March 2024
In this issue:
With this award, Oklahoma honors the Native American leader Sequoyah for his unique achievement in creating the Cherokee syllabary. Sequoyah chose eighty-five symbols to represent all spoken sounds of the Cherokee language. In so doing, he created a way to preserve his people's language and culture.
This is the home stretch for students to vote for the 2024 Sequoyah Book Awards. Students can vote between now and March 15. Winners of the 2024 Sequoyah Masterlist will be revealed on or before March 31.
The 2025 Sequoyah Masterlists, including those for Grades 6-8 and 9-12, were revealed in mid February. Promotional materials, including annotated masterlists, will be available soon.
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 The Intersection of Reading and Writing, sponsored by the AIM Institute, will take place on Monday, March 11, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This free webinar is the 12th annual Research to Practice Symposium. Educators who register for this free webinar will receive a link to the recording.
The 2024 Advanced Placement® Summer Institute is offered to new and experienced AP® and Pre-AP® teachers. This AP training offers a wide variety of courses during the course of four weeks. Teachers attending the NSU Summer Institute will conclude their institute experience with renewed enthusiasm and be equipped with new ideas and resource materials to use in their classrooms.
This program is in partnership with the State Department of Education for Oklahoma teachers. There are four weeks of courses to choose from, two in-person and two online.
- Week 1, in-person (June 10-13): English Language and Composition
- Week 2, in-person (June 17-20): English Literature and Composition
- Week 3, online (July 15-18): English Language and Composition
- Week 4, online (July 22-25): English Literature and Composition
Learn more at the website.
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The 2024 Oklahoma Medal for Excellence Awards are one of our state’s most prestigious educator awards and recognize public school educators for their passion and innovation, commitment to professional development, and extraordinary impact on student learning.
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 “British literature has become my passion; I spend many hours outside the school day researching the literature, language, culture, music, and history of life in Great Britain because it is important to me to present a well-rounded glimpse into the British literature world for my students,” Andrews said.
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Andrews has been voted favorite teacher by six of Claremore’s senior classes and earned District Teacher of the Year honors for 2016-2017. She serves as sponsor for two student support groups and is assistant coach for the academic bowl team. Andrews volunteers in the community as a youth soccer and softball coach, and she has organized a student voter registration drive.
Andrews comes from a family of educators. Her mother, Jan Johnson, was the Claremore District Teacher of the Year for 2000-2001.
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Former student Zachary Noland said Andrews “champions the idea that education is more than learning what is written in textbooks: it is about discovering what makes someone Oklahoman.”
Noland now teaches alongside Andrews. “Years later, I found my own approach to teaching is an emulation of her techniques,” Noland said. “She actively engages her students through group discussions, such as Socratic seminars; research projects that foster creativity, public speaking skills, and work ethic; and assigns thrilling novels that challenge the essence of our humanity.”
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Andrews, a Claremore native and University of Oklahoma graduate, credits the influence of her ninth-grade art teacher, Linda Scudder.
“The inspiration Mrs. Scudder was to me is what I have yearned to be for others,” Andrews said. “She demonstrated acceptance and provided a safe place to create art; she allowed me to express myself both visually and linguistically. Because I knew she cared, I willingly took risks in her class. I willingly stretched my mind beyond what I ever thought I could achieve.
“Just as I took intellectual risks in Mrs. Scudder’s class, my students learn that my class is a safe place to take risks, to stretch their intellectual ability.” (Source)
Note: All students depicted in these photographs are now over 21 years of age.
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Jill's message to Oklahoma English teachers
We as English teachers are the fortunate ones. We have the joy and privilege of experiencing language and literature with our students, and our job is not just an important one - it is a vital one.
Communication is the key to success in all fields of study, all occupations, all aspects of life. We are tasked with creating effective and articulate communicators, citizens who are self confident, expressive, creative, and logical all at once. Our study of literature gives us the opportunity to walk the paths of others with our students, to foster collaboration, to develop empathy. Now more than ever in our technology-driven age, we have the amazing opportunity to pull our kids' eyes away from their screens and onto the pages of a book where they get to immerse themselves in a vast array of experiences.
My students often ask me what I would "be" if I weren't an English teacher, and I can't imagine a life doing anything else. Exploring literature and language, watching my students analytical skills grow, watching their empathy increase, traveling through a novel with eager teenagers - THIS is what I get to do every day. I am a lucky one - WE are the lucky ones.
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National Public Radio's annual student podcast challenge has begun. Students can create their podcast entry in any class or extracurricular group on any topic. Here are some suggestions from NPR:
- Tell us a story about your school or community: about something that happened there — recently or in the past — that your audience should know about.
- What is a moment in history that all students should learn about?
- Show us both sides of a debate about an issue that's important to you.
- What do you want to change about the world? What's a big change that you want to make in the future?
- Explain something to us that kids understand and grown-ups don't.
The submission deadline is May 3, 2024. Learn more at the webpages for the official rules and the submission guidelines.
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All these upcoming deadlines and dates are explained in further detail in the February 2024 newsletter.
- Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum's 23rd annual student essay contest: March 4
- Oklahoma Poem Contest: March 28
- Book Love Foundation Grants: April 1
- Oklahoma Literacy Association Conference: April 13 in Weatherford
- Dear Poet: April 22
Writing Prompt
Each year, Pantone selects a “Color of the Year” and Peach Fuzz was selected as 2024’s color. Pantone Executive Director shared that “in seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a color radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.”
- Explore what comes up for you with the color Peach Fuzz and the Executive Director’s description of it. What connections do you make? How would you describe this 2024 Color of the Year?
- If you were a color, what would it be? What would it feel like to be this color? You may use previous Colors of the Year for inspiration.
- Select your personal 2024 Color of the Year. Dive into what this color symbolizes and represents for you.
Thank you to Naomi Watkins, the Secondary English Language Arts Specialist for the Utah State Board of Education, for this prompt.
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