NJCTE Spring Conference Call for Proposals!

NJCTE Spring Conference April 30, 2022 — Literacy for Living

Conference theme: Literacy for Living: Taking Care of Our Students and Ourselves

Proposals due February 11, 2022, via this form

Call for proposals: How do we care for our students, our colleagues, and ourselves? According to CASEL.org, social and emotional learning (SEL) is the “process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.” The Spring 2022 NJCTE conference theme invites K-12 educators to share their expertise in creating and sustaining social and emotional learning through English Language Arts in their classrooms and schools. Possible ‘strands’ or ‘threads’ addressing this theme may include:

• ways that teachers bring an SEL mindset to their ELA work with students 
• how students are encouraged to attend to and advocate for their needs via the ELA classroom
• methods that schools have used to respond to students’ needs using an SEL framework, particularly with a literacy lens 
• how SEL is used to advance equity and inclusion work
• practices that teachers can use to care for themselves personally and professionally
• ideas for teachers and student-teachers on collaborating to invest SEL into their teaching

Proposals in a 45-minute format addressing this theme will be given consideration for inclusion in the conference program. Please be specific with your methods and descriptions.

Proposals due February 11, 2022, via this form.

Summer reading, having a blast …

by Susan Chenelle, NJCTE blog editor

While many look forward to their first beach trip of the summer, for me, especially this year, it was my first trip to my local library in more than a year(!) that marked the start of summer. It felt so good to walk through the stacks, carry away an armload of books, and dive into them. Ah, bliss!

So far, Danielle Evans’ The Office of Historical Corrections is the standout of my summer reading. I’ll definitely be recommending Evans’ story “Boys Go to Jupiter” or the titular novella to the English teachers at my school. And I’m thrilled to finally be joining the N. K. Jemisin fan club, even while I’m only half way through the first volume of her Broken Earth trilogy.

And of course, I’m not alone in my summer reading revelry. NJCTE board member Nicole Warchol writes that she recently finished Jeff Zentner’s forthcoming In the Wild Light (August 2021): “As a musician with an appreciation for poetry, readers will find a certain lyricism in Zentner’s prose. Similar to his other novels, this story focuses on what teenagers care about most: the depths of friendship, trying to navigate circumstances that are many times out of their control, and exploring who they are and who they want to be. Cash Pruitt’s story reminds me of the line from Anaïs Nin, ‘And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.’ I’ve had a difficult time reading during the pandemic. Cash’s story about deciding whether to cling to the safety of home or leap toward his future is one of the few books I have been able to finish and enjoy.”

NJCTE membership chair Denise Weintraut shared these recommendations: “When one thinks of fairy tales, we often recall the sanitized versions that comforted us in our childhoods. In The Hazel Wood and its sequel The Night Country by Melissa Albert, fairytales take a dark turn with some magical realism. Set in the modern-day, urban location of New York City, the story examines the extremes that one will undertake in order to save one’s family, and possibly one’s self. Seventeen-year-old Alice is thrust into a series of strange events after her estranged grandmother, an author of a cult-classic book of dark fairytales, dies alone on her hidden estate. Driving the story is the kidnapping of Alice’s mother, supposedly by a character who claims to be from the Hinterland, the cruel world where her grandmother’s stories are set. The only clue left behind is a message from her mother to stay away from the Hazel Wood, the estate where her grandmother lived. One need not be familiar with any of the classic fairytales in order to enjoy this story. If you like adventure, intrigue, and a fast-moving plot, this story will do the trick!”

NJCTE president Valerie Mattessich reports that she “just finished Shiner by Amy Jo Burns and was blown away by the beautiful language and heartrending storyline. I am also currently enjoying World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, which also features beautiful turns of phrase and captures the natural world as it relates to the author’s life.”

Finally, NJCTE board member Joe Pizzo has “been reading A Suitcase of Seaweed & more by Janet Wong. It features poems about Wong’s three cultures: Chinese, Korean, and American. The poems are brief, and there is a backstory and discussion questions accompanying each poem. I’ve also been reading Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8 (second edition) by Dr. Debbie Silver. She has updated her original book to include Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow, and more.”

