Dear Kentucky English/Language Arts Teachers,

As of Saturday 28 January 2012 our scheduled featured speakers are

• Kentucky Education Commissioner Dr. Terry Holliday, Dr. Holliday is scheduled to speak Friday about the opportunities and challenges facing Kentucky teachers as they develop strategies to implement the new core curriculum. We know his speech and related workshops by Kentucky Department of Education staff will be extrememly valuable to our members.
• Dr. Maureen Morehead, Kentucky's 2011-2012 Poet Laureate and author of many poetry collections. Visit the Kentucky Arts Council's webpage: http://artscouncil.ky.gov/Poet/Poet.htm
• Rick Robinson, Kentucky writer and author of the award-winning novel Manifest Destiny. Visit his webpage: http://www.authorrickrobinson.com/.
• Dr. Sara Kajder, author of Bringing the Outside In: Visual Ways of Engaging Reluctant Readers and The Tech Savvy English Classroom. Visit her webpage: http://www.bringingtheoutsidein.com/.

I would like to thank all of you who proposed sessions for the 76^th Anniversary conference. We have closed our call for presenters for the 2012 conference and will be contacting proposers by the end of 2012.

We look forward to seeing you at the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/LA conference in Lexington, Kentucky on Friday & Saturday, February 17 & 18, 2012. We are thrilled to have so many great presenters last year. 

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 "Literacy Matters: The Common Core and Beyond" and make an impact on the learning of your students. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Angela Gunter,
2012 Conference Chair conference@kcte.org

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My grandfather worked for E. P. Dutton for many years. The winter was their time to get the new season in order. As an editor, he worked away from the office from November to March during the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps that publishing tradition is why there are so many months in the late fall and early winter devoted to books and writing. January is the National Book Month in the United States. Do your students know how books are made? Do they understand the publishing process? Can they identify the differences between research texts and popular non-fiction? These and many more questions could begin a discussion of books in your own classroom.

Take the opportunity to discuss ways to help your students to understand the history and importance of the book as a modern artifact. Come on over to our Kentucky English Collaborator and discuss your ideas: http://www.kyenglish.org/January-Is-National-Book-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 is 07 May 2012. Winning entries in the 2011 contest appeared in the Fall 2011 Kentucky English Bulletin. Registration and submission is now electronic. You will still need to use postal mail to send the cover sheets (permission forms). The forms are avaiable at http://contest.kcte.org/student.html. More complete information (including 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

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, 2011 - December 31, 2011). Membership includes a subscription to the KEB and the KCTE/LA News. Membership paid between 31 May 2011 and December 31, 2011 goes into effect at the time the membership is paid and continues through December 31, 2012. 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 .