LANGUAGE ARTS-NEW MEXICO

African American Read-In

Join over a million readers in the Twentieth National African American Read-In in February 2009. The event is sponsored by the Black Caucus of NCTE and NCTE. The program has also been endorsed by the International Reading Association. For more information on the 2009 African American Read-In click here.

A Belated Happy Birthday

Edgar Allen Poe turned 200 on Monday, January 19.  We're a little late celebrating, but here's a NY Times slideshow featuring some of Poe's manuscripts and the classic video of Vincent Price reading "The Raven." 

Come to the NMCTE Conference

If you haven't already registered, consider attending the New Mexico Council of Teachers of English Fall Conference, to be held at the Nativo Hotel in Albuquerque, October 24 and 25, 2008.  The cost of registration (which includes continental breakfast, snacks, and lunch on both days) is $150.  You can print a registration form at http://www.nmcte.org.  You may disregard the late registration fee listed on the form.  

The keynote speakers are two of the foremost national authorities on adolescent literacy and the teaching of English language arts in middle school and high school.

Carol Jago has taught middle and high school English in Santa Monica, California for 32 years. Her books include With Rigor for All: Teaching the Classics to Contemporary Students and Papers, Papers, Papers: An English Teacher’s Survival Guide.  Carol knows the language arts classroom inside and out and will share her wisdom and common sense with New Mexico teachers.

 Sheridan Blau, author of The Literature Workshop, is a past president of the National Council of Teachers English, a member of the National Writing Project Task Force, and teacher of literature for two generations of students, He directs the South Coast Writing Project and the Literature Institute for Teachers at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Sheridan is always an entertaining and compelling speaker.  Don't miss him. 

NMCTE Program Proposals Due July 15

Submit a program proposal for the New Mexico Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference, to be held October 24 and 25 in Albuquerque.

NMCTE Program Proposals Due July 15

Submit a program proposal for the New Mexico Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference, to be held October 24 and 25 in Albuquerque. 

Apply for the High Desert Writing Project Summer Institute

Applications are now being accepted for the High Desert Writing Project Summer Institute. The Institute is open to K-16 teachers. The HDWP will provide participants with an opportunity to explore and cultivate themselves as writers, share and learn teaching strategies, learn about research on writing, and become part of the National Writing Project network that has existed for over 30 years. Six UNM graduate credits and books are provided at no cost to participants. You may learn more and access an application by reading the attached or by going to http://hdwp.org. Please note the application deadline is March 5, 2007.

Mix It Up At Lunch

November 14 is "Mix It Up at Lunch Day," a project designed to foster  respect and understanding in schools and communities:

The program’s concept is simple but powerful: For this one day, students are encouraged to sit with someone new at lunch. Nowhere on school campuses are the boundaries of group membership more clearly drawn than in and around the cafeteria.

“Many of our prejudices and biases tend to fall away when we mix with and meet new people,” said Mix It Up Director Tafeni English. “Mix It Up at Lunch Day gives students an opportunity to bring down the walls in their schools and get to know people they might not otherwise interact with. It helps teach young people the value of integrated living.”

The annual event is sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program, which provides educators with free multimedia teaching kits and other materials designed to promote respect for differences and an appreciation of diversity.

This year, an estimated 4 million youths at 9,000 schools are expected to take part in Mix It Up Day. At many schools, organizers are planning a variety of innovative activities at lunch and throughout the day and week.\

For more information about "Mix It Up at Lunch Day," click here.

See a Play: Words Afire

If you're in the Albuquerque area, you might want to take advantage of Words Afire 2006, a festival of world premiere plays written by University of New Mexico students.  Here's the info.:

7TH ANNUAL WORDS AFIRE at UNM HAS BECOME THE LARGEST NEW PLAY FESTIVAL IN THE SOUTHWEST

This year it's 21 plays in 21 days!

When:          November 1st –21st.

Where:        UNM’s Theatre X, Sol Arts (712 Central Ave. SE), VSA North Fourth Art Center (4904 4th Street NW), the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 4th St. NW) and The Blue Dragon Coffee House (1517 Girard Blvd NE) and the UNM Arts Garage, (1601 Central Ave. NE).

Tickets:       Prices are $10 general admission for all tickets at all venues.  Student tickets are $7 at all venues.  All staged reading performances are free.  For general information call the Words Afire hotline at:  277- 7331 or visit www.unm.edu/~theatre/td/

The Words Afire Festival features never seen before, world premiere plays including:  full-length, one-act, and ten-minute plays, all written by MFA and undergraduate writers in the Robert Hartung Dramatic Writing Program at UNM. The Festival has produced 5 plays in the past five years that have won national playwriting awards from the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival.  The mission of the Festival is to introduce and promote the voices of emerging writers to local and national theatre communities. Plays are world premiere productions written, directed, acted and designed by emerging student artists.  On average more than 100 students participate in the festival each year.

For more on Words Afire, click here.

Get Ready for Teen Read Week

Teen Read Week is October 15-21.  An adolescent literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) of the American Library Association, Teen Read Week is aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults.  To find out more about how you can participate, click here.  And while you're there, be sure to take a look at the great booklists that have been created to go with the "Get Active@Your Library" theme.

Attend the Teachers' Institute at the Taos Summer Writers' Conference

Faculty authors enthuse teachers at Taos retreat
by Laurie Mellas (UNM Today)

New Mexico teachers are called upon to inspire generations of youth, but who inspires them?

University of New Mexico faculty authors with this goal in mind will host a special weekend institute for middle and high school teachers July 15-16 at the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference.

The deadline to register is May 1.

Teachers will develop strategies for teaching and writing and experience “the intellectual and emotional stretching that comes with the reflective practice of writing,” said Wanda Martin, Teachers’ Institute director and UNM English Professor.

“Teachers, like all of us, need to be lifelong learners. UNM faculty can contribute to that learning, and it is in UNM's interest to help prepare students who will attend the university in the future,” she said.

“We know that young people benefit from exposure to the arts and that it grows their ability to express ideas and to think critically,” Martin added, “but the intense focus of contemporary K-12 education on skills testing sharply limits students' opportunities to explore expressive writing or to imagine themselves as writers.”
-----------------------------
Sponsored by UNM’s College of Arts and Sciences, Teachers’ Institute, Taos Summer Writers’ Conference and English department, faculty authors at this year’s institute include Thiel, Sharon Oard Warner, Levi Romero, Rudolfo Anaya and Evelina Zuni Lucero.

Teachers’ Institute programs are free of charge to New Mexico teachers. For more information and to register for the Teachers' Institute at the Taos Summer Writers' Conference, visit the institute Web site or call Wanda Martin, 277-5027. Media Contact: Laurie Mellas, (505) 277-5915.