MCELA Mattersprograms, resources, connections |
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Inside: Writing Contests Matter - Maine Student Writing Contest. Open for submissions. Deadline 12/22/23, $100 for grade level winners & $50 for honorable mentions
- Educators Writing Contest from Townsend Press. Cash prizes! Deadline March 2024
MCELA Programming Matters - Conference March 2024: Ignite Joy–Tending the Spaces Between with Keynote Penny Kittle! Sneak peek at over 40 workshops available now!
- Nominate an ELA Educator for our state English educator award: The Claudette & John Brassil Distinguished Educator Award. Deadline 12/10/23
- 12/12 Webinar with author Brett Pierce--Writing Toward the Future: Digital Storytelling in the Classroom.Just a few free books left for those who register.
- NEW! Graduate Course through Thomas College: Empowering ELA Educators to Lead Each Other. Registration is open now for January 8th-March 1st term.
Opportunities Matter - 12/13 free event: Teaching Students to Infer with Kylene Beers
- Join the RetroReport Advisory Team. Stipend available.
- World Read Aloud Day and Virtual Author Visits
Our Words Matter - Write for Wellspring, a new peer-reviewed, open-access journal that features practitioner’s writing sponsored by The Literacy, Language, and Culture Department and the Southern Maine Writing Project. Submissions are due December 31st.
- Creative Writing Fellowship: New Literary Project is pleased to announce that the 2024 Jack Hazard Fellowship Application is now open. Apply by January 4, 2024.
- Write for MCELA's Northwords. Submissions are due by May 1, 2024
Message from the MCELA Vice President, Todd McKinley: Three members of MCELA’s executive board recently traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for NCTE’s 2023 Annual Convention, “Conexiones.” Patti Forster, President, Todd McKinley, Vice President, and Michelle DeBlois, board member, spent three days with thousands of educators from across the country, including several Maine teachers. In addition to attending inspirational keynote presentations, remarkable workshops led by educators and authors, and highly beneficial affiliate events, Patti, Todd, and Michelle also represented MCELA for several awards. On Sunday morning, November 19th, MCELA was recognized at the NCTE Affiliate Breakfast for the following achievements: Affiliate Website of Excellence Kent D. Williamson Membership Recruitment Affiliate Newsletter of Excellence Affiliate Excellence Award
Additionally, MCELA nominated the Maine Association of School Libraries (MASL) for the Intellectual Freedom Award. MASL received this award for their efforts in protecting school libraries from attempts to remove books from their shelves. MASL also provided educators and Maine citizens ways to voice their opposition to a series of bills designed to place restrictions on curriculum. Todd McKinley MCELA Vice President maine.ela@gmail.com MCELA website: mainecela.org |
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Prizes! $100 to grade-level winners. $50 to honorable mentions. |
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Townsend Press is conducting a NEW WRITING CONTEST for fall 2023 that is open to any current school or college teacher. The assignment is to write a personal essay of 2,500 to 3,000 words that describes three major lessons learned in the course of your life. The final date for submission is March 15, 2024. Here are two sample essays to consider as you think about your own essay. Contest details are below. HERE'S HOW TO ENTER: Email your essay along with your name, address, and the name of the school where you teach to writing.contest@townsendpress.com. We will acknowledge receipt of your essay. Alternatively, you may mail your essay to us. Be sure to include the information listed above and your email address so we can confirm receipt of your essay. Here's our mailing address: Writing Contest Townsend Press 439 Kelley Drive West Berlin, NJ 08091 AWARDS This contest features $25,000 in awards. Winners will be announced in April 2024. - First place: $5,000
- Second place: $3,000
- Third place: $2,000
- Honorable mentions (15 in all): $1,000
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MCELA Programming Matters |
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| Today’s global dialogue is often happening inside digital platforms, from TikTok to Instagram. This workshop argues for making digital storytelling (DS) a standard, best practice in schools. DS is a portal into productive participation in the digital sphere and into internalizing the structure and power of story while practicing the ‘human skills’ needed to succeed in a world of omnipresent change. Participants will explore the multiple advantages of tapping digital storytelling as a sublime pathway into engaging with the Language Arts curriculum. Ticket price for non-members is $10. MCELA members use membership number as promo code for free registration. To join MCELA for a $30 donation and free programming as well as discounts on special events all year go to https://www.mainecela.org/membership.html and make a $30 donation. Free book ($40 value) to first 10 to register. |
