Annual Report 2003, Standing Committee on Affiliates (SCOA)
In 2003 the Standing Committee on Affiliates (SCOA) has worked with a new chair, Olivia Pass, and several new representatives: Anna Jackson, Region 4; Crag Hill, Region 7; and Carol Jago, Region 8. The other members, who have been on the Committee for at least a year, are as follows: Karen Kurzman, Region 1; Margie Bush, Region 2; Dee Richardson, Region 5; Valerie Taylor, Region 6. With the new members in place and the experienced other members, the annual meeting was conducted in a new way. Region reports, which used to take up much of the meeting time, were shared electronically prior to the meeting, so that the meeting could be a more creative one—brainstorming affiliate problems and solutions for these problems. Following are the recommendations that the representatives developed at this meeting and which they shared with other affiliate leaders at the 2002 affiliate breakfast:
1. Market affiliates with administrators
2. Make affiliate membership part of the year—not a one-shot deal.
3. Work closely with state departments, so they can certify and advertise the teacher leaders and affiliates.
4. Help teachers with technology—new ways of technology developed to fulfill new teachers’ needs.
5. Offer to mentor new teachers—on-line.
6. Convey to school districts and state departments the affiliate leaders.
7. Show personal endorsements for speakers, etc.
8. Tap into the newly retired
9. Develop partnerships with school districts
10. Visit teacher education colleges—do a workshop at the local university. Offer ourselves as guest speakers. Affiliate co-sponsored speakers could be a means by which to do this.
11. Challenge the affiliate teachers to give a conference fee / membership as a gift to someone else. One of your charities can be this.
12. Make sure that the Leadership Development people have partially paid or entirely paid rooms, etc.
13. Be cognizant of the fact that some state departments, principals, etc. see affiliates as the enemy.
14. Figure out a way that membership in NCTE/affiliates is a requirement for department chairs, mentors, etc.
The Affiliate Awards Programs are underway with the following people in charge of the var awards:
Journal—Dee Richardson
Newsletter and Multicultural Award—Crag Hill
Web Site—Karen Kurzman
Affiliate Excellence—Olivia Pass and Millie Davis
The awards will be completed by July 15 with presentations to the winning affililates at the Affiliate Breakfast on Saturday during the NCTE fall conference in San Francisco.
Plans for presentations at the fall conference have been made and are being developed.
The Affiliate Breakfast is being planned by Janet West and Margie Bush; affiliate sessions have been proposed and are being developed by Carol Jago and Anna Jackson. There will be no workshop sponsored by the Standing Committee on Affiliates at the 2003 NCTE Conference.
In August, the second annual Affiliate Leadership Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada for regions 1, 3, 7, and 8. Last year responses to the first Affiliate Leadership Conference with this structure were very positive. It seems to be more cost effective for NCTE, and the affiliate leaders are able to get a broader response to possible solutions for problems and more numerous and varied ideas for affiliates to consider. The SCOA Representatives and the SCOA Chair expressed the desire for NCTE to send them all to each NCTE Affiliate Leadership Conference since there is so much valuable information shared by the leaders who attend these conferences. Their presence would be quite valuable to all concerned.
As NCTE develops more along electronic lines, SCOA will benefit and will be able to encourage the NCTE membership through its affiliates to participate electronically. CoLEARN has been developing during the past year, and the SCOA leadership has been able to help NCTE make this program a useful one for many schools in the country. The new ability of NCTE affiliates to share membership lists online via the NCTE website will help them considerably with mailings for conferences, renewing memberships, etc. The 2003 Affiliate Leadership Conference will offer sessions in using the new NCTE databases, which will be quite useful for affiliates and affiliate leaders.
At the 2002 NCTE Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, the day-long meeting of SCOA was well attended—all eight representatives were present at least part of the day, and the brainstorming session was quite productive. During the Conference, hundreds of affiliate members participated in some form of affiliate programming, including the representative meeting, two concurrent sessions, the affiliate breakfast, and the affiliate roundtable. The SCOA members did not staff the SCOA booth this year for the first time since that seemed to be a less-productive activity for them than engaging in the many other affiliate activities and presentations in general.
During the year by means of e-mail, the Committee members have been brainstorming ways in which dying affiliates can be revived and made strong once again. Many local and state affiliates have problems and need much help. The Standing Committee on Affiliates is devising ways in which these affiliates can be helped.
Olivia Pass, Chair
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