![thoughts and prayers](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screen-Shot-2024-01-12-at-8.41.21-PM-1200x609.png)
![Guilty or Not Guilty: The Case for Impromptu Teaching](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-26-at-8.57.13-AM-1200x778.png)
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 Diekens classroom.](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Untitled-presentation.jpg)
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](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-08-at-3.52.32-PM-1200x667.png)
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 poets children equate bedtime with books.](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG_3293-900x675.jpg)
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](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20220827_120315-900x675.jpg)
![I Struggle](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screen-Shot-2023-02-07-at-8.33.09-PM-900x566.png)
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](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Screen-Shot-2022-12-27-at-7.42.57-PM-900x451.png)
My classroom becomes unsafe. My students become unsafe. I become unsafe. We all become...
![November Morning](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/trees-in-fog-900x603.jpg)
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.](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Screen-Shot-2022-11-23-at-8.04.55-PM-e1669257507842-900x562.png)
I. Some of my favorite things to hear “I need a new book.” “Do you have any other books by this author?” “I...
![Join our 2024 Summer Book Club!](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/feedback.png)
Our Iowa Council of Teachers of English summer book club will read Flash Feedback: Responding to Student Writing Better and Faster...
![Join Us for EngCamp 2024!](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/engcamp.jpeg)
Eng Camp 2024 ICTE's EngCamp uses an un-conference model. EngCamp does not have pre-planned sessions; instead it is co-constructed AT the event...
![Nominations are open for 2024 ICTE Awards](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/It-is-time-for-ICTE-Award-nominations-11.791-x-8.208-in-1200x835.png)
ICTE Award Nomination Forms and Past Winners Nominations for the 2024 awards are OPEN now at these links: Barb Schubert Award Middle...
![Refocus & Revive: Finding Joy in the Journey ICTE Fall Conference 2024](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Screenshot-2024-04-16-at-5.44.36 PM-e1713308493105-1200x759.png)
Teaching sometimes feels like driving through a construction zone. All may look clear according to the map, but an unexpected roadblock – a...
![Bubbles Up: A Path Forward](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-08-at-3.52.32-PM-1200x667.png)
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...
![Author Dave Stuart Jr taught us how to motivate students and ended up getting motivated as teachers. His book These 6 Things:
How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most shows us where to place our energy as teachers.](https://iowaenglishteachers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/F7yweAKXIAA9mcS-1200x800.jpeg)
Thursday, Oct. 5 Link to the 2023 conference schedule: SCHED Our conference began with a keynote address from Dave Stuart...
Nominations are open for 2024 ICTE Awards
April 17, 2024
January 13, 2024
Guilty or Not Guilty: The Case for Impromptu Teaching
November 26, 2023
Five Paragraph Death Punch, Revisited
November 17, 2023
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