settled on the idea of an intellectual freedom infographic that could be shared with teachers, librarians, and school board members. The infographic includes quick tips and resources that can be used when a local attack happens, such as a book ban or censorship. Among the three of us brainstorming that day, we represented three organizations: the Maine Council for English Arts (me), the Maine Association of School Libraries (Iris), and Educate Maine (Dolly). Dolly brought in a fourth organization, recruiting a few members of the Maine County and State Teachers of the Year Association (Kelsey Stoyanova and Melissa Guerrette), and we developed our intellectual freedom infographic. We did not include our personal names on the infographic, choosing instead to promote it with the support of our organizations, reducing the fear of being personally attacked. In addition to bringing our small workgroup together, Dolly guided us to partner with as many state education associations as we could gather to include the collaborative strength of their organization names in support of our document. We recruited the following organizations: Maine Curriculum Leaders Association, Maine School Superintendent Association, Maine School Boards Association, National Board Certified Teachers of Maine, Maine Association of Middle Level Education, Maine Council for English Language Arts, Maine Education Association, Maine Principals’ Association, Maine County and State Teachers of the Year Association, Maine Association of School Libraries, Maine Department of Education, and Educate Maine. We shared our intellectual freedom infographic with the names of all 12 partnering organizations in early 2021 to all organization members and beyond. The large list of partner organizations on this document sent a powerful message across the state: We are a community working together to help each other survive threats to intellectual freedom…. We are all educators committed to our students. Together, can do more than just survive this harsh winter independently; we will thrive by building community. I’ll still come back to my other piece here and invite you to join us in community at our conference in Portland on March 21st. We still have space for you to learn from over 40 presenters eager to share their skills with you. Will you join us? |
I had written something else for this President’s Message, something connected to our conference theme of cultivating possibilities, but I kept thinking about all that is going on and the importance of community. So for this message, I am sharing an excerpt from an article I wrote that was published in English Leadership Quarterly (vol. 47, no. 2, October 2024): …Rising above my own fear and bringing organizations together are the most important leadership lessons I have learned being the NCTE affiliate president of the Maine Council for English Language Arts. When we work together in service of others we can help each other survive the harsh winters of attacks on intellectual freedom so that we can thrive to support education and educators in our state and beyond. This is not a new epiphany. The same lessons are shown in the origin story of the Native Alaskan Iñupiaq Messenger Feast, which I learned about from reading Eagle Drums by Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson. In this story, individual families feared others, and like most other families in surrounding areas, the main character and his family survive independently. However, the eagle god Savik takes the boy away from his family and teaches him the skills he will need to bring people together in community to help each other not just survive during the harsh winters of Alaska but thrive. He must learn skills to conquer his own fears and to build a community. I learned the importance of building a community from Dolly Sullivan at Educate Maine when a dear friend and librarian, Iris Eichenlaub, and I were chatting with Dolly about some local school board issues with book bans showing up in 2020. We were nervous about personal attacks happening to English teachers and librarians and tried to determine what we could do to support educators throughout the state. We settled on the idea of an intellectual freedom infographic that could be shared with teachers, librarians, and school board members. The infographic includes quick tips and resources that can be used when a local attack happens, such as a book ban or censorship. Among the three of us brainstorming that day, we represented three organizations: the Maine Council for English Arts (me), the Maine Association of School Libraries (Iris), and Educate Maine (Dolly). Dolly brought in a fourth organization, recruiting a few members of the Maine County and State Teachers of the Year Association (Kelsey Stoyanova and Melissa Guerrette), and we developed our intellectual freedom infographic. We did not include our personal names on the infographic, choosing instead to promote it with the support of our organizations, reducing the fear of being personally attacked. In addition to bringing our small workgroup together, Dolly guided us to partner with as many state education associations as we could gather to include the collaborative strength of their organization names in support of our document. We recruited the following organizations: Maine Curriculum Leaders Association, Maine School Superintendent Association, Maine School Boards Association, National Board Certified Teachers of Maine, Maine Association of Middle Level Education, Maine Council for English Language Arts, Maine Education Association, Maine Principals’ Association, Maine County and State Teachers of the Year Association, Maine Association of School Libraries, Maine Department of Education, and Educate Maine. We shared our intellectual freedom infographic with the names of all 12 partnering organizations in early 2021 to all organization members and beyond. The large list of partner organizations on this document sent a powerful message across the state: We are a community working together to help each other survive threats to intellectual freedom…. We are all educators committed to our students. Together, can do more than just survive this harsh winter independently; we will thrive by building community. I’ll still come back to my other piece here and invite you to join us in community at our conference in Portland on March 21st. We still have space for you to learn from over 40 presenters eager to share their skills with you. Will you join us? |
