MCELA Mattersprograms, resources, connections |
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April 2023 In this newsletter: - SURVEY for you to share how MCELA can help (see President's Message below)
- MCELA programming ideas in the development
- IDEA Collective: National Poetry Month ideas and resources
- MCELA Northwords Call for Submissions
- April Poetry Readings FREE to all with the Connecticut Council of Teachers of English
- Reading Round-Up 4/27/23 w/keynote Jason Reynolds
- Write Now! Conference 4/28-29/23 with Tom Romano, Aeriale N. Johnson, and Claire Landrigan
- UMaine Literacy Connections Conference 5/12/23
- MLA fundraiser with Stephen and Tabitha King
- UNH New Hampshire Literacy Institute summer workshops.
President's Message: Earlier this year my wife and I watched a medical drama series called New Amsterdam (based on the novel Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer). The plot is centered on the new director of “America’s oldest public hospital,” Dr. Max Goodwin, who is driven by how he can make things better for all patients and all employees. In the season opener, he gathers employees into a lecture hall and asks, “How can I help?” The room is initially silent, as the attendees try to determine if Goodwin is just asking a rhetorical question, then one by one, the ideas for improvement are cautiously shared, and one by one, Goodwin claims he will do something about it…and he does. “How can I help?” seems like Goodwin’s catchphrase https://youtu.be/kfxPMg3nVb8, but it is his rallying cry to improve the hospital for all. The MCELA Executive Board is currently wondering how we can help improve literacy for all: for all students and for all who are educating our students and teachers. One thing MCELA has done since the 1970s is run a literacy conference. This year MCELA has invested most of our volunteer time in rejuvenating our in-person conference after a three-year pandemic hiatus. 15 MCELA volunteers facilitated the conference which featured 21 workshops and a keynote by 35 presenters graciously and courageously exposing their thinking, 16 vendors sharing opportunities, and over 200 attendees eager to connect, revive, and renew. In addition, we had 7 organizations sponsor portions of the conference and our pre-conference event. Behind the scenes, MCELA has also been partnering with other state organizations to advocate for intellectual freedom at the state level. We've partnered with 11 other state organizations in a campaign to oppose LD123: "An Act to Eliminate the Educational Purposes Exception to the Prohibition on the Dissemination of Obscene Matter to Minors." Consider joining this letter-writing campaign site: Action.EveryLibrary.org/LD123. Immediately following the end of our March 17th conference, our MCELA Executive Board met and started generating ideas for how we can help. We are currently planning a Zoom chat for May to explore artificial intelligence in the ELA classroom (stay tuned for date/time) and developing a proposal for a literacy course with continuing education credit and a grad course credit option thanks to a partnership with Thomas College. We’ve also got future book studies brewing (maybe spring or summer, definitely next fall), we're working on a grant to bring in a facilitator for an online workshop series, and we are considering setting up a mentorship program for next year. Post MCELA conference, we are still overflowing with ideas and wondering “How can we help?” As a state organization, our goal is to be a connection for learning and growing in the teaching of literacy. The conference was certainly a connection, and it was inspiring to get back to learning and growing together in person. But, what else can we do–how can we help to create these in-person and online connections throughout the year and throughout the state? Like Goodwin, we are not asking a rhetorical question here. This is our rallying cry to improve literacy and ELA education for all. What can we do for you? How can we help? Please consider filling out this survey to join us as we seek to continuously improve how MCELA can help you. Click here to share your interests and ideas. Thank you for your help, Patti Forster, MCELA President maine.ela@gmail.com MCELA website: mainecela.org |
Interested in volunteering on the MCELA Executive Board? Email MCELA President Patti Forster to share your interest in making this professional connection. maine.ela@gmail.com |
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| MCELA Programming Matters |
MCELA programming ideas in development: A Zoom Chat about AI and the ELA Classroom. Coming in May 2023. A possible course with CEUs or grad credit options next year through Thomas College led by MCELA members. Book studies Online workshop series Mentorship program |
The IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Collective focuses on an 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. Each month, the IDEA Collective of MCELA will share resources for educators to explore and consider using in their practice and with their students. |
