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Kentucky English Collaborations

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A Letter from Your KCTE/LA President

[Kentucky Literary Map (small)]

Dear English/Language Arts Folks,

Thank you for a wonderful 2010 KCTE/LA Conference! I want to thank everyone who attended, presented or presided for making this conference exceptional.

Please continue to visit http://www.kcte.org/ for information on the 2011 Conference, which promises to be another worthwhile Professional Development opportunity. Also, don't forget opportunities that KCTE/LA offers throughout the year: The Stephanie Kirk Award, The Kentucky English Bulletin, and regional outreach workshops.

There are many ways to be involved in the conference. If you would like to help in some way, please contact our 2011 Conference Chair, Latishia Sparks, at vp@kcte.org.

Thank you for being a part of KCTE/LA,

Della Minix, President (2009 - 2010) president@kcte.org




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KCTE/LA Remembers Stephanie Kirk

KCTE/LA has established the annual "Stephanie Kirk Classroom Learning Award" as a memorial to Stephanie Kirk. The Award is to support an innovative project which encourages attainable improvement in the language arts areas. In years where none of the applications are judged to match the criteria, the judges reserve the right not to assign the award in that year. For information about the award, see the link http://board.kcte.org/KirkClassroomLearningAward.pdf . The deadline is 01 July 2010.

Angela Gunter received the 2010 "Stephanie Kirk Classroom Learning Award." Angela teaches at Daviess County High School in the Daviess County System. She will present her findings "Using Emerging Technologies to Promote the Authenticity of Composition" at the 2010 KCTE/LA conference. Angela will use the "Stephanie Kirk Classroom Learning Award" funding to

Provide students in senior AP English with equipment to aid them in using podcasts to supplement "free reads" as part of a national project.

For more information contact the KCTE/LA current Special-Projects Chairperson, John Williamson, at projects@kcte.org


March is National Women's History Month

Many resources are available for educators. The National Women's History Project is a non-profit organization devoted to women's history. The United States Library of Congress has a wealth of material on its herstory page at http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/womens-history/ . For a less-guided tour of the LOC's relevant materials try a complex Library of Congress search by selecting this sentence.

What are the ways you plan to incorporate women's history into your curriculum? Join in the Kentucky English Collaboration about Women's History http://www.kyenglish.org/March-Is-National-Women-History-Month


KCTE/LA Kentucky English Bulletin

Call for manuscript submissions for the Kentucky English Bulletin may be found at http://www.kcte.org/keb/ (updated 31 January 2010). Fill out Dr. LeNoir's "3-Minute Survey" at http://www.kcte.org/keb/survey.html

Student Writing Contest

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 (Kerry Stephenson, Middle-School VP), secondary@kcte.org (Angela Gunter, Secondary-School VP), or college@kcte.org (Debbie Bell, College VP). The deadline for this year's contest is 01 May 2010. Winning entries in the 2009 contest appeared in the Fall 2009 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 8th graders and the other for 11th graders. For information about the contest for 8th 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 11th 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 11th 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 .


2010 Advanced Placement Summer Institute at Western Kentucky University June 27 to July 2, 2010

Join the thousands of educators from all over the U.S. and beyond who have participated in the exemplary Advanced Placement training offered by The Center for Gifted Studies for twenty-seven years. Since that time, the program has serviced close to 6,000 teachers from every state and over two dozen foreign countries, including Brazil, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Korea, and Australia. Our many years of experience have allowed us to handpick the finest College Board certified consultants. Among them, our consultants have roughly 530 years of teaching experience and have won nearly thirty awards for teaching. All of our consultants have been or are AP exam readers and AP exam table leaders for the AP readers. Some are even test and textbook authors.

We offer over twenty seminars for both experienced and new AP teachers. At the AP Summer Institute, teachers embrace the notion of providing a quality learning environment for their students by first challenging themselves to become better educators. Engage in stimulating conversation, establish a strong network of colleagues, and leave eager to challenge students in the fall—become a part of the great tradition of Advanced Placement excellence at WKU!

Go to the WKU Gifted Website, and look for links to the "AP Institute" event, or call for more information (270.745.5991).


Toyota International Teacher Program

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.toyota4education.com/ Call (877) TEACH-JP or email toyotateach@iie.org for more information or an application.


Kentucky State Poetry Society Student Poetry Contest

The Kentucky State Poetry Society is conducting their annual Student Poetry Contest [pdf]. The contest is free and open to all students grades 3-12 from any state. Cash prizes will be given for 1st-3rd. The deadline for entering is 15 April 2010. For more information contact Tony Sexton, President of KSPS, by email: contentedme@hotmail.com or call 859.734.7867 or 859.247.0522.


Literary Announcements (email) List Available through U of K LISTSERV

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.


Ideas from 2007 Eastern Kentucky KCTE/LA Fall Regional Conference at Morehead State University

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.


Lesson Plans for Kentucky English and Language Arts Teachers

KCTE/LA is expanding its Idea Exchange to the web by making available lesson plans for English and Language Arts classes. Members are invited to contribute lesson plans by contacting the webmaintainer (Robert Delius Royar) at webeditor@kcte.org and may read other members' plans on this site at http://www.kcte.org/lesson-plans/

Kentucky Literary Map

[Kentucky Literary Map (small)]
The KCTE/LA sponsored Kentucky Literary map is now available. Read more about the map on this site at http://www.kcte.org/map/

KCTE/LA Forum

Visit the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English / Language Arts web-based blog and forum site at http://www.kyenglish.org/ (registration required for posting).

What is KCTE/LA?

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

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.

To Join

Regular membership in KCTE/LA is $30.00 per year (January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010). Membership includes a subscription to the KEB and the KCTE/LA News. Membership paid between 31 May 2010 and December 31, 2010 goes into effect at the time the membership is paid and continues through December 31, 2011. 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 .

For More Information

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 .