President's Message Book Review: A Bit Much IDEA Collective Blast from the Past - Northwords 1990: Grading Themes
Book Recommendations |
President's Message Book Review: A Bit Much IDEA Collective Blast from the Past - Northwords 1990: Grading Themes
Book Recommendations |
| Educator Opportunities - MCELA Conference: Cultivating Possibilities 3/21/25 in Portland, Maine. Early Registration Deadline Extended to 12/21/24
- Preconference event 3/20/25 Poetry Night at Portland Stage w/free play ticket
- In person workshop: Ekphrastic Poetry @ Colby College Art Museum, 1/14/24
- MCELA Webinar with UMaine Associate Professor of English/ Associate Director of College Composition, Ryan Dippre, 1/30
- MCELA Award Nominations Deadlines Extended to this Friday, 12/6. Nominate an educator today!
MCELA Membership |
Educator Opportunities - MCELA Conference: Cultivating Possibilities 3/21/25 in Portland, Maine. Early Registration Deadline Extended to 12/21/24
- Preconference event 3/20/25 Poetry Night at Portland Stage w/free play ticket
- In person workshop: Ekphrastic Poetry @ Colby College Art Museum, 1/14/24
- MCELA Webinar with UMaine Associate Professor of English/ Associate Director of College Composition, Ryan Dippre, 1/30
- MCELA Award Nominations Deadlines Extended to this Friday, 12/6. Nominate an educator today!
MCELA Membership |
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| MCELA President's Message |
MCELA President's Message |
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 |
Pictured left to right: Bre Allard, Patti Forster, Kate McKinnon, Michelle DeBlois, Kristina Sanborn, and Stephanie Hendrix |
Pictured left to right: Bre Allard, Patti Forster, Kate McKinnon, Michelle DeBlois, Kristina Sanborn, and Stephanie Hendrix |
Thank you to all who volunteered at the NCTE Convention in November. Our volunteers from our New England states were amazing and received so many compliments for their friendly and helpful support for conference participants, NCTE staff, vendors, and keynote speakers (that's some of our Maine volunteers with keynote Kate McKinnon helping support her book signing for her new middle grade book The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science). Our 37 Maine volunteers collectively donated over 350 hours helping others at the NCTE Convention. I continue to be amazed by the warm hospitality and friendly demeanor of New England educators. In the spirit of hospitality, we've decided to extend our awards nomination deadlines AND our early bird registration discount deadline for our conference to December 21st. Educator Award Nominations deadlines extended to this Friday, December 6th. - Claudette and John Brassil Distinguished Educator Award
- Teacher of Excellence Award
We hope you'll join us at our March 21, 2025 conference in Portland, Maine for teaching strategies, reading and writing development ideas, networking opportunities, and content hours! Our Keynote Kate Roberts will be amazing! We're excited to send out workshop descriptions later this month, too. We have two more contact hour learning opportunities you might be interested that are coming soon. - December 14th we are partnering with Colby College Museum of Art for an in-person Ekphrastic Poetry workshop. More details here:
https://maine.wildapricot.org/event-5966630 - January 30th we'll hold an online webinar with Ryan Dippre from UMaine helping us understand the shift from high school English to first-year college writing. This webinar will also be recorded. More information here:
https://maine.wildapricot.org/event-5895581
Always learning, Patti Forster MCELA President maine.ela@gmail.com |
Thank you to all who volunteered at the NCTE Convention in November. Our volunteers from our New England states were amazing and received so many compliments for their friendly and helpful support for conference participants, NCTE staff, vendors, and keynote speakers (that's some of our Maine volunteers with keynote Kate McKinnon helping support her book signing for her new middle grade book The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science). Our 37 Maine volunteers collectively donated over 350 hours helping others at the NCTE Convention. I continue to be amazed by the warm hospitality and friendly demeanor of New England educators. In the spirit of hospitality, we've decided to extend our awards nomination deadlines AND our early bird registration discount deadline for our conference to December 21st. Educator Award Nominations deadlines extended to this Friday, December 6th. - Claudette and John Brassil Distinguished Educator Award
- Teacher of Excellence Award