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ED 562 (3 credits) Empowering ELA Educators to Lead Each Other This is a hybrid course with 2 in-person meetings and the rest virtual. This course empowers ELA educators to celebrate their own learning and elevate it to professional publication and/or presentation. This course will support learners by introducing them to mentors in the field of ELA education who will share their expertise and model strategies that reflect successful practice. The course is structured in a way where learners will inquire into and investigate a problem of practice or an area of curiosity (or frustration, or possibility) in order to create positive change. Learners taking this course will conduct informal research in their context and create a plan for sharing their knowledge and expertise with a wider audience of other practitioners in ways that contribute to excellence in the field of ELA education. Learners will be coached through this process by experienced ELA educators who will offer ideas for moving beyond a school or classroom context and into a wider sphere of influence. Course Objectives Learners will be able to: Articulate their professional goals and how their work in this course can develop their capacities toward that goal. Plan and conduct informal research for continuous improvement. Construct a project in an area of interest and/or need that is oriented toward wider communities of English Language Arts educators.
Publish a contribution (article, paper, presentation, etc.) to wider English Language Arts communities.
Main Topics Covered in the Course Educator self-efficacy and empowerment Successful practices in ELA (according to research and lived experience) Continuous Improvement Research Research writing and presentation skills for sharing out knowledge to other ELA professionals
Disclaimer: We welcome educators from all content areas to participate in this course if they are willing to be courageous and join with our ELA community. |
Membership year is September 2023-August 2024. MCELA Membership Includes: - Discounted conference rate
- Monthly newsletter
- Northwords Publication
- Free or discounted book studies
- Free or discounted workshops
- and other surprise events and opportunities along the way!
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| Educator Opportunities Matter |
Date and Time One FREE 60-minute session from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm Eastern Time (ET). - Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Please note that these virtual workshops are scheduled for Eastern Time (ET). If you are in a different time zone, please plan your schedule accordingly. Overview Join Kylene Beers for a fast-paced workshop filled with specific information you can use to teach inference. Kylene has a multitude of pertinent stories from the classroom to illustrate this teaching. This workshop covers: - Defining what inference is, and what students often mistake it for.
- Identifying the most common types of inferences students need to make.
- Exploring instructional scaffolds that help you teach students to make those inferences.
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Retro Report Council of Educators To meet the needs of teachers, we need to hear from them. This group of Retro Report super-users will guide our efforts. We are seeking up to 25 educators from a variety of backgrounds, classrooms and communities. This group will be composed of Social Studies, English/Language Arts, Environmental Science, ELL and Special Education teachers and teacher leaders. Teachers from public schools, charter and independent schools are welcome. The Council term will run through the end of 2024. Educators may serve more than one term. Responsibilities: Attend quarterly virtual meetings to provide feedback and participate in strategic planning. Create one original lesson and student activity connected to an assigned Retro Report film using our Lesson Writing Guidelines. Use at least 2 Retro Report resources in your classroom during the year, and tell us how it went via our monthly survey. Spread the word about Retro Report videos, lessons using social media platforms.
Benefits: $500 stipend to be paid at the end of the term. Retro Report branded gear and giveaways. Paid travel, accommodations and some meals for a summer meeting in New York City. Opportunities for additional paid lesson writing. Opportunities to present at conferences.
Retro Report Teacher Ambassadors This group will be composed of up to 250 educators drawn from urban, suburban and rural areas across the country. It will serve as a sounding board and message amplifier for Retro Report education efforts. We seek a diverse group of Middle and High School teachers from public schools, charters and independent schools. We are looking for teachers across all Social Studies disciplines, as well as those who specialize in English/ELA, Science, ELL, Special Education and teacher leaders. The Ambassador term will run through the end of 2024. Educators may serve more than one term. Responsibilities: Participate in at least two virtual meetings and complete surveys (including our monthly reporting survey and final survey). Share Retro Report videos, lessons and news about professional development opportunities with your network throughout the year. Use at least 2 Retro Report resources in your classroom during the year, and tell us how it went via our monthly survey. If you are a librarian, instructional coach, district specialist or other non-classroom staff, we would expect you to share Retro Report resources with other teachers and tell us about it. Interact with the Retro Report community of teachers online, via our private Facebook group, and/or your social platform of choice. Retro Report is active on Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
Benefits: $250 stipend to be paid at the end of the term. Retro Report branded apparel and supplies. Early access to new Retro Report videos and lessons. Opportunities for paid lesson writing.
