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Each year some form of mental illness directly affects up to 20% of workers. Collaterally these effects spread through families and to friends. As teachers we are not only subject to work-related anxiety and stress, but we also watch over students who are often particularly susceptible to depression and behavior adjustment difficulties. As teachers and education leaders we can do much to help our students and colleagues increase their awareness of the importance not only of good mental health but also of the problems associated with stigmatizing those suffering from mental illnesses.

What are the ways you plan to incorporate mental health awareness into your curriculum? Join in the Kentucky English Collaboration about Mental Health http://www.kyenglish.org/May-Is-Mental-Health-Month

The KCTE/LA writing contest is now coordinated by the section vice presidents. Contact them for information. Email all of the vice presidents at contest@kcte.org. Contact individual vice presidents at elementary@kcte.org (Sherri Bazzell, Elementary VP), middle@kcte.org (Jennifer Fowler, Middle-School VP), secondary@kcte.org (Shannon Henson, Secondary-School VP), or college@kcte.org (Debbie Bell, College VP). The deadline for this year's contest was 1 May 2012. Winning entries in the 2011 contest appeared in the Fall 2011 Kentucky English Bulletin. Information about past winners is online at http://contest.kcte.org/index.html.

The NCTE sponsors two national writing contests for individuals, one for 8^th graders and the other for 11^th graders. For information about the contest for 8^th graders contact Frances Helphinstine at young-writers@kcte.org. Information about the awards and past recipients is available on this site at http://www.kcte.org/achievement/pyw.html . Information about the NCTE Writing Achievement Awards, which offer opportunity for Kentucky 11^th graders to receive national recognition for their writing, is available on this site at http://www.kcte.org/achievement/aa.html . For information about the contest for 11^th graders contact Frances Helphinstine at achievement@kcte.org.

The NCTE also sponsors an award for junior highschool, middle school, highschool, and secondary school literary magazines. For more information on PRESLM (Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines) awards contact Frances Helphinstine at preslm@kcte.org. Further instructions are available on this site at http://www.kcte.org/achievement/preslm.html .

I'm pleased to announce that the WAC Clearinghouse (http://wac.colostate.edu/) has recently completed a significant redesign and expansion. The Clearinghouse publishes journals, books, and other resources for teachers who use writing in their courses . An open-access site, the Clearinghouse is home to two refereed journals (Across the Disciplines and The WAC Journal) and offers the archives of four other journals. It also offers more than two-dozen open-access books related to writing and writing instruction. Over the next few months, that number will increase to more than forty, thanks in part to a new partnership with the National Council of Teachers of English, to existing partnerships with Parlor Press and Writing Spaces, and to the tireless efforts of our book series editors, in particular Chuck Bazerman, Sue McLeod, and David Russell.

The Clearinghouse also offers a wide range of resources supporting WAC, CAC, and ECAC. New resources include an expanded WAC Bibliography offered in collaboration with CompPile (thanks to Glenn Blalock and Rich Haswell for their efforts on this), a new WAC and Second-Language Writing section edited by Michelle Cox, and a revitalized Teaching Exchange edited by Justin Jory. You'll also find updates to our other resources.

Please join me in thanking the Clearinghouse editorial board, editorial staff, publications review board, and journal editors for their help in the redesign process. Please send me comments about any problems with the site or areas that could be improved.

All the best,

Mike Palmquist
Editor, The WAC Clearinghouse
Associate Vice Provost for Learning and Teaching | Colorado State University | Fort Collins, CO 80523
Voice: (970) 491-3132

The Mark Twain Museum in cooperation with the Missouri Humanities Council is offering Mark Twain Teacher Workshops in July. The week-long workshops will focus on using Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in the classroom. Details follow:

• What: Teacher Workshops on Teaching Mark Twain in the Classroom.
• Where: Mark Twain Museum, Hannibal, Missouri.
• When: Weeks of July 16-20 and July 23-27, 2012.
• Audience: Aimed for teachers grades 3 through High School.
• Format: Mix of classroom work and field trips to area Mark Twain sites.
• Cost: Registration is $125 for the session, includes materials, admission fees, lunch and dinner.
• Credits: College credits available (extra charge $320 / 4 credit hours) through Quincy University.
• Lodging: Inexpensive rooms available at Hannibal-LaGrange University.

Information and Registration forms: Contact Henry Sweets at henry.sweets@jmarktwainmuseum.org or 573-221-9010 extension 405 and full information and weekly schedules will be sent.
Henry Sweets, Curator
Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum
120 North Main Street
Hannibal,  MO  63401

Charlie Hughes has set up an announce-only email list at U of K to cover Literature-related events in Kentucky.

News of publications, authors, readings, writing contests and awards, and more literary news will be distributed in infrequent e-mail messages to list subscribers. Subscribers are also encouraged to send their own announcements to the list. This is a moderated, announcement-type mailing list. This is not a discussion list, the kind that can overwhelm your mailbox. Your e-mail address will not be disclosed to any other entity or used for any other purpose. KCTE/LA has set up a page at http://www.kcte.org/etc/kylit.html with instructions from Charlie on how to join the list.

Shelby W. Fannin, past Middle School Chairman for OLEMA, shares adolescent literature titles which capture the most averse to reading, an array of activities which turn students into readers, and sources for inexpensive reading materials as Townsend Press.

Kathryn Mincey shares her guides for students to use to teach themselves standard grammar and usage within the evolution of the Alliance for Excellent Education position.

Mary Jerde and Maggie Gulley share current grant sources for K-12 English teachers, pointers for writing grants, and strategies which increase chances for receiving funding, such as collaborating with other schools.

George Eklund shares activities to use to take our students into the exploratory process of a poem.

The Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts, Inc. is an incorporated non-profit, service organization for Kentucky English and Language Arts teachers of all levels (Kindergarten-Graduate School). Membership dues and conference registrations support

• our journal, The Kentucky English Bulletin, published two times each year and edited by Dr. David LeNoir ; information is located at http://www.kcte.org/keb/
• our newsletter, the KCTE/LA News, edited by Amy Cody ; information is located at http://www.kcte.org/news/
• KCTE/LA's involvement in the NCTE Achievement in Writing Awards; information about the Kentucky contestants is available at http://www.kcte.org/achievement/ .
• an annual student essay contest; information is located at http://contest.kcte.org/
• KCTE/LA's involvement in the NCTE PRESLM (Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines) awards. For more information contact Dr. Fran Helphinstine at preslm@kcte.org .
• a teacher-of-the-year award
• an annual conference (each February); information is available at http://conference.kcte.org/

The over 200 members of KCTE/LA create a vibrant organization which has been recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English as one of the more active state affiliates.

In addition to supporting funded projects, the KCTE/LA connects English and Language Arts teachers to the Kentucky Department of Education. A number of KCTE/LA board members either direct or coordinate outreach progams for state Writing Projects, and the KDE sends a liaison to triannual KCTE/LA board meetings.

Regular membership in KCTE/LA is $30.00 per year (January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2012). Membership includes a subscription to the KEB and the KCTE/LA News. Membership paid between 31 May 2012 and December 31, 2012 goes into effect at the time the membership is paid and continues through December 31, 2013. An online printable registration form and registration information are available at http://www.kcte.org/membership/member.html . A secure, online credit-card registration form (for full-membership only) is available at https://secure.kcte.net/membership/register.html .

If you would like to receive additional information or have a copy of our printed membership form mailed to you, please follow this link to our online information form at http://www.kcte.org/info.html .