NJCTE Summer Book Club Slow Chat Starts Today — Join us!

Connected Reading by Troy Hicks and Kristen Hawley Turner

Weekdays August 5th-16th on Twitter

In anticipation of Kristen Hawley Turner’s keynote address at the 2019 Fall Conference: Practices Designed for Success and in recognition of the importance of summer professional development for teachers, we have designed the first annual NJCTE Summer Book Club Slow Chat on Twitter. Join us and earn six professional development credits while connecting with fellow literacy educators in New Jersey.

Have you purchased your copy of Connected Reading yet? If not, there is still plenty of time! You can purchase the print version or the e-book from the NCTE Store until August 16th. NJCTE and NCTE members can use the code READ19 to receive a 15% discount. Mark your calendar, buy your copy of the book, and get ready to join our conversation on Twitter! 

Read a chapter a day or read the entire book before the chat dates — whatever works for you! Below are the chat questions for those of you who like to prepare in advance. Most will appear in an abbreviated form in tweets, so reference this for more details:

Monday, August 5th: Introduction

Slow Chat Q1: Welcome! Before we begin discussing the book, please introduce yourself, and share which digital texts you most enjoy reading. If possible, share a link to the text itself or a summary of the text. #NJCTE

Tuesday, August 6th: Chapter One

Slow Chat Q2: Why might some literacy educators marginalize digital texts in their instructional choices? What actions might we take in our classrooms and schools to “move beyond these hesitancies” (14)? #NJCTE

Wednesday, August 7th: Chapter Two

Slow Chat Q3: In Chapter Two, Turner and Hicks focus on the recursive processes of connected reading: ENCOUNTERING, ENGAGING and EVALUATING texts. In what ways do you enter into this process yourself as you read digital texts? #NJCTE

Thursday, August 8th: Chapter Three

Slow Chat Q4: In Chapter Three, the authors share a number of anecdotes and experiences to illustrate what mindfulness about digital reading looks like. How are you more mindful of your digital reading practices after reading this chapter? #NJCTE

Friday, August 9th: Chapter Four

Slow Chat Q5: In Chapter Four, Turner and Hicks show how students “move fluidly between print and digital texts” (58). Nonetheless, “they may not realize that digital tools can help them to curate in a way that keeps them focused” (67). How might we help students articulate and discover their intentions and purposes as they navigate both print and digital texts? #NJCTE

Monday, August 12th: Chapter Five

Slow Chat Q6: In Chapter Five, the authors unpack a variety of approaches and rationales for creating shared digital annotations as they read print texts. What might shared annotation look like in your classroom and school? #NJCTE

Tuesday, August 13th: Chapter Six

Slow Chat Q7: Throughout Chapter Six, Turner and Hicks offer abundant examples of “intentional instruction surrounding digital texts” (124). What practices were you rethinking as you read this chapter? #NJCTE

Wednesday, August 14th: Chapter Seven

Slow Chat Q8: In Chapter Seven, the authors underscore the value of offering students “micro-bursts of short- and mid-form reading that can fuel their learning” (127). What unit of instruction or area of required curriculum might be notably improved through the introduction of digital texts — short-, mid-, and long-form? #NJCTE

Thursday, August 15th: Chapter Eight

Slow Chat Q9: In their final chapter, Turner and Hicks reference Will Richardson’s claim that “teachers must be users before they ask their students to engage with technologies” (142). Today, take some time to tinker with several of the many resources the authors have mentioned in this chapter or in previous ones. Share your learning as a user of the technology. How might it inform your future practices this year? #NJCTE

Friday, August 16th: Closing Reflections

Slow Chat Q10: Please share how you plan to implement strategies shared by the authors this coming school year. In the spirit of the book’s intent, please include screenshots and/or digitally annotated passages from this book or another one you are reading to share your learning with this network. #NJCTE

Join the NJCTE Summer Book Club Slow Chat Starting August 5!

