The NEATE News Winter, 2015

NEATE Conference, 2014 The theme of the conference was Passion and Practice: Building a Culture of Literacy in our Schools, and took place on October 24-25. We were lucky enough to have Erik Palmer and Barry Lane as our keynote speakers.

Erik Palmer, author of Well Spoken: Teaching Speaking to All Students (Stenhouse, 2011), Digitally Speaking: How to Improve Student Presentations with Technology (Stenhouse, 2012), Teaching the Core Skills of Listening & Speaking (ASCD, 2014), spoke at the Friday luncheon courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Erik’s keynote, “Understanding the Common Core Standards for Listening and Speaking” laid out a persuasive case for instructing students not only on the research for an oral presentation but the performance skills as well. Palmer also presented a workshop on Friday.

Saturday’s speaker, Barry Lane, author and co-author of numerous books on writing, including But How Do You Teach Writing? A Simple Guide for All Teachers (Scholastic, 2008), The Reviser’s Toolbox (Discover Writing Press, 1999), and After “The End”: Teaching and Learning Creative Revision (Heinemann, 1992). Lane’s keynote, “Rigor without the Mortis: Writing and Laughing Across the Curriculum,” was a rallying cry to keep the fun in literacy education. The talk included songs and audience participation. Lane also led a workshop on teaching writing.

The conference also included 25 interactive workshops, including strands on teaching writing, reading, speaking, and technology with passion and creative practices that support implementation of the Common Core State Standards. A Saturday morning writing workshop nourished teachers’ own passion for the written word in the belief that teachers who write are the best teachers of writing. Other sessions provided support structures for teacher leaders and classroom strategies for new and veteran teachers.

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Erik Palmer

The NEATE News Winter, 2015

Award Winners

The Charles Swain Thomas Award for distinguished service to the New England Associate of Teachers of English was awarded to Cathy Nicastro of Wachusett Regional High School, Holden, MA.

Cathy has been teaching at Wachusett Regional High School since 2000. She teaches juniors and seniors in a variety of electives. She also served as vice president of the local union from 2007-2014. Last spring, Cathy won Clark University's Outstanding Secondary Educator Award. 

Cathy highlights her teaching role models as her father (who was the principal of the high school she attended and where she teaches now) and her grandmother, who taught for a very short time but made such a lasting impression on her students that one former student (in 6th grade art) left $10,000 in her will (in honor of her grandmother) to the school district where she taught more than 70 years prior. Her grandmother always told her she would be a teacher - it took her 40 years to make that prediction true (she was a late bloomer and returned to school to earn her teaching degree after 12 years working in early childhood education as a teacher and adult trainer).

Cathy has been a proud member of NEATE since 2001 and has served as nominating committee chair, membership chair, and president. 

The recipient of the Ann Garland West Excellence in Teaching Award was Maureen Brown of Goffstown (NH) High School. This award is presented annually to a teacher who exhibits extensive knowledge in his or her discipline, interest in and concern for students, and the ability to challenge and motivate them as well as involvement in professional organizations and/or staff development.

Maureen has been teaching for 33 years and at GHS since 1992. She has taught a variety of students, ranging from heterogeneously grouped

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Annual NEATE Conference, 2015

The annual NEATE conference will be held October 30-31, 2015, at the Holiday Inn Mansfield, MA. The conference theme is Empowered Teachers, Engaged Students: Building Our Capacity to Reach All Learners. The keynote speakers will be Sonia Nieto, author of Finding Joy in Teaching Students of Diverse Backgrounds, Affirming Diversity, and What Keeps Teachers Going? on Friday, and Tom Newkirk, author of Minds Made for Stories, The Art of Slow Reading, and Holding Onto Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones on Saturday.

Conference sessions will focus on topics that will help teachers to increase their skills, knowledge, and confidence in ways that will empower them to make the English classroom more accessible and relevant to all learners. Proposals that fit the following three strands are especially welcome: • Journeying Toward Justice• Designing for Differentiation• Teaching with Technology

Deadline for proposals is June 1, 2015.

See the NEATE website www.neate.org for more detailed information.

Cathy receiving her award from Ann West

Maureen receiving her award from Kim Parker

The NEATE News Winter, 2015

classes to AP classes. Maureen’s enduring belief in the capabilities of all students, her expertise and her ability to lead others lead to her award.

