Minnesota Council of Teachers of English

Spring Conference logo

MCTE Spring Conference

. . . connecting with colleagues from BOLD and Thief River Falls,
St. Paul and St. Peter, Rosemount and Roseau,
Pine City and Willow Creek

. . . inspiration from NCTE President Ernest Morrell,
humor and wisdom from Jim Northrup, laughter with Geoff Herbach, warmth from Minnesota Poet Laureate Joyce Sutphen

You can gather vicarious insights from the sessions at the MCTE Wiki

Submit articles to Minnesota English Journal and
Minnesota English Journal, student writing issue

check out submission guidelines

Protect intellectual freedom and students' right to read

• Be proactive.
Be familiar with NCTE Guidelines for Selection of Materials in English Language Arts Programs.
Develop rationales for material you use in your classroom. Sample rationale for The Color Purple. Sample rationale for The Bridge to Terabithia.

• If you face a challenge:
~ Report the incident to NCTE online or call Millie Davis, NCTE Senior Developer, Affiliated Groups and Public Outreach at 800-369-6283 ext 3634. NCTE can help with resources specific to the work being challenged.
~ Contact MCTE's Intellectual Freedom Chair Jeremy Hoffman, jhoffman55@hotmail.com

• NCTE Guidelines for Dealing with Censorship of Nonprint and Multimedia Materials

• Authors speak out against censorship

• First Amendment in Schools Toolkit from the National Coalition against Censorship

• Resources from the American Library Association

• NCTE's quarterly report on censorship challenges

• Annual report from NCTE's Standing Committee on Censorship

• Recognize Banned Books Week: September 21 - 27, 2014

Wayzata Poet Wins NCTE Award

Congratulations, Joyce Sidman, winner of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. This award, given every other year, recognizes a poet's body of work for children ages 3 through 13.

Joyce, seated, is surrounded by members of the selection committee.

What the Heart Knows

What the Heart Knows,
Joyce's latest book

Jeff Wilhelm ~ 2013 Fall Workshop

Reading and writing argument and information texts
to meet and exceed Minnesota Standards

Resources from the workshop:
argument text resources
information text resources

2013 Letters About Literature State Winners

Grades 4 - 6: Sadie Oster, Chaska wrote to Watty Piper, author of The Little Engine That Could
Grades 7 - 8: Sophia Kurowski, Victoria, wrote to Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451
Grades 9 - 12: Amy Sawyer, Shakopee, wrote to Steven Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower