National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) I first came to know NCTE because I submitted an article that will be published in March 2019 in their journal Voices From the Middle! This semester in my High School Methods course, I was required to explore EnglishJournal to find strategies that we could use in my practicum and future classroom. I chose to further explore this SPA because I found useful strategies and felt that if I was able to dig deeper, that I would be able to find time management strategies and resources for diverse texts. An overview of NCTE is listed below.
State Affiliate: VATE (Virginia Association of Teachers of English)
Overview of History: NCTE primarily began out of protest against overly-specific college entrance requirements and how that impacted English education. The English Round Table of the Secondary Division of the National Education Association sent James F. Hosic to survey college entrance exams and he concluded that there was a “need of a permanent, nationwide organization of teachers of English.” 65 people attended the first meeting in December 1911 in Chicago, IL, and 35 people signed the character and NCTE was formed.
Mission/Vision/Standards: NCTE supports English educators and their students in public schools, college campuses, and in online learning environments through collaboration and community. NCTE is devoting to improving teaching and learning of ELA at all education levels. NCTE’s mission statement is, “The Council promotes the development of literacy, the use of language to construct personal and public worlds and to achieve full participation in society, through the learning and teaching of English and the related arts and sciences of language.” NCTE’s vision is that its members will apply the power of language and literacy to actively pursue justice and equity for all students and their educators. NCTE derives expertise and advocacy from its members professional research, practice, and knowledge. This expertise needs to be aligned to advance access, power, agency, affiliation, and impact for all learners.
Membership Process To become a member, you must first log on to NCTE’s website and you will be able to select either a standard or student membership. Membership includes access to webinars, preferred pricing on hotels, conferences, and professional learning materials, access to a members-only magazine, access to digital journal archives, lesson plans, and NCTE connects (opportunities to meet and connect with members across the globe). Members also are allowed to subscribe to each journal at a discounted rate at $12.50 for print/online access and $10.00 for online access only to each journal. If you are interested in NCTE’s publications and not being a member, you are allowed to subscribe to just the journals. Prices for both memberships and journals are listed below in a slideshow. Conferences Featured conferences are the Conference on English Leadership Convention, Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), and the Whole Language Umbrella Summer Institute. This year the Conference on English Leadership Convention is being held in Houston, TX and costs $205 for NCTE members. It is held from November 18th-20th. The CCCC Conference is being held in Pittsburgh, PA March 13-16th, 2019. It costs $205. For students, it costs $55. The Whole Language Umbrella Summer Institute costs $250 for NCTE members. I am hoping to attend the Conference on English Leadership Convention in Houston, TX this year. There is going to be fantastic authors there as well as Christopher Emdin, someone who has shaped my educational philosophy. NCTE also has Webinars, NCTE Reads (Which is a Book Club), and Twitter Chats. Publications:
College Composition and Communication (CCCC) is a journal that publishes research and scholarship in rhetoric and composition that supports college teachers who are reflecting on their teaching. CCCC also publishes the most recent scholarship in the field of research and scholarship. The field of composition studies includes a wide variety of disciplines ranging from cultural studies to sociology.
College English (CE) is a journal for the college scholar-teacher. CE publishes articles about literature, rhetoric-composition, critical theory, creative writing theory and pedagogy, linguistics, literacy, reading theory, pedagogy, and professional issues related to the teaching of English.
English Education is a journal that serves teachers who are engaged in the preparation, support, and continuing education of teachers of English language arts/literacy at all levels of instruction.
English Journal is a journal that NCTE’s award-winning journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. It presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language, and includes information on how teachers are putting the latest technologies to work in their classrooms.
English Leadership Quarterly is a journal by the Conference on English Leadership (CEL), helps department chairs, K–12 supervisors, and other leaders in their role of improving the quality of literacy instruction. ELQ offers short articles on a variety of issues important to decision-makers in English language arts.
Forum is a journal concerning working conditions, professional life, activism, and perspectives of non-tenure-track faculty in college composition and communication. It is published twice annually.
Language Artsis a journal that provides a form for discussions about all aspects of Language Arts learning and teaching, focusing on pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. This journal reviews children’s and young adolescent literature as well as classroom and professional materials.
Research in the Teaching of English is a multidisciplinary journal composed of original research articles and short scholarly essays significant to those concerned with the teaching and learning of languages and literacies around the world.
Talking Points is published by WLU, the Whole Language Umbrella, a conference of NCTE. Talking Points helps promote literacy research and the use of whole language instruction in classrooms. It provides a forum for parents, classroom teachers, and researchers to reflect about literacy and learning.
Teaching English in Two-Year College (TETYC)is the journal of the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), is for instructors of English in two-year colleges and instructors of first- and second-year composition in four-year universities. TETYC publishes theoretical and practical articles on composition, developmental studies, technical and business communication, literature, creative expression, language, and the profession.
Voice From the Middle is a journal that publishes original contributions by middle level teachers, students, teacher educators, and researchers in response to specific themes that focus on English/Language Arts, the teaching of this content, and students.