Connected Reading by Troy Hicks and Kristen Hawley Turner

Weekdays August 5th-16th on Twitter

NJCTE is thrilled to feature Kristen Hawley Turner at our 2019 Fall Conference: Practices Designed for Success, Saturday, September 21, 2019, 9-1:30 (with an authors’ breakfast 8-9) at Kenneth R. Olson Middle School, Tabernacle, NJ. Registration is now open!

In anticipation of Kristen Hawley Turner’s talk and in recognition of the importance of summer professional development for teachers, we have designed the first annual NJCTE Summer Book Club Slow Chat on Twitter. Join us and earn six professional development credits while connecting with fellow literacy educators in New Jersey.

Have you purchased your copy of Connected Reading yet? If not, there is still plenty of time! You can purchase the print version or the e-book from the NCTE Store between July 1st and August 16th. NJCTE and NCTE members can use the code READ19 to receive a 15% discount. Mark your calendar, buy your copy of the book, and get ready to join our conversation on Twitter! 

Read a chapter a day or read the entire book before the chat dates — whatever works for you! Below are the chat questions for those of you who like to prepare in advance. Most will appear in an abbreviated form in tweets, so reference this for more details:

Monday, August 5th: Introduction

Slow Chat Q1: Welcome! Before we begin discussing the book, please introduce yourself, and share which digital texts you most enjoy reading. If possible, share a link to the text itself or a summary of the text. #NJCTE

Tuesday, August 6th: Chapter One

Slow Chat Q2: Why might some literacy educators marginalize digital texts in their instructional choices? What actions might we take in our classrooms and schools to “move beyond these hesitancies” (14)? #NJCTE

Wednesday, August 7th: Chapter Two

Slow Chat Q3: In Chapter Two, Turner and Hicks focus on the recursive processes of connected reading: ENCOUNTERING, ENGAGING and EVALUATING texts. In what ways do you enter into this process yourself as you read digital texts? #NJCTE

Thursday, August 8th: Chapter Three

Slow Chat Q4: In Chapter Three, the authors share a number of anecdotes and experiences to illustrate what mindfulness about digital reading looks like. How are you more mindful of your digital reading practices after reading this chapter? #NJCTE

Friday, August 9th: Chapter Four

Slow Chat Q5: In Chapter Four, Turner and Hicks show how students “move fluidly between print and digital texts” (58). Nonetheless, “they may not realize that digital tools can help them to curate in a way that keeps them focused” (67). How might we help students articulate and discover their intentions and purposes as they navigate both print and digital texts? #NJCTE

Monday, August 12th: Chapter Five

Slow Chat Q6: In Chapter Five, the authors unpack a variety of approaches and rationales for creating shared digital annotations as they read print texts. What might shared annotation look like in your classroom and school? #NJCTE

Tuesday, August 13th: Chapter Six

Slow Chat Q7: Throughout Chapter Six, Turner and Hicks offer abundant examples of “intentional instruction surrounding digital texts” (124). What practices were you rethinking as you read this chapter? #NJCTE

Wednesday, August 14th: Chapter Seven

Slow Chat Q8: In Chapter Seven, the authors underscore the value of offering students “micro-bursts of short- and mid-form reading that can fuel their learning” (127). What unit of instruction or area of required curriculum might be notably improved through the introduction of digital texts — short-, mid-, and long-form? #NJCTE

Thursday, August 15th: Chapter Eight

Slow Chat Q9: In their final chapter, Turner and Hicks reference Will Richardson’s claim that “teachers must be users before they ask their students to engage with technologies” (142). Today, take some time to tinker with several of the many resources the authors have mentioned in this chapter or in previous ones. Share your learning as a user of the technology. How might it inform your future practices this year? #NJCTE

Friday, August 16th: Closing Reflections

Slow Chat Q10: Please share how you plan to implement strategies shared by the authors this coming school year. In the spirit of the book’s intent, please include screenshots and/or digitally annotated passages from this book or another one you are reading to share your learning with this network. #NJCTE

NJCTE Summer Book Club Slow Chat Schedule and Questions

Connected Reading by Troy Hicks and Kristen Hawley Turner

Weekdays August 5th-16th on Twitter

NJCTE is thrilled to feature Kristen Hawley Turner at our 2019 Fall Conference: Practices Designed for Success, Saturday, September 21, 2019, 9-1:30 (with an authors’ breakfast 8-9) at Kenneth R. Olson Middle School, Tabernacle, NJ. Registration is now open!