We hope you'll join us at our March 21, 2025 conference in Portland, Maine for teaching strategies, reading and writing development ideas, networking opportunities, and content hours! Our Keynote Kate Roberts will be amazing! We're excited to send out workshop descriptions later this month, too. We have two more contact hour learning opportunities you might be interested that are coming soon. - December 14th we are partnering with Colby College Museum of Art for an in-person Ekphrastic Poetry workshop. More details here:
https://maine.wildapricot.org/event-5966630 - January 30th we'll hold an online webinar with Ryan Dippre from UMaine helping us understand the shift from high school English to first-year college writing. This webinar will also be recorded. More information here:
https://maine.wildapricot.org/event-5895581
Always learning, Patti Forster MCELA President maine.ela@gmail.com |
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| | Author: Bre Allard, ballard@lewistonpublicschools.org Literacy Coach at Lewiston Middle School MCELA Executive Board Member |
Author: Bre Allard, ballard@lewistonpublicschools.org Literacy Coach at Lewiston Middle School MCELA Executive Board Member |
“Rush: to push or impel forward with speed, impetuosity, or violence” (Merriam-Webster’s definition). Common phrases we often use with the word rush include, “Put a rush on it,” “Beat the rush,” and “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Poet, Lyndsay Rush, argues that, despite her last name suggesting speed and fervor, her life goals are to slow down and take in each moment as it comes. In the daily grind of an educator, rushing often seems to be part of the norm. We rush to get our unofficially assigned parking spot in the staff parking lot each morning. We rush to make photocopies, to post assignments to Google Classroom, to read and reply to the never-ending trail of emails. We inhale lunch and maybe squeeze in a bathroom break during our short 25-minute lunch break. Phew. I’m exhausted just thinking about all that we have on our plates and how much rushing we do in a day (read Rush’s poem, “You Have a Lot on Your Plate”). I need a nap… but I can’t because I have more on my to-do list that I need to check off. Who’s with me? If we’re not careful, it can be a vicious cycle that will wear us down (read Rush’s poem, “An Error Message Just for You”). Instead of counting down the days to the next vacation (and I know we all do that), let’s make each day actually count. Take a page, or rather a poem, from Lyndsay Rush’s new book, A Bit Much. Her collection of poems is lively and relatable. While they are a memoir of her life, there are several that are inspirational to all who read them. Rush’s poems remind us that it’s okay to go at our own pace, it’s okay to not have it all together all of the time (read her poem, “An Idiom-Proof Life”), and it’s okay to appreciate the small things (read her poem, “She’s a Bit Much”). In these ways, we can make each day count when we really do stop to smell the rose growing from the crack in the concrete. So I challenge all of us, in the rush of our work days, and in the rush in the holidays, to shift our mindsets. What is one thing that you can practice each day to center your mind and body before tackling that next item on your to-do list? Give yourself a reminder on your phone or on a sticky note on your desk or laptop to notice at least one positive thing each day (read her poems, “Keep it Simple, Susan” and “A Spell for Success”). Do not be so consumed by the pile of essays to grade (as important as they are) that you never notice the beauty of a sunset (even if it’s from your classroom window if you’re still there working on those essays). Give yourself the grace to make mistakes, it’s how you learn and grow. And laugh. Laugh with friends, laugh with family, laugh with your students, and most importantly, laugh at yourself. Laughter is good for the soul. Lyndsay Rush’s poems can help with that, too. If you can’t laugh at yourself, she gives you permission to laugh at her and with her through her poems. Most importantly, as Rush charges us in her poem, “‘Marie! The Baguettes, Hurry Up!’” there are several things that take time and deserve our time, like baking bread. However, there is one thing that should be rushed, and frequently. She writes, “Of all the things you should never postpone, make sure joy is at the top of that list.” Find joy, make joy, be joy–a bit much of it–in your work and in your play today. If you want to hear Lyndsay Rush tell her story in her own voice, listen to A Bit Much on Audible. You can also follow her on Instagram @maryoliversdrunkcousin.
