Registration is still open for the NC English Teachers Association Conference: Classroom 2.0: The changing needs of the 21st century student, October 24-25 at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem.

A limited number of rooms are still available at the Twin City Quarters Marriott (336-725-3500) until October 1, 2008.  

To maximize your professional development experience (and funds), attend one of the pre-conference workshops that will be held Thursday, October 24, from 2-5 pm.  These 3 hour workshops cost only $25 (in addition to conference registration) and address several current issues and concerns facing English teachers today.  These workshops will allow participants to explore topics more deeply and have more hands-on experiences than most regular sessions.

NCDPI Consultants will offer two of the pre-conference workshops:  Best Practices: An Integrated Approach for Teaching High School English and Formative Assessment during English Language Arts Instruction. Workshops offered by teachers and college educators include Breathing 21st Century Life into the English Department, Graduation Project: Writing Across the Curriculum 2.0 (sponsored by the Tar River Writing Project), Journey to the East: Hands-on Teaching of Asia (sponsored by the NC Teaching Asia Network), Positive Grammar- Building on Success (Sponsored by the Capital Area Writing Project), and Web 2.0 and Video Composition as New Processes of Research and Composing.  Full descriptions of each pre-conference workshop are available at the end of this message,

At the conference Friday and Saturday, outstanding practitioners from across North Carolina will offer concurrent sessions on best practices and issues related to English Language Arts.  The conference will also feature a strand of sessions on writing sponsored by North Carolina National Writing Project sites at UNC-Charlotte, NC State and East Carolina University.

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NCETA Pre-Conference Sessions, Thursday, October 23, 2008.

Best Practices: An Integrated Approach for Teaching High School English
Julie Malcolm, English Instructional Facilitator, NCDPI

How do you know a grammar mini-lesson when you see it? Can grammar be taught through literature? How does the curriculum become less wide and more deep? When teachers make a logical connection among grammar, writing, and literature, student interest improves and critical thinking accelerates. In this session, participants will experience linked grammar, writing, and literature lessons.

Breathing 21st Century Life into the English Department
Valerie A Person, Currituck County High School

Do you dread going to the department meeting? Do you take a set of papers with you to grade during the meeting? Do you walk out thinking that was a waste of time? Come explore ways to make the ubiquitous department meeting relevant and engaging. Presenter and other departmental leaders will share strategies and initiatives they've adopted to build community within the department and to sustain teacher professional growth and development.

Formative Assessment during English Language Arts Instruction
Phyllis Blue, Bob Alexander, Vinetta Bell, and Patricia Chalmers, NCDPI 6-12 English Language Arts Consultants

The 'big idea' of this session is to support the ongoing effort of addressing the State Board of Education's charge to produce globally competitive students for work and post-secondary education and prepare students for life in the 21st century. From shared experiences of lessons learned, this pre-conference session will be filled with opportunities for engaged conversations concerning 'What is formative assessment?' and 'How to implement formative assessment' during instruction in English Language Arts classrooms. Throughout the process, discussions will also focus on the 'HOW' of strengthening students to develop into self-assessors/monitors.

Graduation Project: Writing Across the Curriculum 2.0
Jonathan Bartels, Williamston High School and Jennifer Sharpe-Salter, Nash Central High School

The Graduation Project requires a synthesis of skills scaffolded through content instruction infused with writing pedagogy. Topics in this workshop will include basic overview of project requirements, consideration of rhetorical situation and discourse communities, understanding of different modes of research writing, assessment, and meta-cognitive process through reflective writing.

Journey to the East: Hands-on Teaching of Asia
Jane Shlensky, Durham Technical Community College, NC Teaching Asia Network

Our economies and cultures may become more and more global, but students still cannot find Asia on a map. This workshop will offer sundry ideas for successfully teaching Asia at any learning level. Over the 3-hour session, we will explore the arts, literatures, and histories of China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and India in ways that are easily transferable to your classrooms. A great resource packet will be offered, along with hands-on practice with the materials. If you teach world literature, global or Asian studies, or if you want to incorporate art and history into your literature lessons, this is the workshop for you. The ideas offered have also been classroom tested and are useful in pursuing National Board certification. The session is underwritten by the NC Teaching Asia Network.

Positive Grammar: Building on Success
Sean Comerford, Johnston County Schools

Grammar has been the bane of many a teacher's existence. Many do not feel that they have a firm enough grasp upon the rules to adequately help their students, and even if they do, they find tremendous reticence on the part of their students. We will go over the basics of grammar and usage as a refresher and then delve into ways of authentically engaging students using what they already know as our springboard.

Web 2.0 and Video Composition as New Processes of Research and Composing
Susan Miller-Cochran, North Carolina State University and Anthony Atkins, University of North Carolina Wilmington

New media tools are reshaping our understanding of research and writing processes as they become central components of developing student literacy. This workshop will introduce participants to web-based tools for research and composing. Participants will use Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, blogs, social networking and social bookmarking sites for research and also gain an understanding of video as a significant component to composing with multimedia. The workshop will illustrate web-based tools in various stages of writing and research processes, using student projects as examples.