Wednesday Wisdom: #nctechat

On the third Sunday of every month at 8 pm ET (7 pm CT), a #nctechat is taking place on Twitter.

This Sunday the theme is "Beyond the Screen: Multimedia in the Classroom" and is hosted by members of NCTE's Studies in Literacies and Multimedia (SLAM) Assembly.

For more information about the chat, visit NCTE's website here. You can also find archives of the past Twitter chats.

So, you are invited to the current conversation and to learn from past conversations!

Monday Announcements

I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather this weekend. What is happening this week is the National Writing Project Annual Meeting, which takes place in Minneapolis this year. Next year it is in Atlanta, so I am glad that 12 people from the Red River Valley Writing Project (that I know of) have chosen to attend this year's meeting.

Karen Taylor writing with NWP teachers from around the country

The meeting kicks off with a reception on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, we will gather together for a continental breakfast before choosing round table sessions to attend. Two of our TCs, Lori Hieserich and Jenna Trosvik, will be presenting, along with me, about the SEED grant for High-Needs School project at Circle of Nations. We will be presenting with Michael Thompson of the Biste Writing Project in New Mexico. The day ends with a social and game jam, "part workshop, part hangout, all fun." The fun continues the next day.

NCTE Blog, Poetry, and National Hispanic Heritage Month

With the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) conference quickly arriving November 19-22 to the nearby city of Minneapolis, consider perusing Literacy and NCTE: The official blog of the National Council of Teachers of English.

A recent blog post entitled "Our US Poet Laureate and Hispanic Heritage" begins by noting that September 15-October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. The post highlights the importance of diversity, poetry, and encouragement:

 "The La Casa de Colores project and Herrera's poetry confirm that we are all interconnected across human cultures, heritages, and languages. As literacy teachers and thinkers, we can invite our students and colleagues to the table of poetry and enrich our lives across hemispheres, borderlands, and oceans as we make meaning together."

Read the whole blog post here to learn about Poet Laureate Juan Filpe Herrera, his story, and his project to collect poems from the writing public to create an epic poem that stretches over his time as poet laureate.

One of NWP's own

JoBeth Allen, Red Clay Writing Project co-director and University of Georgia professor, has been named 2012 Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts by the National Council of Teachers of English. (from the National Writing Project website)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.