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“Rush: to push or impel forward with speed, impetuosity, or violence” (Merriam-Webster’s definition). Common phrases we often use with the word rush include, “Put a rush on it,” “Beat the rush,” and “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Poet, Lyndsay Rush, argues that, despite her last name suggesting speed and fervor, her life goals are to slow down and take in each moment as it comes. In the daily grind of an educator, rushing often seems to be part of the norm. We rush to get our unofficially assigned parking spot in the staff parking lot each morning. We rush to make photocopies, to post assignments to Google Classroom, to read and reply to the never-ending trail of emails. We inhale lunch and maybe squeeze in a bathroom break during our short 25-minute lunch break. Phew. I’m exhausted just thinking about all that we have on our plates and how much rushing we do in a day (read Rush’s poem, “You Have a Lot on Your Plate”). I need a nap… but I can’t because I have more on my to-do list that I need to check off. Who’s with me? If we’re not careful, it can be a vicious cycle that will wear us down (read Rush’s poem, “An Error Message Just for You”). Instead of counting down the days to the next vacation (and I know we all do that), let’s make each day actually count. Take a page, or rather a poem, from Lyndsay Rush’s new book, A Bit Much. Her collection of poems is lively and relatable. While they are a memoir of her life, there are several that are inspirational to all who read them. Rush’s poems remind us that it’s okay to go at our own pace, it’s okay to not have it all together all of the time (read her poem, “An Idiom-Proof Life”), and it’s okay to appreciate the small things (read her poem, “She’s a Bit Much”). In these ways, we can make each day count when we really do stop to smell the rose growing from the crack in the concrete. So I challenge all of us, in the rush of our work days, and in the rush in the holidays, to shift our mindsets. What is one thing that you can practice each day to center your mind and body before tackling that next item on your to-do list? Give yourself a reminder on your phone or on a sticky note on your desk or laptop to notice at least one positive thing each day (read her poems, “Keep it Simple, Susan” and “A Spell for Success”). Do not be so consumed by the pile of essays to grade (as important as they are) that you never notice the beauty of a sunset (even if it’s from your classroom window if you’re still there working on those essays). Give yourself the grace to make mistakes, it’s how you learn and grow. And laugh. Laugh with friends, laugh with family, laugh with your students, and most importantly, laugh at yourself. Laughter is good for the soul. Lyndsay Rush’s poems can help with that, too. If you can’t laugh at yourself, she gives you permission to laugh at her and with her through her poems. Most importantly, as Rush charges us in her poem, “‘Marie! The Baguettes, Hurry Up!’” there are several things that take time and deserve our time, like baking bread. However, there is one thing that should be rushed, and frequently. She writes, “Of all the things you should never postpone, make sure joy is at the top of that list.” Find joy, make joy, be joy–a bit much of it–in your work and in your play today. If you want to hear Lyndsay Rush tell her story in her own voice, listen to A Bit Much on Audible. You can also follow her on Instagram @maryoliversdrunkcousin.
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| | IDEA Collective Navigating Challenging Conversations |
IDEA Collective Navigating Challenging Conversations |
Author: Todd McKinley, tmckinley@rsu21.net, Vice President MCELA and Instructional Strategist at Middle School of the Kennebunks |
Author: Todd McKinley, tmckinley@rsu21.net, Vice President MCELA and Instructional Strategist at Middle School of the Kennebunks |
Introduction Matt entered my classroom, clearly troubled by something as he scowled and slammed into his chair at the table. Apparently, conversation at lunch had focused on the recent controversy related to Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem and calls by officials in the White House for Kaepernick to resign. This moment would introduce me to Matt’s often animated reactions to issues involving football, Black Lives Matter, and national politics.
For the past several years, teachers and communities have navigated a heightened awareness in their communities of potentially contentious topics for their curriculum. Realizing teachers in Maine need resources to frame civil discourse, the IDEA Collective of the Maine Council for English Language Arts (MCELA) identified one important goal: support Maine educators as they explore ways to develop materials and practices for inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. In particular, MCELA invites educators to think about, discuss, and take steps to address issues related to racism, income disparity, gender identity, environmental justice, equity, genocide, and indigenous sovereignty.
At the time Matt was a student in my classroom, I taught in a predominantly White, rural, and politically conservative area of Maine. Among some families in this community, conversations related to Black Lives Matter and the Trump administration could easily become contentious. As a White, educated male, I teach from a privileged standpoint. I view the inclusion of topics related to issues of social justice as central to broadening students’ perspectives. I also recognize that students will voice opinions and ideas from a wide range of political and social stances. In writing this profile, I intend to share with readers how to frame student discourse around shared text to provide a context for centering discussions on common understandings. I will also reference a practice from professional literature: Reading Challenging Texts: Layering Literacies Through the Arts (2018) by James S. Chisholm and Kathryn F. Whitmore. ... |
Introduction Matt entered my classroom, clearly troubled by something as he scowled and slammed into his chair at the table. Apparently, conversation at lunch had focused on the recent controversy related to Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem and calls by officials in the White House for Kaepernick to resign. This moment would introduce me to Matt’s often animated reactions to issues involving football, Black Lives Matter, and national politics.
For the past several years, teachers and communities have navigated a heightened awareness in their communities of potentially contentious topics for their curriculum. Realizing teachers in Maine need resources to frame civil discourse, the IDEA Collective of the Maine Council for English Language Arts (MCELA) identified one important goal: support Maine educators as they explore ways to develop materials and practices for inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. In particular, MCELA invites educators to think about, discuss, and take steps to address issues related to racism, income disparity, gender identity, environmental justice, equity, genocide, and indigenous sovereignty.