IDEA for April - National Poetry Month To celebrate National Poetry Month, we offer resources to encourage engagement with diverse voices through poetry. We also offer a range of resources allowing you and your students to access these materials: digital, print, audio, and video! Check out these diverse ways to include all learners in celebrating poetry. Read, Write & Listen: In celebration of 25 years on National Poetry Month, The Telling Room has created an anthology of poetry by Maine students. A New Land celebrates life in Maine while offering diverse perspectives of youth from a variety of countries. Last year, every Maine high school library received a free copy of this anthology, and the Telling Room has created a toolkit for teachers to bring these poems and writers into the classroom. The Telling Room site provides a PDF of the poems and links to Check out these resources and let MCELA and let colleagues know how you used this anthology and the resources. Write: Wondering how to bring the writing of poetry into your classroom? Try this resource - Poetry in Schools. This guide for teachers allows you to create your own unit of poetry and to learn about new ways to inspire students to hone their craft. Check it out! View & Listen: Check out this spoken word performance and TED Talk presentation by Maine poet Maya Williams: “Why Poetry Has Been Keeping Me Alive.” Maya recently co-hosted Maine’s Poetry Out Loud Finals and presented at MCELA’s Annual Conference on March 17, 2023. From Maya’s website: “Maya Williams (ey/em, they/them, and she/her) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who is currently an Ashley Bryan Fellow and the seventh Poet Laureate of Portland, Maine.” View & Listen: ICYMI - Check out photos and more from the Maine Poetry Out Loud Finals held on April 13,2023. Consider how YOUR students can bring alive familiar and newer poetry. If you are a high school teacher, learn how you might participate in future POL competitions. Of course, any teacher can host their own celebration of the spoken word!
Looking for more? Check out the NCTE Position Statement on “Resolution on the Need for Diverse Children’s and Young Adult Books.” And NCTE Verse.
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What are you thinking about this year? Share your thinking with ELA educators across the state by submitting an article to MCELA's Northwords. More information for submitting here: https://www.mainecela.org/call-for-manuscripts.html Access to past issues here: https://www.mainecela.org/access-northwords-pdfs |
CTCTE's month of poetry readings to celebrate national poetry month. CTCTE welcomes our NCTE affiliate colleagues to join us for this. Love poetry? This is for you. Terrified of poetry? This is definitely for you. |
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Write What Matters workshop Friday, April 28, 6:30-8:30pmWrite Now! Saturday conference, April 29, 8:30am-2:30pmIn the tradition of Donald Graves, this year’s Write Now! conference for preK-12 educators and administrators centers joy, collaboration, and deep learning in the teaching of reading and writing. Our two presenters, Tom Romano and Aeriale N. Johnson, are skilled writers, readers, and thinkers. They will nurture our teaching hearts with both laughter and strategies that meet the needs of today’s students. On Friday evening we start with a writing workshop for teachers led by Dr. Tom Romano, who earned his doctorate at the University of New Hampshire, studying under Don Graves. We will write together from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Enrollment is limited, so early registration is encouraged. Saturday, April 29, Tom will kick off our conference with the history of the ground-breaking, world-changing literacy research led by Graves, Donald Murray, Lucy Calkins, MaryEllen Giacobbe, Jane Hansen, and Thomas Newkirk. Aeriale will share the rich literacy practices that lead all of her students to independence, agency, and voice in her classroom. Don’t miss this weekend! You will leave recharged and filled with ideas that center students in their learning and lead to greater engagement and growth. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/write-now-2023-registration-525061762867 |
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Literacy Connections Conference
No Bad Days: Returning to the Joy in TeachingFriday, May 12th. UMaine, Orono. Keynote with 3 breakout sessions following featuring 24 workshop options. More information including workshop titles, plus registration form here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bjKd9ju5z4-8N66dRJNBQ4c7KPOdTK3c/view?usp=sharing |
Maine Library Association Fundraiser |