In anticipation of Kristen Hawley Turner’s talk and in recognition of the importance of summer professional development for teachers, we have designed the first annual NJCTE Summer Book Club Slow Chat on Twitter. Join us and earn six professional development credits while connecting with fellow literacy educators in New Jersey.

Have you purchased your copy of Connected Reading yet? If not, there is still plenty of time! You can purchase the print version or the e-book from the NCTE Store between July 1st and August 16th. NJCTE and NCTE members can use the code READ19 to receive a 15% discount. Mark your calendar, buy your copy of the book, and get ready to join our conversation on Twitter! 

Read a chapter a day or read the entire book before the chat dates — whatever works for you! Below are the chat questions for those of you who like to prepare in advance. Most will appear in an abbreviated form in tweets, so reference this for more details:

Monday, August 5th: Introduction

Slow Chat Q1: Welcome! Before we begin discussing the book, please introduce yourself, and share which digital texts you most enjoy reading. If possible, share a link to the text itself or a summary of the text. #NJCTE

Tuesday, August 6th: Chapter One

Slow Chat Q2: Why might some literacy educators marginalize digital texts in their instructional choices? What actions might we take in our classrooms and schools to “move beyond these hesitancies” (14)? #NJCTE

Wednesday, August 7th: Chapter Two

Slow Chat Q3: In Chapter Two, Turner and Hicks focus on the recursive processes of connected reading: ENCOUNTERING, ENGAGING and EVALUATING texts. In what ways do you enter into this process yourself as you read digital texts? #NJCTE

Thursday, August 8th: Chapter Three

Slow Chat Q4: In Chapter Three, the authors share a number of anecdotes and experiences to illustrate what mindfulness about digital reading looks like. How are you more mindful of your digital reading practices after reading this chapter? #NJCTE

Friday, August 9th: Chapter Four

Slow Chat Q5: In Chapter Four, Turner and Hicks show how students “move fluidly between print and digital texts” (58). Nonetheless, “they may not realize that digital tools can help them to curate in a way that keeps them focused” (67). How might we help students articulate and discover their intentions and purposes as they navigate both print and digital texts? #NJCTE

Monday, August 12th: Chapter Five

Slow Chat Q6: In Chapter Five, the authors unpack a variety of approaches and rationales for creating shared digital annotations as they read print texts. What might shared annotation look like in your classroom and school? #NJCTE

Tuesday, August 13th: Chapter Six

Slow Chat Q7: Throughout Chapter Six, Turner and Hicks offer abundant examples of “intentional instruction surrounding digital texts” (124). What practices were you rethinking as you read this chapter? #NJCTE

Wednesday, August 14th: Chapter Seven

Slow Chat Q8: In Chapter Seven, the authors underscore the value of offering students “micro-bursts of short- and mid-form reading that can fuel their learning” (127). What unit of instruction or area of required curriculum might be notably improved through the introduction of digital texts — short-, mid-, and long-form? #NJCTE

Thursday, August 15th: Chapter Eight

Slow Chat Q9: In their final chapter, Turner and Hicks reference Will Richardson’s claim that “teachers must be users before they ask their students to engage with technologies” (142). Today, take some time to tinker with several of the many resources the authors have mentioned in this chapter or in previous ones. Share your learning as a user of the technology. How might it inform your future practices this year? #NJCTE

Friday, August 16th: Closing Reflections

Slow Chat Q10: Please share how you plan to implement strategies shared by the authors this coming school year. In the spirit of the book’s intent, please include screenshots and/or digitally annotated passages from this book or another one you are reading to share your learning with this network. #NJCTE

Missed Our NJEA Twitter Chat?