At the time Matt was a student in my classroom, I taught in a predominantly White, rural, and politically conservative area of Maine. Among some families in this community, conversations related to Black Lives Matter and the Trump administration could easily become contentious. As a White, educated male, I teach from a privileged standpoint. I view the inclusion of topics related to issues of social justice as central to broadening students’ perspectives. I also recognize that students will voice opinions and ideas from a wide range of political and social stances. In writing this profile, I intend to share with readers how to frame student discourse around shared text to provide a context for centering discussions on common understandings. I will also reference a practice from professional literature: Reading Challenging Texts: Layering Literacies Through the Arts (2018) by James S. Chisholm and Kathryn F. Whitmore. ... |
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| | Northwords November 1990 on Grading Theme |
Northwords November 1990 on Grading Theme |
2024 Introduction & Reflection By Beth Carlson, Nationally Board Certified Teacher/English Department Chair at RSU21, Kennebunk High School, bcarlson@rsu21.net, current MCELA Executive Board Member, and Past President of MCELA
Having just assigned theme papers to my freshman honors level class, I am feeling hard what Jean M. Davis wrote about in 1990. However, having just come back from the NCTE conference where I attended Sarah Zerwin's workshop on humane grading, I am not going to agonize over my students' grades. I will make comments and offer them a revision opportunity.
Zerwin recommends learning progressions, which she outlines in her new book, Step Aside: Strategies for Student-Driven Learning with Secondary Readers and Writers, where she advocates that students should not only do the work but use the learning progressions to track their progress. I can't wait to order this book and read more. The workshop gave me a vision of the possibilities teachers can enact that put the onus of the work on students and then their grades rise out of their effort. Zerwin teaches high school, but she presented with middle school teachers who use this method as well. Rigor, after all, doesn't mean much if students don't have to think about their work again, and–if you can accept a little cynicism here–if they're thinking critically about how to revise writing done by chatGPT, that's progress, too. It's also another workshop (or two) I attended at NCTE. –Beth Carlson, Current MCELA Executive Board Member and English Teacher at Kennebunk High School
Blast from the Past, November 1990 By Jean M. Davis
Barbara Ellis, formally a Maine high school English teacher and now a faculty member in the journalism Department at Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon, recently completed her doctoral thesis in a subject pertinent to MCELA members. Ellis has researched the major factors inhibiting English teachers in the area of theme assessment. Ellis speculates at the onset of her study that "most English teachers are not aware of the high cost of assessment's consequences, in terms of dollars, in terms of its behavioral, attitude, physical, and emotional effects in educators themselves."
Theme assessment, Ellis notes, cannot be done with a checklist or a multiple-choice evaluation form. Rather, it requires "thoughtful judgment and marks and comments that will be meaningful to the student writer." A teacher with 125 students, spending only ten minutes per composition, will devote at least twenty hours in assessing one theme assignment.... |
2024 Introduction & Reflection By Beth Carlson, Nationally Board Certified Teacher/English Department Chair at RSU21, Kennebunk High School, bcarlson@rsu21.net, current MCELA Executive Board Member, and Past President of MCELA
Having just assigned theme papers to my freshman honors level class, I am feeling hard what Jean M. Davis wrote about in 1990. However, having just come back from the NCTE conference where I attended Sarah Zerwin's workshop on humane grading, I am not going to agonize over my students' grades. I will make comments and offer them a revision opportunity.
Zerwin recommends learning progressions, which she outlines in her new book, Step Aside: Strategies for Student-Driven Learning with Secondary Readers and Writers, where she advocates that students should not only do the work but use the learning progressions to track their progress. I can't wait to order this book and read more. The workshop gave me a vision of the possibilities teachers can enact that put the onus of the work on students and then their grades rise out of their effort. Zerwin teaches high school, but she presented with middle school teachers who use this method as well. Rigor, after all, doesn't mean much if students don't have to think about their work again, and–if you can accept a little cynicism here–if they're thinking critically about how to revise writing done by chatGPT, that's progress, too. It's also another workshop (or two) I attended at NCTE. –Beth Carlson, Current MCELA Executive Board Member and English Teacher at Kennebunk High School
Blast from the Past, November 1990 By Jean M. Davis
Barbara Ellis, formally a Maine high school English teacher and now a faculty member in the journalism Department at Oregon State University, Corvallis Oregon, recently completed her doctoral thesis in a subject pertinent to MCELA members. Ellis has researched the major factors inhibiting English teachers in the area of theme assessment. Ellis speculates at the onset of her study that "most English teachers are not aware of the high cost of assessment's consequences, in terms of dollars, in terms of its behavioral, attitude, physical, and emotional effects in educators themselves."