The Maine Library Association is hosting a fundraiser dinner with Stephen and Tabitha King from the King Foundation on 5/21 at 6:30 pm. In 2022 there were 1,269 demands to censor books in the United States, nearly double the record-shattering 729 challenges recorded in 2021. Maine reflects this trend, with numerous attempts to censor books in our state and also current proposed legislation that would put educators and school librarians in legal jeopardy over book collections. The Maine Library Association advocates for intellectual freedom, supports library workers, and provides professional development to ensure strong libraries supporting Maine communities. Please help the MLA build capacity to do this critical work–attend our 2023 fundraiser featuring Maine authors, philanthropists, and library advocates, Stephen and Tabitha King. More information and registration here: https://www.mainelibraries.org/event-5183027 |
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Summer Courses
through UMaine College of Education and Human Development The first course is ERL 546, Institute in Teacher Leadership. This course focuses on leadership in writing and the teaching of writing. The first part of the course goes from June 26-July 5 and includes completing some asynchronous assignments to prepare for the institutes. The second part of the course is our online, synchronous Maine Writing Project institute which will take place from July 6-14 from 9-3. The synchronous institute includes time for discussing issues related to writing and teaching writing, working on your own writing, and for preparing to share something you are passionate about teaching. We will also be offering ERL 590, Joy in Teaching, on Mondays from May 21-June 24, online, synchronous from 4:30-7. We will reflect on our current experiences in education and consider ways to take action to stay or become happy, strong, and caring teachers. For more information contact: |
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Correction: Last month's Book Matters list of The Immortalists, Malibu Rising, and Spare was incorrectly labeled. This was Beth Carlson's reading list. Beth Carlson, is an Executive Board Member of MCELA, is one of our past presidents, and is an English teacher at Kennebunk High School. |
Here's what Patti Forster, MCELA President and English teacher at Camden Hills Regional High School, is reading and listening to right now: |
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In this powerful book, Nobel Peace Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Malala Yousafzai introduces the people behind the statistics and news stories about the millions of people displaced worldwide. Malala's experiences visiting refugee camps caused her to reconsider her own displacement....In We Are Displaced, Malala not only explores her own story, but she also shares the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her journeys–girls who have lost their community, relatives, and often the only world they've ever known... Click here for full Amazon book summary |
| Will Wise and Chad Littlefield explain how the questions we traditionally ask are often meaningless when it comes to establishing a connection.....[Will] unpacks the art of asking questions that lay the foundation for trust, psychological safety, productivity, and impact....Together, the art of asking and the science behind it join to create a simple and powerful framework for leaders to build a culture of connection. In his book, Will and Chad break it down into six simple steps... Click here for full Amazon book summary |
| "A clever work with an intriguing format and a memorable protagonist" -Kirkus Reviews
From 2019 Booker Prize nominee Howard Marc Chesley, an inspiring and humorous new novel. Woven into his funny, chatty Yelp reviews of restaurants and businesses, 22-year-old Aspie Marcus Katz chronicles in vivid, oversharing detail how, after the death of his doting mother, he is railroaded by the Los Angeles probate court into an abusive conservatorship.
Click here for full Amazon book summary |
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Re:Thinking with Adam Grant podcast - The psychology of fiction with Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Apple Spotify Transcript
Barnes: "So I have these descriptions which are just, like, a vibe or another character or an inspiration or an idea. And then what I do is I put on my psychologist’s hat and I say, “Okay, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna figure out how over the course of their development, they became these people.” And then every time I find something about them in the present, I go back and I think about a scene or a moment, usually in their childhood, that might have led to that. And so by the time I'm writing the character, they've gone away from just the initial vibe or idea, and they feel like a real person to me because I know so much about how they became that person. And then that also tells me a lot about their relationships with each other."
- ChatGPT did NOT title this podcast (w/Allie Miller & Ethan Mollick)
Apple Spotify Transcript
Grant: "I guess what I'm rethinking based on this discussion is maybe we're unlocking that in some ways with these tools. That people who thought they weren't writers can actually become more fluid at it because they have some material to work with."
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stay tuned via social media |
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