January 2024
In this issue:
The Book Love Foundation seeks teachers who demonstrate a passion for promoting a hunger for books. These teachers recognize the wide array of every class of readers, and they challenge each student to build an independent reading life of increasing depth and joy.
Teachers who apply for a Book Love Foundation grant must demonstrate that they are already committed to the support of readers through current classroom practices such as maintaining access to a range of books, conferring regularly and purposefully to understand and support students' changing needs, and sharing their own contagious passion for reading inside and outside of their classroom.
This year the Book Love Foundation will be awarding three types of grants:
- Classroom Library grants
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Book Clubs grants in honor of Dr. Teri Lesesne
- Pre-service Teachers grants
For requirements, please see this webpage for the applications, which will be accepted through April 1, 2024.
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The application for Fund for Teachers is open now. Qualifying educators may apply for fellowship funding to experience a transformational learning opportunity and apply that experience to their teaching, ultimately changing schools and communities. Individuals may apply for up to $5,000, and teams may apply for up to $10,000. (While team members may be from different schools, districts, or states, all members must meet the eligibility criteria.) Upon award, Fellows will receive 90 percent of their grant, with the remaining 10 percent to be disbursed upon completion of post-fellowship requirements.
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- A full-time PreK-12th grade teacher who spends at least 50% of their time directly providing instruction to students;
- Applicants must have plans to return to a classroom or teaching environment the year following their fellowship and demonstrate the ability to incorporate what they learn into their teaching; and
- Have at least three years’ experience as a PreK-12th grade teacher at the end of the school year
- Student and substitute teaching do not count toward the three-year requirement
- If the applicant has three years’ experience by the time of their fellowship, Fund for Teachers considers them eligible.
- Previous recipients must wait for five years before reapplying.
Be sure to read the FAQ and other information on the site before starting the application. The application deadline is January 18, 2024, at 5 p.m.
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First Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to supporting educators and elevating opportunities for children in need. Over the past 30 years, First Book has distributed more than 225 million books and resources to their growing network of over 575,000 educators and program leaders working in underserved communities.
First Book supports all types of educators and practitioners. If you work in a Title I-eligible school or any other organization where at least 70 percent of kids served come from low-income families, you are eligible to become a First Book member.
Sign up is FREE and takes about 5 minutes!
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Oklahoma City University will welcome poet B.H. Fairchild in April 2024 as part of their annual Thatcher Hoffman Smith Poetry series. On Wednesday, April 3, Fairchild will read for students at 10:00 a.m. at the Meinders School of Business, and he will also read in the evening at 7:00 p.m. Both readings will be followed by a book signing.
Fairchild’s narrative poems build their homes in the same quaint, small towns where he grew up, focusing on the small moments of beauty, grace, and isolation that can be found in rural, working-class Midwestern life.
B.H Fairchild grew up in Houston and small towns in Oklahoma, west Texas, and southwest Kansas. He earned his BA and MA at the University of Kansas and his PhD at the University of Tulsa. He is the author of seven books of poetry, including the multiple award-winning The Art of The Lathe (1998), The Blue Buick (2014), and the newly published An Ordinary Life (W.W. Norton, 2023).
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The Sejong Writing Competition aims to introduce young adults to Korean culture through literature and poetry. This competition is open to all residents of the United States and Canada regardless of ethnic background.
The two writing categories are sijo poetry and literary analysis.
The sijo is a traditional three-line Korean poetic form organized technically and thematically by line and syllable count. For examples of sijo, more information, and teaching materials–including teaching guides for sijo, please visit this website.
For the literary analysis category, students in middle school (grade 8 and younger) read one of two folktales and write in response to a prompt. High school students read a science fiction short story and write in response.
The submission deadline is February 29, 2024. Visit the contest website for more details.
 an illustration of the Korean folk tale, "The Tiger and the Persimmon"
Oklahoma Writing Project
Invitational Summer Institute
June 2024
Classroom Teachers of All Subjects
—Elementary through College—
Interested in Improving Literacy Skills
APPLICATIONS:
Fifteen outstanding teachers will be selected to attend the Oklahoma Writing Project's 2024 Invitational Summer Institute to be held at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Teachers of all subject areas and of all levels of instruction—kindergarten through university—interested in teaching composition or incorporating writing into their regular subject matter instruction may apply. The important consideration is a strong commitment to teaching of composition and helping build students' understanding through writing.
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION:
Teachers who are selected should have these qualifications:
- Outstanding teaching record.
- Strong commitment to growth in teaching composition.
- Willingness to develop a formal presentation on topics related to writing instruction and to share those presentations with other participants at in-service workshops.
- Willingness to do the writing, research, and reflection that will be asked of all participants during the Summer Institute.
- Demonstrable success as a teacher of writing and promise as an equally successful teacher of other teachers.
- Willingness to be an active participant in the Oklahoma Writing Project and its professional and in-service programs.
- Above all, a strong and open approach to ideas.
OUTCOMES:
- Creation and delivery of literacy presentation to be shared at your home school and with other Oklahoma teachers
- Portfolio of your own writings as you experience the writing process and best classroom practices
- Your published writing in the 2024 Summer Institute Anthology
- Collection of ready-to-use literacy strategies and best classroom practices aligned with Oklahoma Academic Standards
- Over 45 hours of professional development
- Become part of a network of teachers focused on improving literacy practices with Oklahoma students
STIPEND:
Up to $750 stipend for each participant who completes all the required components of OKWP Summer Institute.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 20, 2024
Applicants invited to interview will receive an appointment confirmation by email by February 23, 2024. Interviews will take place in Norman on March 2, 2024.
IMPORTANT:
- Start saving your student writing samples now. You will need student samples for your interview and during the Summer Institute. Be sure and save high/low ability examples from your writing lessons. Originals are great, but copies are fine.
- At the interview, you will bring your resume and some of your student writing samples.
The online application has further details, including the dates of the summer institute, if you are interested.
 Save the date now! The Oklahoma Council of Teachers of English 2024 fall conference will take place on Friday, October 4, at Glenpool Intermediate School. The theme will be Native Voices.
Writing Prompt
Various dictionaries identified a word of the year for 2023. Merriam-Webster selected authentic, Oxford English Dictionary selected rizz (slang for style, charm, or attractiveness--a shortening of charisma), and dictionary.com selected hallucinate (as in when artificial intelligence creates false information).
Choose a prompt:
- Use one of the words of the year as a title for a writing piece. It can be prose or poetry. Write for 5 minutes.
- Which word of the year describes your professional or personal life in 2023? Why? Write for 5 minutes.
- Which word would you like to apply to your professional or personal life for 2024? Explain your selection and hopes for this year. Write for 5 minutes.
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Reading Quote
 Quote taken from this essay on writing.
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