Theme assessment, Ellis notes, cannot be done with a checklist or a multiple-choice evaluation form. Rather, it requires "thoughtful judgment and marks and comments that will be meaningful to the student writer." A teacher with 125 students, spending only ten minutes per composition, will devote at least twenty hours in assessing one theme assignment.... |
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| Bonus Picture Book Recommendation: |
Bonus Picture Book Recommendation: |
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Contact Hours=7 Early Registration Deadline Extended to 12/21/24! Click here for information on the conference, preconference event, and hotel booking. Questions? Email us at maine.ela@gmail.com |
Contact Hours=7 Early Registration Deadline Extended to 12/21/24! Click here for information on the conference, preconference event, and hotel booking. Questions? Email us at maine.ela@gmail.com |
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Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop Maine Council for English Language Arts (MCELA) in partnership with Colby College Museum of Art Facilitators: Abby Newkirk–Linde, Family Foundation Senior Coordinator of School and Teacher Programs, Colby College Museum of Art, and Kimberly Sellers, MCELA Board Member and English teacher at Hall-Dale High School December 14, 2024 9:30 AM -1:00 PM Schedule: Time | Location/Activity | 9:30-10:00 | Museum Classroom: introductions, overview | 10:00-11:30 | Brief tour of museum exhibits Participants self-select artworks to generate their writing | 11:30-12:15 | Museum Classroom: Participants share work Review of Museum Programming | 12:15-1:00 | Lunch in the Dining Hall |
Overview: Ekphrastic poetry refers to poetic works typically inspired by art in all its many forms. The Greek term ekphrasis specifically relates to the skill of applying vivid descriptions of something. That something could be a scene, a person, an object, or a landscape. Enjoy a morning of ekphrastic poetry writing in partnership with MCELA and the Colby Museum of Art. We will explore a variety of ekphrastic poems and then take a guided tour of the museum. Participants are invited to choose a work of art that speaks to them, spend time with it to capture the details, and then work on crafting drafts of their own ekphrastic poems in the museum’s educational center. After some writing and time for reflection, lunch will be held at the Colby dining hall. 3.5 Contact Hours Lunch will be provided as part of the ticket cost. - $15 Members
- $20 Non-members
- $10 Students
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Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop Maine Council for English Language Arts (MCELA) in partnership with Colby College Museum of Art Facilitators: Abby Newkirk–Linde, Family Foundation Senior Coordinator of School and Teacher Programs, Colby College Museum of Art, and Kimberly Sellers, MCELA Board Member and English teacher at Hall-Dale High School December 14, 2024 9:30 AM -1:00 PM Schedule: Time | Location/Activity | 9:30-10:00 | Museum Classroom: introductions, overview | 10:00-11:30 | Brief tour of museum exhibits Participants self-select artworks to generate their writing | 11:30-12:15 | Museum Classroom: Participants share work Review of Museum Programming | 12:15-1:00 | Lunch in the Dining Hall |
Overview: Ekphrastic poetry refers to poetic works typically inspired by art in all its many forms. The Greek term ekphrasis specifically relates to the skill of applying vivid descriptions of something. That something could be a scene, a person, an object, or a landscape. Enjoy a morning of ekphrastic poetry writing in partnership with MCELA and the Colby Museum of Art. We will explore a variety of ekphrastic poems and then take a guided tour of the museum. Participants are invited to choose a work of art that speaks to them, spend time with it to capture the details, and then work on crafting drafts of their own ekphrastic poems in the museum’s educational center. After some writing and time for reflection, lunch will be held at the Colby dining hall. 3.5 Contact Hours Lunch will be provided as part of the ticket cost. - $15 Members
- $20 Non-members
- $10 Students
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Recording will be available, plus 1 contact hour certificate. |
Recording will be available, plus 1 contact hour certificate. |
Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 Nominate an ELA educator who is a leader inside and outside of your school community. |
Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 Nominate an ELA educator who is a leader inside and outside of your school community. |
Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 |
Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 |
MCELA's new award! Nominate an ELA educator who demonstrates excellent teaching at your school. Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 |
MCELA's new award! Nominate an ELA educator who demonstrates excellent teaching at your school. Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 |
Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 |
Deadline Extended to this Friday, 12/6/24 |
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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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