If you are interested in presenting at NJEA but missed our Twitter chat last Monday, see below for a transcript of our conversation for tips on designing and submitting a successful proposal. The deadline for submitting a proposal is February 28.

To read the chat transcript chronologically, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Load More Tweets” button until you get to the beginning.

NJCTE NJEA Proposal Chat – Curated tweets by Ms_KatieNieves

Thinking about presenting at NJEA? Chat with us on Twitter @ 7pm Monday 1/28

NJCTE regularly offers sessions at the New Jersey Education Association Convention in Atlantic City.

Have you thought about presenting?

The call for presentations for the 2019 Convention is now open, and we want to help support NJCTE members who might be considering submitting a proposal. Join us for a Twitter chat on Monday, January 28, at 7 p.m.

Join in a conversation with experienced presenters about how to craft your proposal. And share with us what sorts of presentations you would like to see NJCTE offer at the convention. You may even find like-minded folks on the chat who want to join forces and propose a panel together.

Here are the questions we’ll be discussing:

1. Think about the most beneficial PD session you’ve ever attended, what made it so helpful?
2. What types of PD do you think are most beneficial for teachers?
3. What educational topics do you think are important and more PD sessions need to address?
4. What are some strategies for developing a successful proposal?
5. What are some ways to increase engagement during PD sessions?
6. How well should proposals align to the professional standards or teaching standards?
7. What are some ways to make sure that PD lessons stick after the session has ended?
8. Any further questions?

Please note: We’ll be following the Q1/A1 protocol during the chat. The moderator will post a question starting with Q#. Please indicate which question you are responding to by starting your response with A#, with # indicating the number of the question.

Join us on Twitter at 7 p.m. on the 28th. We’ll be tweeting using #NJCTE19 as our hashtag for the chat. We’ll also post notes from the chat on our blog, so check there if you miss us on Twitter.

Join Our Post-Conference Twitter Chat!

Let’s keep the energy and excitement of the NJCTE Fall Conference going on Twitter! Join Co-Chair Denise Weintraut this Tuesday, October 2nd, from 7:00-7:30pm for a sharing session on Twitter. Use the hashtag #NJCTE18 to follow the discussion. We’ll be asking the questions below. When you go to answer, just use A1, A2, etc., in your answer so that we know which question you are answering. Contact Denise with any questions. Her Twitter handle is @SmilingTeach, and you can email her at NJCTEMembership@gmail.com.

Q1: What did you appreciate about the conference?

Q2:  What session was your favorite and why?

Q3:  What was the best thing you learned that day?

Q4: What will you share with your colleagues?

Q5: What else would you like to see next time?

#NJCTETech Twitter Chat 8/21/18 Archive

Scroll down to the end to read the Tweets in order.

#NJCTETech – Curated tweets by Ms_KatieNieves

Join the NJCTE Slow Chat on Twitter

For the next five days, NJCTE Board Member Joe Pizzo will be leading us in a Slow Chat. We hope our questions will get your ideas flowing and you will use this chat to help us think about what you want to see at our upcoming fall conference: Approaches to Writing.  We also hope that you might be inspired to submit a proposal yourself and share your best practices and ideas. Submissions are due May 15 at http://bit.ly/NJCTEFallConfProposal.

You can expect a different question posted each day on Twitter. What answers do you have? What additional questions do our questions provoke for you? Please join in and respond to each day’s question. There are no time limits for posting a response. Be sure to post your response with A:1 at the front to respond to the first day’s question. Conclude your response with the hashtag #NJCTEFall18. For questions posted sequentially on subsequent days, use the appropriate day’s number (A:2, A:3…).

Again, we hope you join the conversation!

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

Ready to Throw in the Towel?

