Skip to Main Content
We facilitate deep connections & professional learning for ELA teachers.

Iowa Council of Teachers of English

We facilitate deep connections & professional learning for ELA teachers.

Iowa Council of Teachers of English

We facilitate deep connections & professional learning for ELA teachers.

Iowa Council of Teachers of English

thoughts and prayers
thoughts and prayers
Rex Muston, Teacher Writer • January 13, 2024

Guilty or Not Guilty: The Case for Impromptu Teaching
Guilty or Not Guilty: The Case for Impromptu Teaching
Brandon Baggett, Teacher Writer • November 26, 2023

While attending our Fall ICTE conference, my classroom was managed by a well-qualified substitute teacher. Aside from a short phone call on my...

Ninth-graders in action in Danae Dieken's classroom.
Five Paragraph Death Punch, Revisited
Danae Dieken, Teacher Writer • November 17, 2023

She is so disappointed.  She is also a bit of a judgey know-it-all.  She is me, in my last year of my teaching degree. Her self-congratulatory...

Bubbles Up: A Path Forward
Bubbles Up: A Path Forward
Nikki Smith, Teacher Writer • October 29, 2023

On our first date, my now-husband asked me, what is one thing I should know about you.  I bravely proclaimed: I am a writer.  I remember being...

The poet's children equate bedtime with books.
Three-year-old Bedtime
Nikki Smith, Teacher Writer • May 27, 2023

Pick a book  (Read 2 pages) I need drink of water Not that book—this book No I have to climb up the chair this way  (Read...

Darkened School
Outside the Darkened School
Rex Muston, Teacher Writer • April 17, 2023

I Struggle
I Struggle
Erika Bass, Teacher-Writer • February 7, 2023

I struggle because the world has changed so drastically from when I started teaching nearly 15 years ago. How can I prepare teachers for a career...

Safe Classrooms, Unsafe Schools
Safe Classrooms, Unsafe Schools
Abby Heggen December 27, 2022

    My classroom becomes unsafe. My students become unsafe. I become unsafe.    We all become...

November Morning
November Supplication
Rex Muston, Teacher Writer • December 13, 2022

NOVEMBER SUPPLICATION   I step out into the raucous caws from the crows in the neighborhood, piercing over the hum of the...

Handmade bookmark by student Addie W.
BookMarks
Skip Olson, Teacher Writer • November 23, 2022

I. Some of my favorite things to hear    “I need a new book.” “Do you have any other books by this author?” “I...

Erin Becker, winner of the 2024 Friend of Literacy Award
2024 ICTE Award Winners Announced
October 17, 2024

Nominations for the 2025 awards will be open in the spring: Barb Schubert Award Middle School Teacher of Excellence High...

Update: 2024 Fall Conference Schedule Announced!
Update: 2024 Fall Conference Schedule Announced!
Deneen Nelson October 7, 2024

  Click here for the 2024 Fall Conference Schedule Teaching sometimes feels like driving through a construction zone. All may look clear...

Apply for the Primary Sources Rationale Cohort
Apply for the Primary Sources Rationale Cohort
Stacy Haynes-Moore, NCTE Liaison • September 28, 2024

Apply for the Primary Sources Rationale Cohort Extending the NCTE and Library of Congress partnership, NCTE announces the formation of new...

NCTE Helps us Build Our Stack!
NCTE Helps us Build Our Stack!
Stacy Haynes-Moore, NCTE Liaison • September 28, 2024

Are you new to Build Your Stack and wondering what it is? Do you need support in finding affordable, engaging texts and resources for your...

Register for a Free Event from NCTE for Banned Books Week
Register for a Free Event from NCTE for Banned Books Week
Stacy Haynes-Moore, NCTE Liaison • September 15, 2024

On Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. Iowa time, during Banned Books Week, NCTE is hosting an event, "A Conversation about Intellectual Freedom with NCTE Affiliates...

Educators gather Aug. 5 at Central Rivers Area Education Agency in Cedar Falls for EngCamp hosted by ICTE.
EngCamp Rekindles Excitement for Teaching
JoAnn Gage August 6, 2024

Summer isn't over, but dozens of educators from across Iowa gathered to share their knowledge at EngCamp, a conference planned by the attendees...

Follow us on Instagram!
Decorative Background