Dear Kentucky English/Language Arts Teachers,

I would like to invite you to attend the 73^rd Anniversary KCTE/LA Conference to be held Friday and Saturday 27-28 February 2009 at the The Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. This year's theme will be "Putting all the Pieces Together." The KCTE/LA Conference is a great place to find ideas and resources to augment our instruction. We will have sessions for educators of all levels--Kindergarten through College. No matter what level at which you teach, you will find many appealing sessions. Watch this page for more information in Fall 2008.

As of Wednesday 19 November 2008 our featured speakers are

• Ruth Culham a recognized expert in the traits of writing assessment field.  She is the author of the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide, Grades 3 and Up.  Ruth creates and conducts teacher workshops and designs national/international institutes for writing assessment and instruction. 
• Ruth Townsend Story NCTE co-sponsored speaker is an educational consultant, integrating reading and writing instruction, grades 4-8. Author of 3 books including Grammar Lessons You'll Love to Teach. She serves as Chairperson on the Standing Committee on Affiliates for the National Council of Teachers of English.
• Neil Brewer (K-College)  Poet and Humorist, Neil is awesome inspirational speaker.
• Leigh Anne Florence, Woody(the Weiner Dog) and family, Kentucky native and author of the popular Woody Book series. Books will be available.
• Nancy Dean professor emerita at the P.K. Younge Developmental Research School, University of Florida.  Her 37 years of experience include teaching middle and high school English, special education, reading, English for speakers of other languages, and Advanced Placement English.  Presently, Nancy is the Associate Director of the National Literacy Project.  She is the author of several books, including Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone and Discovering Voice: Voice Lessons for Middle and High School, and she is the co-author of Succeeding in Reading: A Complete Cross-Age Tutoring Program.
• Elizabeth Hale a member of the education department at Emmanuel College, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate literacy courses.  She is the author of Creating Writers, K-6.
• Richard Johnson, Associate Professor of English at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa City, Iowa. Workshops for middle - college level dealing with writing.
• George Ella Lyon Author of over 20 childrens' books including Come A Tide, Basket, Who Came Down That Road?, and No Dessert Forever.  She has also written poetry and stories for children and adults including Where I'm From, a hands-on poetry workshop. Books will be available for autographing.

I would like to thank all of you who proposed sessions for the 73^rd Anniversary conference. We have closed our call for presenters for the 2009 conference and will be contacting proposers by the end of 2008.

Professional Development is one of the Kentucky Teacher Standards, and I've found that the KCTE/LA Conference is one of the best ways to fulfill that standard. In addition, you will have the opportunity to network with teachers from around the Commonwealth.

Please join us as we "Putting all the Pieces Together" and make an impact on the learning of your students. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Della Minix,
2009 Conference Chair conference@kcte.org

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My college students have often complained to me that their high schools did not offer courses in creative writing. I hesitate to retort that "all writing is creative," especially since I already often tell them that "all writing is persuasive." Consider encouraging your students to participate in National Novel-Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) through the web site at http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Take the opportunity to discuss ways to involve your students in writing novels as a collaborative or individual project at the Kentucky English Collaboration http://www.kyenglish.org/November-Is-National-Novel-Writing-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 (B. Scott Kelley, Middle-School VP), secondary@kcte.org (Latishia Sparks, Secondary-School VP), or college@kcte.org (Kathryn R. Akural, College VP). The deadline for this year's contest was 1 May 2008. Winning entries in the 2008 contest appeared in the Fall 2008 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 .

Toyota now offers a number of opportunities for teachers from the United States to study cultures and environments abroad. Different programs offer destinations of varying types. Each program has its own application deadline and specifications.  Teachers participating in past Toyota International Teacher Program opportunities have returned with renewed commitment as teachers and with fresh ideas for sharing first hand experiences and international perspectives with their students, colleagues and communities. Find the details and apply online at http://www.iie.org/programs/toyota Call (877) TEACH-JP or email toyotateach@iie.org for more information or an application.

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. John Hagaman ; information is located at http://www.kcte.org/keb/
• our newsletter, the KCTE/LA News, edited by Amy Cody
• 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 300 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. Recent projects (in addition to the activities listed above) include

• a soon-to-be revised Kentucky literary map; for more information send email to map@kcte.org
• the encouragement of Student poetry and literature readings, "Coffee Houses"; for more information or to volunteer support send email to coffee@kcte.org
• the expansion of our web presence to support other Kentucky non-profit teaching and professional organizations and the expansion on our site's capabilities to develop virtual-classroom space and support for KCTE/LA members; for more information contact the web manager at webeditor@kcte.org

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, 2009 - December 31, 2009). Membership includes a subscription to the KEB and the KCTE/LA News. Membership paid between 31 May 2008 and December 31, 2008 goes into effect at the time the membership is paid and continues through December 31, 2009. 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 .