Do you ever wake up and just want to throw in the towel? I had a day like that yesterday. I couldn’t bring myself to read the first section of the New York Times.  I fled for safety in the Science section (a favorite of mine);  and while I gained some strength from reading that “Cataract Surgery May Prolong Your Life,” I ran screaming from articles about how “Air Pollution May Harm Babies Even Before they are Born” and “The Scallop Sees with Space-Age Eyes.” I guess I didn’t want to think about eating shellfish that could see their human predators.  Let’s not even talk consider the story about ice melting in Greenland.  The day was off to a bad start even before I finished my coffee.

So, how do we cope with the barrage of bad news that can assault us daily? How do we process stories about dubious tax reform, sexual harassment, nuclear threats, concealed weapons, massacres of innocent people in public places, discrimination, the loss of public lands, the assault on immigrants, and the ongoing devaluation of public education? Hey, our members of congress have even proposed to eliminate the small deduction educators can take for classroom supplies purchased out of their own pockets! And I could go on, but I will spare you since I am sure you have had days like mine.

I recognize that I am now a retired educator, and I have more time to obsess about these issues.  I would be compelled to put them in some better perspective if I still had to address all my classroom and administrative responsibilities.  Working educators do not have my advantages.  So, since I have the time, I have started to think more about how to stay sane in this world of daily offenses. Here are some of the strategies I use, and perhaps they could help you cope too.  I resolve to:

• Control the impact of troubling news by establishing a pattern for reading newspapers. I often start reading a section I find appealing—arts, science, food—and then work my way into the harder news by hitting the editorial section next. I read my favorite columnists, the editorial statements, and features that catch my attention. Once I am inoculated with some good writing by trusted authors, I move to the first section and tackle the headlines. I admit that I might reverse the process if some critical event has occurred.
• Visit my favorite social media platforms to see what is cooking on Facebook, Twitter, and my favorite blogs. Because I signed on to these feeds that interest me, I often find they are places to connect with people and issues I find compelling.
• Sign off social media before getting ready for bed. Hey, do we really need all that chatter echoing in our heads when we try to go to sleep? I find myself waking up in the middle of the night with the troubling news interfering with a night’s sleep. Twitter before bed doesn’t help.
• Avoid trolls on line. I enjoy reading Twitter and Facebook postings by people I respect, including political leaders, but I do not interact with the trolls on their feeds. I think there are better uses of my time than confronting haters on line who use the cover of distance and anonymity to spew venom. I try to remember that some of these trolls could be fakes, bots created to disrupt. I am not going to change a troll’s mind. I believe there is a time and place to call out the haters and to try to reason with those who can reason, but social media may not be the best venue.
• Do something concrete each day to address troubling issues. Again, I recognize that this is much easier for a retired person to accomplish. Still, even a busy working person with family responsibilities might find that it doesn’t take long to Tweet, post a comment on Facebook, send an email, make one phone call, or use Resistbot to send a fax to a legislator. Even taking action only once or twice a week can make us feel more in control.
• Remain professionally active. I like to stay connected with other educators. Professional organizations like NCTE, NJCTE, NJEA, and CEL can give us the means to interact with colleagues who care about their work. Remember to write. Keeping a journal helps us reflect. Write for publication. Contribute to professional journals, newsletters, and blogs (WRITE FOR THE NJCTE BLOG!). Draw strength from your caring network of like-minded professionals.
• Exercise to beat the stress. I know, it is easier said than done when you are working full time and have family responsibilities. But it truly helps to reduce stress if you do something you enjoy—walking, yoga, jogging, exercise classes, dancing, whatever appeals to you and fits your schedule.
• Continue to have fun. I think we all benefit from taking little family excursions, meeting friends , watching a favorite TV program, carving out time for pleasure reading, pursuing hobbies, meditating, whatever works.

So the next time you are ready to throw in the towel, take a little time to think about some options to keep you focused and happy. Don’t give up!

Written by Pat Schall, 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

New Official Twitter Handle

We have a new official twitter handle: @NJCTENews. Follow and tweet us to share news and events of interest for New Jersey Teachers of English.

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