Additionally, Maureen has delivered professional development for teachers throughout her district. As the current lead teacher for her department, she is commended for her “belief that ALL students are capable of, and worth of, an AP experience,” according to her assistant principal, Kim McCann.

The recipient of the Marion Gleason Most Promising New Teacher Award was Christine Leonard of Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, MA

Christine stands and teaches on familiar ground, the very school, Central Catholic, from which she graduated in 2006; and even the very classroom where she once sat and learned from another English teacher, Karen Moynihan, longtime NEATE member and former NEATE Publications Chair.

Each day Christine and her students explore ideas such as pride and sacrifice and conflict.

Christine is known for offering students outlets for creativity and competition, with an eye towards then developing keener thinking and understanding. Christine and her students read literature — Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, MacBeth, The Hobbit, A Prayer for Owen Meany, To Kill a Mockingbird — to learn from the characters’ mistakes, and to learn to thinkmore critically. Christine also enjoys bringing popular culture into the mix while discussing ideas.

Conference Photography provided by Joe Santa Maria | Kill the Ball Media

NEATE Mini Grants

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Christine accepting her award

Thanks to Treasurer Dick West who organizes the NEATE raffle, the organization is able to award two $200 mini-grants to be used for classroom projects that require small budgets. The winners are announced immediately after the conference on Saturday so that all attendees have the opportunity to apply. Prizes for the raffle are donated by members of the Executive Board and New England businesses.

This year’s winners were Kisha Tracy (Fitchburg State University) and Carrie Salvato (Cambridge Rindge & Latin School). Kisha’s proposal was for the Chaucer Pilgrimage “Shrine” Project. By creating a pilgrim “shrine” to Chaucer in the department, students will participate in/be immersed in the cultural practice of medieval pilgrimage.” Money will be used to purchase bulletin board and bust of Chaucer for the “shrine,” pilgrimage badges, and purchases of items to be left at the “shrine.” Student evaluation will be on consistent participation across the semester, discussion in person and on social media, and a reflection project including a letter.

Carrie’s proposal was for Establishing Non-Fiction Literature Circles. Students in this 9th grade diverse classroom will choose texts that will be based on “overcoming the odds” and finding “success.” Titles would include authors who have similar life situations as the students. This meets the purpose of NEATE because it engages readers and those who don’t believe they are readers, through choice, promotes literacy and allows students to read closely and discuss authentically. Money will be used to purchase books and the evaluation would be a reflection and evaluation at the end of the project as well as a “book talk” and a written analysis of the text.

The NEATE News Winter, 2015

Meet the new President of NEATE, Dr. Kimberly N. Parker Kim currently teaches English at the Cambridge, Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, MA. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and her research looks

at the literacy practices of young Black men. Kim has taught in charter, pilot schools and public schools, within urban and suburban contexts, as well as in a middle school for Black boys. She has an unwavering belief in the power and promise of adolescents of color. Kim has received several honors, including the Marion Gleason Most Promising New Teacher Award from the New England Association of Teachers of English (NEATE) and most recently was named one of five Literacy Champions from the Massachusetts Literacy Council http://www.massliteracy.org/literacy-champions/. Additionally, she is the former Secondary Representative At-Large for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and a current Trustee for the NCTE Research Foundation. She regularly delivers professional development locally and nationally for teachers and administrators

covering topics that include: adolescent literacy strategies for young Black men and struggling readers; children’s and young adult multicultural literature; incorporating nonfiction into middle school and high school classrooms; writing strategies for engaging students and many other topics.

The following is an interview between the NEATE newsletter editor and Kim.

What is your vision for the NEATE board? I’d like to build the NEATE Executive Board. Current members have a tremendous amount of expertise that I’d like to continue, while infusing the Board with new members. NEATE has members at all stages of their teaching careers, and we need to tap into their creativity, their energy and their time to help shape the next steps for the organization. With that in mind, if anyone reading this interview wants to get involved, they should reach out to me, kimpossible97@gmail.com or any of the current board members.