We’d love to hear what you’re reading and enjoying! Please share your summer reading reviews and recommendations below in the comments. We are also looking for recommendations for our next Muriel Becker Award for Literary Excellence winner. If there’s an author of young adult literature you’ve recently discovered and would like to recommend, please send your suggestion to njctepresident@gmail.com.

And don’t forget to sign up for our Summer Learning Virtual Sessions, which kick off tomorrow, July 8, at 4pm, with “Love & Literacy: Developing Student Voice and Agency in Discourse,” led by 2015 NJCTE Teacher of the Year Stephen Chiger.

NJCTE Spring Conference, Saturday, March 28, 2020 – Register Now!

NJCTE Spring 2020 Conference: SEL & ELA: Literacy for Life

According to CASEL.org, social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. The Spring 2020 NJCTE conference theme, “SEL & ELA: Literacy for Life,” invites educators to share their expertise in creating and sustaining social and emotional learning through the English Language Arts in their classrooms and schools.

Our Featured Speaker: 2020 Becker Award Recipient Adib Khorram
ADIB KHORRAM is the author of DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY. If he’s not writing (or at his day job as a graphic designer), you can probably find him trying to get his 100-yard Freestyle under a minute, learning to do a Lutz Jump, or steeping a cup of oolong. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where people don’t usually talk about themselves in the third person. You can find him on Twitter (@adibkhorram), Instagram (@adibkhorram), or on the web at adibkhorram.com.

Registration is open!

Registration for the 2020 Spring Conference includes your 2020-2021 Membership. If you can’t make this spring’s conference, we hope you’ll still renew your membership with NJCTE now. It’s a small investment in yourself and your professional development. School district invoices are available.

NJCTE Announces 2020 Becker Award Winner: Adib Khorram

NJCTE is pleased to announce the winner of the 2020 Becker Award Adib Khorram, author of Darius the Great Is Not Okay. Khorram will be honored at NJCTE’s 2020 Spring Conference on March 28, 2020.

The Muriel Becker Award is the highest honor bestowed on a writer by the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English. It has been given annually since the 1980s to a writer deemed by the Becker Award committee to be someone who reflects the best of positive ideals that inspire young readers to high achievement.

About Adib Khorram:

If he’s not writing (or at his day job as a graphic designer), you can probably find him trying to get his 100-yard Freestyle under a minute, learning to do a Lutz Jump, or steeping a cup of oolong. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where people don’t usually talk about themselves in the third person. You can find him on Twitter (@adibkhorram), Instagram (@adibkhorram), or on the web at adibkhorram.com.

Spring 2020 Conference: SEL and ELA — Literacy for Life

Saturday, March 28, 2020

8:30am-3:30pm

Pascack Valley High School

200 Piermont Ave

Hillsdale, NJ 07642

According to CASEL.org, social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. The Spring 2020 NJCTE conference theme, “SEL & ELA: Literacy for Life,” invites educators to share their expertise in creating and sustaining social and emotional learning through the English Language Arts in their classrooms and schools.

 

REGISTRATION

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

VENDOR INFORMATION

NJCTE BECKER AWARD COMMITTEE SEEKS NEW MEMBERS

The NJCTE Becker Award Committee is looking for members interested in joining our committee.  The Muriel Becker Award is the highest honor bestowed upon an author by NJCTE.  It has been given annually since the 1980’s to a writer deemed by the Becker Award committee to be someone who reflects the best of positive ideals that inspire young readers to high achievement. This definition is extended to include writers whose body of works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry or drama) have touched young adult readers, and those whose careers are just beginning to be recognized as exceptional. Recent winners include Ibi Zoboi, Jason Reynolds, Andrew Smith, and Matt de la Pena.

If you are interested in joining the committee, please fill out this interest survey by June 26th. The committee will work virtually this summer; we encourage any members who regularly read children’s and young adult literature to get involved. We hope to have all work done before the school year begins! This is a great way to contribute to NJCTE and be involved in the organization! PD hours will be awarded for participation.

