This President’s Bulletin is a bit of a smorgasbord—with an assortment of opportunities for you and your students. For teachers, there is info on the Surrey English Teachers’ Inspiration Day: “You are a reader too, you are a writer too” on Friday, February 16, 2007. This conference is open to out-of-district teachers and will be sure to beat back the winter blahs.
There is info on the new list of novels compiled by the Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium (ERAC). These novels were evaluated by teachers for use at grades 6-8.
Also, there is info on how we can fulfill our professional obligation to respond to the draft English Language Arts 8-12 curriculum. Give this more than a cursory glance, as it is a far-reaching overhaul of language arts instruction as we have come to know it under the 1996 IRP document. This would be a great way for an English department to spend a professional day!
For students, there is info on the Canadian Bar Association public speaking contest, as well as BCTELA’s annual student writing contest. Due to our successful October PSA Day conference (available in the next issue of Update), we are in a sufficiently healthy financial position to fund the publication of Voices Visible, which will include student work from the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years. Note the May 1, 2007 deadline.
Download the full January 2008 Bulletin in PDF Format
Cheers,
Dave