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| | I’d Almost Forgotten What Engagement Looks Like |
I’d Almost Forgotten What Engagement Looks Like |
Author: Beth Carlson, NBCT. MCELA Executive Board Member, English Teacher and Department Head at Kennebunk High School, bcarlson@rsu21.net |
Author: Beth Carlson, NBCT. MCELA Executive Board Member, English Teacher and Department Head at Kennebunk High School, bcarlson@rsu21.net |
In the October newsletter, I wrote that my English department was centering reading in our classrooms this year. I was hopeful but also worried that our efforts would not generate the returns we wanted. As part of the changes we’ve made, we are only doing one full-class novel. We designed the year to also include a couple of book groups to provide students with structured choice as well as full choice through independent reading. I have attempted book groups or literature circles over the years with mediocre results, but this time, I am excited to say that the groups were a resounding success. The unit was called People on the Move. The book choices included American Street; The Faraway Brothers; From Here; Butterfly Yellow, Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card, Home Is Not a Country; and Four Winds. I gave each student the first three pages of each book to read and asked them to rank the top three that seemed most interesting to them. This gave the students agency, and all students ended up with their first or second choice. My students chose American Street (two groups), The Faraway Brothers, Butterfly Yellow, and From Here. Because my students’ choices were all immigrant stories, I asked them what they knew about immigration or how people make the choice to come to the U.S. The answer was very little. Kennebunk may not be far from Portland or Lewiston and is neighbors with Biddeford, but my students had very little knowledge about the people who have settled in these towns or other places in Maine. I decided to use the 2023 New Mainers series, “Long Way Home” from the Portland Press Herald as well as an article from 2024 titled “400 Years of New Mainers” to introduce them to the idea of asylum seekers and immigrants who have moved to our state. Each student was assigned one article from the series plus the two photo essays. I gave each student an organizer for note-taking for a Socratic Seminar, and I was so pleased to see their knowledge grow, their questions answered by peers, and their curiosity piqued over the course of their discussion. Many had read more than the assigned articles, and several had had discussions with family members about immigration. They left that class motivated to begin reading their books.... |
In the October newsletter, I wrote that my English department was centering reading in our classrooms this year. I was hopeful but also worried that our efforts would not generate the returns we wanted. As part of the changes we’ve made, we are only doing one full-class novel. We designed the year to also include a couple of book groups to provide students with structured choice as well as full choice through independent reading. I have attempted book groups or literature circles over the years with mediocre results, but this time, I am excited to say that the groups were a resounding success. The unit was called People on the Move. The book choices included American Street; The Faraway Brothers; From Here; Butterfly Yellow, Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card, Home Is Not a Country; and Four Winds. I gave each student the first three pages of each book to read and asked them to rank the top three that seemed most interesting to them. This gave the students agency, and all students ended up with their first or second choice. My students chose American Street (two groups), The Faraway Brothers, Butterfly Yellow, and From Here. Because my students’ choices were all immigrant stories, I asked them what they knew about immigration or how people make the choice to come to the U.S. The answer was very little. Kennebunk may not be far from Portland or Lewiston and is neighbors with Biddeford, but my students had very little knowledge about the people who have settled in these towns or other places in Maine. I decided to use the 2023 New Mainers series, “Long Way Home” from the Portland Press Herald as well as an article from 2024 titled “400 Years of New Mainers” to introduce them to the idea of asylum seekers and immigrants who have moved to our state. Each student was assigned one article from the series plus the two photo essays. I gave each student an organizer for note-taking for a Socratic Seminar, and I was so pleased to see their knowledge grow, their questions answered by peers, and their curiosity piqued over the course of their discussion. Many had read more than the assigned articles, and several had had discussions with family members about immigration. They left that class motivated to begin reading their books.... |
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| | Author: Caitlin Saras,csaras@lewistonpublicschools.org
Literacy Coach at Lewiston High School
MCELA Executive Board Member |
Author: Caitlin Saras,csaras@lewistonpublicschools.org
Literacy Coach at Lewiston High School
MCELA Executive Board Member |