NJCTE to Present Muriel Becker Award to Author Ibi Zoboi at Spring Conference

by Sarah Mulhern Gross

On March 30th NJCTE will present author Ibi Zoboi with the 2019 Muriel Becker Award for Literary Excellence. The Muriel Becker Award is the highest honor bestowed on a writer by the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English. The award is named for Muriel Becker, a guiding spirit and the voice of the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English for many years. As a three-term president, long-time coordinator of the student writing contest, editor and co-editor of FOCUS, grant writer, and behind-the-scenes producer of the annual STARS conference, Muriel was a key person in almost every achievement of NJCTE. We are honored to give this award in her honor each year.

The Becker Award has been given annually since the 1980s to a writer deemed by the Becker Award committee to be someone who reflects the best of positive ideals that inspire young readers to high achievement. This definition is extended to include writers whose body of works have touched young adult readers, and those whose careers are just beginning to be recognized as exceptional. It was clear to this year’s committee that Ibi Zoboi exceeds these criteria. Her writing is certainly exceptional! Her debut young adult novel, American Street, was a National Book Award finalist. She has gone on to write Pride, a YA remix of Pride and Prejudice set in Brooklyn, and edit Black Enough, a collection of stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. Her middle grade debut, My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, will be released this summer.  

She regularly works with young readers; she designed and taught a course on female archetypes in world mythology to young women in the Sadie Nash Leadership Project where she also taught creative writing and leadership classes. She has been a volunteer mentor with Girls Write Now, Inc. The Daughters of Anacaona Writing Project, her original program, partnered with local organizations Dwa Fanm, Inc. and Haiti Cultural Exchange in Brooklyn, and Fondasyon Felicite in Haiti to conduct a 3-day workshop with teen girls in Port-au-Prince.

Born in Haiti, Zoboi immigrated to New York when she was four. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing has been published in The New York Times Book Review, the Horn Book Magazine, and The Rumpus, among others.

The Becker Award committee is thrilled to present Ibi Zoboi with this year’s award at our annual spring conference. After receiving the award, Ibi Zoboi will present the Becker Address. Be sure to sign up now to be in attendance!

 

NJCTE Becker Award Committee Seeks New Members

The NJCTE Becker Award Committee is looking for members interested in joining our committee.  The Muriel Becker Award is the highest honor bestowed upon an author by NJCTE.  It has been given annually since the 1980’s to a writer deemed by the Becker Award committee to be someone who reflects the best of positive ideals that inspire young readers to high achievement. This definition is extended to include writers whose body of works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry or drama) have touched young adult readers, and those whose careers are just beginning to be recognized as exceptional. Recent winners include Jason Reynolds, Andrew Smith, and Matt de la Pena.

If you are interested in joining the committee, please fill out this interest survey by June 15th.  The committee will work virtually; we encourage any members who regularly read children’s and young adult literature to get involved.  This is a great way to contribute to NJCTE and be involved in the organization!

New Jersey Council of Teachers of English, the New Jersey state affiliate of NCTE, the National Council of Teachers of English

Award-Winning Author Jason Reynolds To Be Honored at Montclair State University; Dale Russakoff and John Freeman also highlighted

 

Jason Reynolds, author of All American Boys, Ghost, Patina, Long Way Down, The Boy in the Black Suit Miles Morales: Spider Man and more will visit Montclair State University Saturday, March 24, to receive the Muriel Becker Literary Award presented by the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English. Famed writer and literary critic John Freeman will offer the opening keynote speech, and Dale Russakoff, author of the compelling, The Prize, will be a highlighted speaker.

Registration for the event is made at www.njcte.com/conferences/ with discounts for retirees and students. Tickets may be purchased at the door, as space allows. The conference is open to the public and convenes at 8:30 in the Student Center Ballrooms on the north end of the campus.

The New Jersey Council of Teachers of English is the New Jersey state affiliate of NCTE, the National Council of Teachers of English. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) professional organization dedicated to educational and beneficial purposes. NJCTE fosters excellence in English Language Arts by developing academic and professional expertise at all levels. Membership is from April 1 to March 31.

For more information, visit NJCTE.com. Go to the NJCTE website conference page and scroll to the bottom of the page to register.

Written by Laura Nicosia, NJCTE board member

Posted by Audrey Fisch, blog editor for NJCTE

New Jersey Council of Teachers of English, the New Jersey state affiliate of NCTE, the National Council of Teachers of English