2008 Conference on English Leadership
Annual Conference

Sunday-Tuesday, November 23-25, 2008
San Antonio, TX

Theme: Leadership for Learning: Learning to Lead

CEL is pleased to welcome you to the Conference on English Leadership of the National Council of Teachers of English in San Antonio, Texas this November! CEL is dedicated to providing professional development opportunities that allow for participants to engage in meaningful small-group discussions related toward language arts instruction and leadership issues. We have an exciting line up of speakers and workshop presenters in store for you. 

                                                                   ~~Henry Kiernan, CEL Chair

2008 CEL Program Chair, Dr. Edie Weinthal, Montvale, NJ 

Saturday, November 22, 2008
CEL High Tea
Speaker - TBD

Sunday, November 23, 2008
Opening Session
Speaker - Kelly Gallagher
Kelly is a teacher with twenty one years of high school teaching experience behind him. He is currently a full-time teacher at Magnolia High School in Anaheim, California.

He believes that "there is no greater pleasure than teaching someone something." Teaching is "artistic, it matters a great deal, and I can never get the job down perfectly." Kelly thinks that professional development should treat teachers as such - professionals. "I know in the classroom that good things happen when my students have meaningful discussions. I know as a teacher myself that my craft sharpens when I am given the opportunity to have meaningful discussions with my peers. And let's have a laugh or two while we are at it."

In Kelly's most recent book, Teaching Adolescent Writers, he shows how students can be taught to write effectively. Kelly shares a number of classroom-tested strategies that enable teachers to: understand the importance of teaching writing; motivate young writers; see the importance modeling plays in building young writers (modeling from both the teacher and from real-world text);
understand how providing choice elevates adolescent writing (and how to allow for choice within a rigorous curriculum); help students recognize the importance of purpose and audience; assess essays in ways that drive better writing performance.

Infused with humor and illuminating anecdotes, Kelly draws on his classroom experiences and work as co-director of a regional writing project to offer teachers both practical ways to incorporate writing instruction into their day and compelling reasons to do so.

Monday, November 24, 2008
Breakfast
Speaker - Gordon Korman
Gordon Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. He wrote his first book, This Can't be Happening at Macdonald Hall when he was 12 years old for a coach who suddenly found himself teaching 7th grade English … he later took that episode and created a book out of it, as well, in the Sixth Grade Nickname Game, where Mr. Huge was based on that 7th grade teacher.

His first book found a home with Scholastic, who also published his next 20 or so books, including six more Bruno and Boots titles, and several award winning young adult titles, among them my personal favorite, Son of Interflux.

Gordon eventually made one of his homes in New York City, where he studied film and film writing. While in New York, he also met his future wife, and they eventually married -- they now have three children. He now lives on Long Island, outside of New York City, has approximately 55 books to his credit, and is currently contracted for several more, including the six volume On the Run adventure series, and new young adult and childrens' titles.

Registration Rates and Hotel

Monday, November 24, 2008
Lunch
Speaker - Paul Hammond

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Breakfast
Speaker - Lan Cao

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Lunch
Speaker - Louann Reid
2008 CEL Exemplary Leader Award Winner!
Louann Reid currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in English education and directs the program. Courses include adolescents' literature; theories of language, literacies and learning; theories of teaching literature; and methods of teaching reading, language arts, and composition.

She has been the editor of English Journal since 2003. She has published articles in numerous professional journals, including English Journal and English Education, and gives workshops nationally and internationally on teaching international literature to young adults, teachers as researchers, critical reading strategies, and visual literacy. Six textbooks for high school students, co-authored with Fran Claggett and Ruth Vinz, exemplify her theories: Learning the Landscape, Recasting the Text (1996) and four Daybooks of Critical Reading and Writing for grades 9-12 (1998). Reflective Activities: Helping Students Connect with Texts (1998), edited with Jeffrey Golub, gathers exemplary classroom practices around the unifying theme of the power of reflection in teaching and learning. Rationales for Teaching Young Adult Literature (1999), edited with Jamie Hayes Neufeld, incorporates her research interests in censorship, literacy, and adolescents' literature.

Upcoming - The entire CEL program will be available online within a few weeks!