From the Editor
Fred Barton
Michigan State University
Editor, SLATE Newsletter
Well, another school year lurches uncertainly out of the gate and lumbers crookedly down the first straightaway. As of this writing 34 states are in some sort of trouble with NCLB requirements...
see http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/125549.htm
Students' Rights
to Write: Following John Lovas's Lead
Robert E. Crafton
Slippery Rock University
Chair, NCTE Standing Committee Against Censorship
We do need definitions. We do need to develop more sophisticated ways of reading and responding to student writing, ways that consider context, that understand the ways that texts are conventional in construction, that
assess the rhetorical impact of the speech act. We do need due process procedures which begin with the student and his or her parents, with the civil authorities included only as a measure of last resort. And we do need, once again, to affirm the First Amendment rights of students and faculty, especially as they have been articulated by the courts.
Read article at http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/125552.htm
Censorship Challenge News
Millie Davis, NCTE Director of Communications and Affiliate Services
NCTE responded to more than twice the number of challenges during April, May, and June of 2006 than during the same time period in 2005 (13 as compared to 5).
Read the entire report at http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/125618.htm
For a recap of challenges for the 2005-2006
school year read "NCTE Reports 89 Censorship Challenges -- An Average Year,"
The Council Chronicle online story at http://www.ncte.org/pubs/chron/highlights/125620.htm.
Personal Opinion
Paper: Public
Education Is Being Taken Over by Private Entrepreneurs in Michigan! Do
You Know What Is Happening in Your State?
Mary Wood
Michigan "stay at home mom"
Advocate for Charter School Accountability
In 1999 I thought that the new charter school opening close to my home was a
godsend for my daughter, Rachel. Having been involved with my neighborhood public school system for 15 years while raising my five children, I had a good understanding of required mandates and education practices. I thought that I was pretty intelligent and informed on
issues, but charter schools were a brand new subject that had some specific rules of their own. I soon realized that the charter wasn’t being designed as much for children as it was to be marketed to parents. I didn’t realize it at the time that I was at the start of a new journey to becoming the “voice” for the children and for parents, just like me, who trusted our system.
Read the entire article at http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/slate/125557.htm
Intellectual Freedom Award Winners Announced
NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award
winner for 2006 is
Blue Springs Board of Education, Missouri.
Honorable mentions go to Judy Martin and Fredonia Ray of Valdosta, Georgia, and David Moshman of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Read about the awards at http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/censorship/awards/125602.htm
NCTE Affiliates Confer Intellectual Freedom Awards
NCTE/SLATE Affiliate Intellectual Freedom Award winners will be recognized
during
the NCTE Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Affiliate Roundtable Breakfast, November 19, 2006:
Indiana Council of Teachers of English - Sue Loughlin
Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts - Al Cross
Missouri Association of Teachers of English - Blue Springs Board of
Education
Nebraska English Language Arts Council - Susan Baird
Ohio Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts - Marcia Punsalan
Tennessee Council of Teachers of English - Williamson County School
Board
More information can be found at http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/censorship/awards/125606.htm
SLATE Election
Results
Two new SLATE Steering Committee
members will assume office after the annual convention. See entire
committee list at http://www.ncte.org/about/gov/stcommit/106928.htm
-
Anne MacLeod Cognard, East High School, Lincoln, Nebraska
(representing Region 5: AR, IA, KS, MO, NE, OK)
-
Margaret Moustafa, California State University, Los Angeles
(representing Region 8: AZ, CA, CO, NV, UT)
Call for NCTE
Resolutions
One of the most important ways you can make a
difference is to submit a resolution on an issue of importance to English
language arts education. NCTE resolutions, along with NCTE guidelines and
position statements, tell the world what we feel is best practice (and
sometimes what we feel is not) in English language arts education. These
resolutions are voted on at the Annual Business Meeting for the Board of
Directors and Other Members of the Council, and they do make a difference.
Submissions for resolutions are due on October 15 of each year. To see
current resolutions, which are good models for resolution format, and the
rules and procedures governing the submission of resolutions, visit http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/107214.htm
Help Shape the Future Leadership of NCTE
NCTE is looking for organized, energetic teachers, supervisors, and curriculum specialists at all levels of education who have shown interest in the profession and NCTE by participating in the work of affiliates and Council activities to stand for election to its major offices and Section, CEE, and TYCA committee posts in 2007.
