December 2015

NCTE Standing Committee on Affiliates

Happy Holidays from NCTE Vice President and Your Affiliate Liaison, Jocelyn A. Chadwick: Affiliate members, at this most special time of year, we stop, reflect, and remember family, friends, parents, and grandparents. We, ELA teachers, also reflect and think about our students–ALL of our students: PreK-college. This time of year is indeed one of magic, both wonder and wander, and the miraculous. I wish you and your families joy and happiness and peace during this holiday season.

NCTE President-Elect Susan Houser Seeks Proposals:Engage your imaginations. Match members of your affiliates with others for the 2016 Annual Convention. See the call for proposals about the convention’s theme, “The Faces of Advocacy.” Make your best offer before the deadline, January 13.

Personal Resources for Advocacy: Remember the two policy analysts working in each state. These NCTE volunteers “track state policy development impacting English language arts, English studies, literacy, and the humanities.” Their knowledge and reports can inform affiliates’ publications, conferences, board meetings, and membership drives. Links to the analysts and their reports appear on the NCTE site.

Plan Ahead for Advocacy Day and Month: Lu Ann McNabb of NCTE’s Washington, DC, office urges affiliates to plan ahead for Literacy Education Advocacy Day on Thursday, February 25, 2016, in Washington, DC.

Quick Index of Tech Tools for Affiliates: Mariner Management and Marketing maintains a blog and index that affiliates might consult or contribute to. The index includes categories such as conference call services, web-based databases, and event registration.

NCTE Position Statement of the Month: Each month, the SCOA Newsletter will feature one of NCTE’s many position statements affiliates can use for shaping their plans and ongoing work. In “Principles of Professional Development” NCTE lists seven elements that appear in NCTE-sponsored activities. “Professional development supports teachers/faculty at all levels of expertise; its value is confirmed by external validation” reminds affiliates to serve its members new to the profession and those nearing retirement. The most comprehensive of the principles defines “The best models of professional development—best in the sense of enhancing first, teacher practice leading to second, student learning—are characterized by sustained activities, but engagement with administrators, and by community-based learning.”

Watch for Membership Vote on Two Resolutions: Early in 2016, NCTE members will have a chance to vote on two resolutions. The Board of Directors passed two resolutions, one on student educational data privacy and security and one on dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. These resolutions will be sent to members for a vote after January 1. Look for an email and cast your vote.

Newest Member of SCOA, Julie Rucker for Region 3: At the 2015 Annual Convention in Minneapolis, Julie Rucker started her term representing affiliates in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In addition to that responsibility, she will also serve as local chair of the 2016 Annual Convention in Atlanta. Second from the left in the photograph with her colleagues from the Georgia Council of Teachers of English (GCTE), Julie accepts the Affiliate Excellence Award from SCOA Chair Jean Boreen (far right).

Gracious Thanks to Steve Hubbard: Please join us in thanking Steve Hubbard, who regally represented Region 3 for the past few years. Steve continues his teaching at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Andalusia, Alabama. In the photograph below, Steve holds some of the reading he will now have a chance to begin. (Pictured below: Steve Hubbard, Curt Bobbitt, and Kathy Nelson at Common Good Books, St. Paul, MN.)