Back in the November newsletter, I took a moment to remind us that, as teachers, we should be reading for fun for ourselves. But since the beginning of the new year, I’ve been thinking about the other side of that: writing. Who considers themselves a writer? How many of us dream of writing the Next Great American Novel or making it onto Oprah’s book clubs? Maybe it’s time we get those ideas and reflections down on paper. Same as the last time, this is as much a reminder to myself as it is to everyone reading it. I won’t tell you how many works-in-progress I have sitting in my Google Drive, or how many more ideas are bouncing around in my brain. Those obligations that press for time after school seem to squeeze out writing; reading has some concrete timeframes (20 minutes, one chapter) while sitting down to write feels like it has a more nebulous time structure (will I be here for a half-hour on a roll, or stuck with writer’s block indefinitely?). Maybe we start with modeling and writing alongside our students on their assignments. It can be helpful to share the process with them; they see that we have the same ups and downs in the writing process that they do. I’ll open it up a little further and add the idea that writing– creatively or personal journaling or any other kind–can be a form of self-care. We help our students practice self-care and SEL through writing, and we can do the same for ourselves. Grab a notebook or open that doc and see where your pen will take you. Need an audience to help with motivation? There are plenty of competitions, websites, and freelance opportunities we can write for, including MCELA’s Northwords journal. We would love to publish you! |
Back in the November newsletter, I took a moment to remind us that, as teachers, we should be reading for fun for ourselves. But since the beginning of the new year, I’ve been thinking about the other side of that: writing. Who considers themselves a writer? How many of us dream of writing the Next Great American Novel or making it onto Oprah’s book clubs? Maybe it’s time we get those ideas and reflections down on paper. Same as the last time, this is as much a reminder to myself as it is to everyone reading it. I won’t tell you how many works-in-progress I have sitting in my Google Drive, or how many more ideas are bouncing around in my brain. Those obligations that press for time after school seem to squeeze out writing; reading has some concrete timeframes (20 minutes, one chapter) while sitting down to write feels like it has a more nebulous time structure (will I be here for a half-hour on a roll, or stuck with writer’s block indefinitely?). Maybe we start with modeling and writing alongside our students on their assignments. It can be helpful to share the process with them; they see that we have the same ups and downs in the writing process that they do. I’ll open it up a little further and add the idea that writing– creatively or personal journaling or any other kind–can be a form of self-care. We help our students practice self-care and SEL through writing, and we can do the same for ourselves. Grab a notebook or open that doc and see where your pen will take you. Need an audience to help with motivation? There are plenty of competitions, websites, and freelance opportunities we can write for, including MCELA’s Northwords journal. We would love to publish you! |
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| | Northwords September 1990 on Letting Teachers Teach |
Northwords September 1990 on Letting Teachers Teach |
Author: Beth Carlson, NBCT. MCELA Executive Board Member, English Teacher and Department Head at Kennebunk High School, bcarlson@rsu21.net |
Author: Beth Carlson, NBCT. MCELA Executive Board Member, English Teacher and Department Head at Kennebunk High School, bcarlson@rsu21.net |
How big are your classes? I’m fortunate in my district to (mostly) have high school classes under 18 students, sometimes well under, but I have scored the AP Lang test and heard teachers from other states talk about the challenge of writing classes with 30-40 students. I can’t even imagine that from either the teacher’s or student’s viewpoint. While my district does level classes as honors and college prep, when I taught middle school in the 80s and very early 90s, I had numbers between 13 and 15 and heterogeneous grouping. Given that experience, I have to agree with Anne Dodd. In fact, I remember those years through a very rosy lens. This may be because small classes create better individual learning, but I also often wonder if it’s because it was in the time before smartphones. One thing I’m sure of, however, is that I can more easily police the technology in a small class. Blast from the Past, September 1990 By Peter W. Cox Although we have a public outcry that education should be reformed, the public is content to let someone else figure out how to do the job. Ideas about how to actually implement reform remain scarce. There are some noteworthy guidelines, including Maine's own "Common Core of Learning," which says students must be taught to reason and adapt rather than to memorize and recite. In the past, schools produced a repeatedly small proportion of decision makers and a large mass of workers basically literate in English, compliant, and able to perform repetitive tasks effectively and in isolation - “factory-model schools for an industrial economy” the Common Core introduction states. It also states that schools must now produce "literate workers with good problem solving skills" who can "adapt quickly to changed circumstances." The Common Core presents an enviable list of goals, including competence in a second language. Few will argue with this ideal. But how is any of it, even something as simple as increased emphasis on writing - for everyone, not just for the college bound - to be implemented? With this question in mind, I participated briefly in a recent conference of both elementary and high school English teachers. I didn’t come back with any solutions but I did come back with a different perspective. The vast majority of the teachers at the conference opposed the current assessment tests. Some teachers think the assessment tests drive the curriculum too much, but in this meeting others talked about how the tests can lower the self-esteem of an entire school because the socio-economic profile of the student body is a more certain indicator of performance than teaching or individual intelligence... |