If you know of such persons, please recommend these members to the appropriate 2006-07 nominating committee(s) by November 1. For complete information, visit
http://www.ncte.org/about/gov/elec/nominations/107432.htm
SLATE, Standing Committee Against Censorship, and Other Sessions of
Interest at the NCTE Annual Convention
Link to convention online
searchable program: http://www.ncte.org/proposals/annual101/scheduler/
SLATE
Session: D.09 2:30 pm to 3:45 pm 11/17/2006 Format: Conversation
Room: Bayou A, Delta Mezzanine
Level(s): General (proposals of interest at all instructional levels)
Title: NCLB: A CALL TO ACTION - Part 1
Bess Altwerger and Steven L. Strauss will discuss concerns with the No Child Left Behind legislation and what we, the community of teachers, can do to provide the children in our care a meaningful, challenging, and intellectually stimulating literacy education crafted for them by professional educators who are responsive to their strengths and needs. Panel members will engage participants in discussion at the end of the presentations.
Session: E.01 4:00 pm to 5:15 pm 11/17/2006 Format: Conversation
Room: Bayou A, Delta Mezzanine
Level(s): General (proposals of interest at all instructional levels)
Title: NCLB: A CALL TO ACTION PART 2
Richard Allington will discuss how the influence of NCLB does not encourage engaging children in independent reading activities or in rich and varied composing activities. Instead NCLB's influence is to place children in one-size-fits-all controlled and contrived packaged programs. He will also share research-based but unprofitable scientific strategies for improving reading improvement. A discussion session will follow the presentation.
Presenter: Richard L. Allington, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 'No Child Left Behind Proven Programs, Profits, and Practice'
Standing Committee
Against Censorship
Session: H.02 11:00 am to 12:15 pm 11/18/2006 Format: Panel
Room: Jackson A, Presidential Mezzanine
Level(s): General (proposals of interest at all instructional levels)
Strand(s): LGBT Strand
Title: NANCY GARDEN: BOOK BURNING, CENSORSHIP, AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Nancy Garden, the author of children's and YA books featuring lesbian themes, will talk about censorship issues related to YA and children's literature.
Chair: John Stewig, Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin
Session: M.02 11:30 am to 12:45 pm 11/19/2006 Format: Panel
Room: Lincoln C, Presidental Mezzanine
Level(s): General (proposals of interest at all instructional levels)
Title: CELEBRATING INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
The Committee Against Censorship would like to recognize the winners of the 2006 Intellectual Freedom Award and
their accomplishments.
Chair: Robert Crafton, Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania
Presenter: Maridella Carter, Blue Springs Board of Education, Missouri, Blue Springs Board of Education
Judy Martin, and Fredonia Ray, Valdosta High School, Georgia
Other Sessions
Session: B.01 11:00 am to 12:15 pm 11/17/2006 Format: Panel
Room: Presidential Ballroom D, Level 2
Title: FEATURED SPEAKER--DIANE RAVITCH--THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTHENTIC LITERATURE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS CLASSROOM
Ms. Ravitch will be referring to the research that she did in writing 'The Language Police' about the censorship protocols used by publishers as they compile textbooks, as well as the low quality of much of the textbook content. Her presentation will juxtapose the quality of the typical textbook with the genuine excitement to be found in reading novels, poems, essays, and other writings...
Chair: Joanne Yatvin, Portland State University, Oregon
Presenter: Diane Ravitch, New York University, New York
Respondent: Richard Allington, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Carol Jago, Santa Monica High School, California
Susan Ohanian, Vermont Society for the Study of Education, Charlotte
Title: FEATURED SPEAKER--DOUG CHRISTENSEN--NCLB: A VISION FOR THE FUTURE...A ROADMAP TO DISASTER
Session: M.01 11:30 am to 12:45 pm 11/19/2006 Format: Panel
Room: Delta Ballroom B, Level 2
Level(s): General (proposals of interest at all instructional levels)
Presenter: Doug Christensen, Nebraska Department of Education, Lincoln
Important Policy
Connections
NCTE Position Statements http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions
NCTE Policy Collections http://www.ncte.org/edpolicy
NCTE Executive Committee Strategic Governance Policy (scroll to Strategic
Governance near the bottom of the page) http://www.ncte.org/about/gov
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