As CEL celebrates its 40th anniversary, we hope you can join fellow educators from around the world for this rich and rewarding experience. We have an exciting line-up of speakers and workshops planned in addition to two special cocktail socials-- San Antonio style!  We’ll have raffles, entertainment, and even line-dancing lessons!  CEL will be sponsoring a “High Tea” on Saturday as part of the NCTE conference.  Please join us for refreshments and conversations and a special guest speaker!  The CEL Sunday NCTE luncheon speaker will be Ana Castillo, the esteemed Chicana poet, novelist, short story writer, and essayist who examines issues of identity, racism, and classism.  Our official Sunday afternoon kick-off session will feature Kelly Gallagher, high school teacher, language arts leader, and author of Reading Reasons: Motivational Mini-Lessons for Middle and High School, Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12, and most recently, Teaching Adolescent Writers.

Keynote speakers for our meal events include: Gordon Korman, award winning young adult author of over 55 titles; Paul D. Hammond, English Chair and Director of Digital Initiatives at Rutgers University; Lan Cao, law professor at the College of William and Mary and acclaimed author of The Monkey Bridge, the first Vietnamese American perspective on the Vietnam War; and Louann Reid, the current editor of the English Journal and English education professor at Colorado State University.

In addition to our remarkable array of speakers and almost 50 workshops focusing on the conference’s theme, CEL has, for the first time, added an “Author Strand” to the conference with a number of authors giving talks, workshops, and book signings. Included among them are Kimberly Willis Holt, National Book Award winner for When Zachary Beaver Came To Town; Rick Riordan, multi-award-winning author of the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and the #1 New York Times bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for children; Barbara Shoup, novelist, teacher, and Director of Programs for the Writers’ Center of Indiana, whose title Vermeer’s Daughter was a School Library Journal Best Book for High School Students. For those of you who are interested in technology and 21st century literacies, we will be working with our first corporate sponsor, Apple, to provide you with the latest technological information—and maybe even a few surprise goodies!

We invite, welcome, and encourage all English Language Arts educators and leaders to participate in this very special gathering to celebrate CEL’s 40th anniversary and further its mission to support the development of new and experienced leaders. We urge you to join us and experience this second benefit of CEL membership—the opportunity to share your insight and talents in interactive workshops, where leaders share their skills and expertise as they seek methods to improve the overall instruction of English Language Arts. Periodically, you’ll want to check the CEL website at http://www.ncte.org/groups/cel for updates about conference speakers and lodging, the publication of ELQ, The English Leadership Quarterly, and other special events.

Please accept our best wishes for an interesting and productive, healthy and happy summer.  We look forward to meeting and greeting you with Texas hospitality at the 2008 Conference on English Leadership Conference in smiling San Antonio, November 23-25.

Yours very truly,

CEL Membership Committee
Anna J. Small Roseboro 
Ken Spurlock                        
Darolyn “Lyn” Jones
David Swift
Scott Eggerding
Kerry Thomas (Mess)