How big are your classes? I’m fortunate in my district to (mostly) have high school classes under 18 students, sometimes well under, but I have scored the AP Lang test and heard teachers from other states talk about the challenge of writing classes with 30-40 students. I can’t even imagine that from either the teacher’s or student’s viewpoint. While my district does level classes as honors and college prep, when I taught middle school in the 80s and very early 90s, I had numbers between 13 and 15 and heterogeneous grouping. Given that experience, I have to agree with Anne Dodd. In fact, I remember those years through a very rosy lens. This may be because small classes create better individual learning, but I also often wonder if it’s because it was in the time before smartphones. One thing I’m sure of, however, is that I can more easily police the technology in a small class. Blast from the Past, September 1990 By Peter W. Cox Although we have a public outcry that education should be reformed, the public is content to let someone else figure out how to do the job. Ideas about how to actually implement reform remain scarce. There are some noteworthy guidelines, including Maine's own "Common Core of Learning," which says students must be taught to reason and adapt rather than to memorize and recite. In the past, schools produced a repeatedly small proportion of decision makers and a large mass of workers basically literate in English, compliant, and able to perform repetitive tasks effectively and in isolation - “factory-model schools for an industrial economy” the Common Core introduction states. It also states that schools must now produce "literate workers with good problem solving skills" who can "adapt quickly to changed circumstances." The Common Core presents an enviable list of goals, including competence in a second language. Few will argue with this ideal. But how is any of it, even something as simple as increased emphasis on writing - for everyone, not just for the college bound - to be implemented? With this question in mind, I participated briefly in a recent conference of both elementary and high school English teachers. I didn’t come back with any solutions but I did come back with a different perspective. The vast majority of the teachers at the conference opposed the current assessment tests. Some teachers think the assessment tests drive the curriculum too much, but in this meeting others talked about how the tests can lower the self-esteem of an entire school because the socio-economic profile of the student body is a more certain indicator of performance than teaching or individual intelligence... |
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| Bonus Picture Book Recommendation: |
Bonus Picture Book Recommendation: |
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Still some conference tickets left! Register today to join us! Contact Hours=7 Click here for information on the conference, pre-conference event, and hotel booking. Questions? Email us at maine.ela@gmail.com |
Still some conference tickets left! Register today to join us! Contact Hours=7 Click here for information on the conference, pre-conference event, and hotel booking. Questions? Email us at maine.ela@gmail.com |
Dear teachers and lovers of poetry, |
Please save the date: Saturday, April 26, 2025, for our 23rd annual Terry Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival. This year, the festival will include live readings in the Danforth Gallery and the Jewett Hall Auditorium on the Augusta campus of the University of Maine at Augusta and will include participation from Maine high schools, the University of Maine System campuses, and the Maine poetry community. Our keynote speaker will be Natalie Diaz, a Pulitzer prize-winning Mojave poet, language activist, and educator. The festival is free and open to all. Event details are in the works – check the Festival’s webpage often for details as they are finalized: uma.edu/plunkett For more information, please contact Ellen Taylor at ellen.taylor@maine.edu. |
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Dear teachers and lovers of poetry, |
Please save the date: Saturday, April 26, 2025, for our 23rd annual Terry Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival. This year, the festival will include live readings in the Danforth Gallery and the Jewett Hall Auditorium on the Augusta campus of the University of Maine at Augusta and will include participation from Maine high schools, the University of Maine System campuses, and the Maine poetry community. Our keynote speaker will be Natalie Diaz, a Pulitzer prize-winning Mojave poet, language activist, and educator. The festival is free and open to all. Event details are in the works – check the Festival’s webpage often for details as they are finalized: uma.edu/plunkett For more information, please contact Ellen Taylor at ellen.taylor@maine.edu. |
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| | April 5, 2025 | Cobscook Institute and online via Zoom Mark your calendars and join Maine Humanities Council for our deep dive into Amanda Peters’ debut novel, The Berry Pickers! We can’t wait to share what we have in store for this day-long event with engaged readers from across the state. |
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| | April 5, 2025 | Cobscook Institute and online via Zoom Mark your calendars and join Maine Humanities Council for our deep dive into Amanda Peters’ debut novel, The Berry Pickers! We can’t wait to share what we have in store for this day-long event with engaged readers from across the state. |
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MCELA is an affiliate of NCTE and 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
dedicated to supporting educators and literacy education in the state of Maine |
MCELA is an affiliate of NCTE and 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
dedicated to supporting educators and literacy education in the state of Maine |
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