How might NEATE reach out to younger teachers and emerging leaders? I’d like to create a program that offers mentorship to younger teachers and emerging leaders. Many of our members don’t want to move into administration, but they regularly mentor younger teachers, offer help to their department heads, and perhaps want to be department heads one day. Mentoring younger teachers and emerging leaders might help keep more of us in the profession, as well as provide interesting challenges for those of us who have been teaching for a while and are looking for ways to lead without leaving our classrooms.

How do we celebrate, promote, and share all of the excellent work our members do? I’d like to help teachers do more in the areas of action research/teacher engagement. We do amazing work as teachers and more people--really, the people who make the decisions that impact us all--need to know what we do and how we do it. Thus, I’d like to help us systematically promote our good work through the website, our conference, social media, and other public outlets. We’re teachers; we tend to downplay our excellence. But, we are just that: excellent. Everyone needs to know that. Telling our stories in powerful ways is contagious.

Kim’s final message: Please get involved! This is your organization. NEATE is your professional home and we are only as strong as our membership. The best way to work for change, in your classroom, your school and even on a larger level, is to speak up. Please know there are many ways to participate in NEATE.

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Dr. Kimberly Parker

The NEATE News Winter, 2015

Affiliate News Maine — The Maine Council for English Language Arts will sponsor a conference in March with a theme of Provoke Curiosity, Inspire Learning: Navigating New Courses to Productivity. The Featured Keynote Speaker is Kate Braestrup. Reverend Kate Braestrup has served as chaplain to the Maine Warden Service since 2001. She joins the wardens as they search the wild lands and fresh waters of Maine for those who have lost their way, offering comfort to those who wait for the ones they love to be rescued, or for their bodies to be recovered. A nationally-known public speaker, Braestrup is the author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller Here If You Need Me and her essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, the New York Times Sunday magazine, O the Oprah Magazine, More and many other publications. A fifth book, Anchor and Flares, will be published by Little-Brown in July, 2015.

Date: March 27, 2015Time: 8:00am-2:15pm Where: Point Lookout Conference Center, Northport, ME

— In October of 2014, the Maine Council for English Language Arts held 4 very well received Dine and Discuss sessions around the state on the SBAC Digital Library and Formative Assessements.

New Hampshire— The New Hampshire Council of Teachers of English will be hosting a Spring Conference with a theme of Teaching and Reaching the 21st Century Student on March 27, 2015 at UNH, featuring Keynote Speaker, Jo Knowles.

— In October of 2014, the New Hampshire Council of Teachers of English hosted the annual Fall

Luncheon, Playing Four Square: The Positive Potential of the Common Core featuring Randy Brooker from the National Writing Project.

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NEATE Appoints Newsletter Editor:Beth Herman-Davis, EdD

Beth is an educator with over 19 years of experience as a literacy coach, teacher, and college professor. Throughout her career, Beth has taught and

coached at the middle and high school levels in a variety of school districts with diverse populations. Beth provides professional development at the regional and national levels on a variety of subjects including: vocabulary theory and strategies, reading and writing across the content

areas, critical thinking, differentiation, multicultural literature, and social justice. In addition to her passion for literacy and struggling readers, Beth also has been trained in and provided professional development in cultural competency and issues of equity. Beth received her B.S. from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, an M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Lesley University and her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Lewis and Clark College. Her dissertation, completed in 2011, is titled A Student-Centered Classroom for Struggling Readers Transforms A Teacher’s Identity and Pedagogy.

Please send articles and news to Beth to appear in future issues at buffy8671@gmail.com.

New EnglandAssociation of Teachers of English 21 Young RoadAshburnham, MA 01430

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Submit a piece to The Leaflet: Manuscripts will be accepted for each Leaflet issue that describe innovative teaching strategies, recent classroom developments, lesson plans, or reading recommendations to assist us in our profession. Book reviews are also accepted. The Leaflet also accepts and includes original fiction and poetry written by the very talented teachers amongst us in each issue. Multiple submissions are acceptable.

Due Date: June 1st

Summer Teaching Opportunity: The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) is seeking Staff Teachers and Program Leaders committed to the process of education, cross-cultural learning and leadership development for our High School Summer Abroad programs in 2015. These programs are three weeks in length and are offered in Portland, Maine. There are two types of programs: English Language & Culture and Global Entrepreneurship. See http://www.ciee.org/ for more details.