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WORLD READ ALOUD DAY IS FEBRUARY 7, 2024!The authors & illustrators listed have volunteered their time to read aloud to classrooms and libraries all over the world. These aren’t long, fancy presentations; a typical one might go like this: - 1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.
- 3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
- 5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
- 1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books he or she loves (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids
If you’re a teacher or librarian and you’d like to have an author Zoom with your classroom or library on World Read Aloud Day, here’s how to do it: - Check out this list of volunteering authors and illustrators, and visit their websites to see which ones might be a good fit for your students. Note that this is a list of traditionally published book creators. This year, the wonderful Judy Campbell-Smith, author of AJ’S NEIGHBORHOOD, is also coordinating a list of self-published authors offering WRAD visits, and that will be posted here soon. For both lists, you’ll want to check out the authors’ books ahead of time to make sure they’re a good fit for your readers.
- Contact the author directly by using the email provided or clicking on the link to his or her website and finding the contact form. Please be sure to provide the following information in your request:
- Your name and what grade(s) you work with
- Your city and time zone (this is important for scheduling!)
- Possible times to connect on February 1st. Please note authors’ availability and time zones. Adjust accordingly if yours is different!
- Your preferred platform (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.)
- A phone number where you can be reached on that day in case of technical issues
- Please understand that authors are people, too, and have schedules and personal lives, just like you, so not all authors will be available at all times. It may take a few tries before you find someone whose books and schedule fit with yours!
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The Literacy, Language, and Culture Department and the Southern Maine Writing Project are pleased to announce a new peer-reviewed, open-access journal that features practitioner’s writing. The inaugural issue of Wellspring: A Practitioner-Oriented Journal of Literacy and Language Education was published in July 2023. Wellspring features practitioner-oriented work in literacy and language education. The primary goal is to create space with, for, and by teachers, teachers-researchers, and teacher-writers to share insights from their practice. Wellspring encourages submissions from practicing educators, defined broadly to include pre-service and in-service teachers, literacy specialists, literacy coaches, interventionists, ESOL teachers, adult language educators, librarians, school administrators, etc. The journal also encourages submissions from teacher education faculty provided the work is co-constructed with a practicing educator and does not simply report on research about practicing educators or their students. A new issue will be published in Spring 2024. Submissions for the spring issue will be accepted until December 31st. For more information on submitting a manuscript, please visit the journal website at https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/wellspringlled/about.html -- Andrea Stairs-Davenport, PhD Associate Dean, School of Education and Human Development Professor, Department of Literacy, Language, and Culture University of Southern Maine 218A/F and 8 Bailey Hall Gorham, ME 04038 |
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Hello, friends at Maine Council for English Language Arts, I'm writing to share news about a professional opportunity for creative writers who teach high school. Jack Hazard Fellowships are $5,000 summer awards for creative writers who are full-time educators. New Literary Project is pleased to announce that the 2024 Jack Hazard Fellowship Application is now open. Apply by January 4, 2024. Since 2022, we have awarded 23 fellowships. We plan to award 14 fellowships in 2024. New Literary Project inspires and equips writers across generations to write their hearts out. Click here for our press release. Best, Abby Donahue Consultant New Literary Project |
MCELA's Academic Journal. Click the cover above to access the 2023 volume and past volumes. Submissions welcome for the 2024 Northwords and are due by May 1, 2024. More information can be accessed here: Northwords Call for Submissions. |
Here's what Todd McKinley, MCELA Vice President and Instructional Strategist at The Middle School of the Kennebunks, is reading right now: |
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stay tuned via social media |
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