November 2024
In this issue:
Almost 500 teachers have been added to this monthly newsletter. Based on data from the annual October 1 report, Oklahoma English language arts teachers of grades 6-12 are now recipients of this Secondary ELAOK newsletter. Not all school districts submitted emails for their teachers, so please forward this email to friends and colleagues who do not receive it. Any teacher interested in signing up for various newsletters from the OSDE can use this form.
Attention: English Language Arts teachers of grades 6-8
OSDE and Cognia are seeking educators to join a passage review and bias meeting in preparation for the 2026 Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) assessment. This meeting will focus on reviewing the new passages being developed for the upcoming assessment year to ensure they align with OSTP standards and expectations.
The virtual meeting for ELA teachers of grades 6-8 will take place on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with breaks built in.
Your input is valued, and we hope you will apply to participate in this important step in the development of the ELA Assessment. If you are interested in applying to attend this meeting, please complete the application in this Google form. Seats are limited.
In the past month, Oklahoma English language arts teachers had the opportunity to attend a free workshop "Meaningful Secondary ELA for All Students," led by Jason Stephenson, the project manager of secondary English language arts at the OSDE. "I wanted to provide practical strategies and ideas for teachers to reach all of their learners," said Jason. The workshops took place in Atoka, Oklahoma City, Muskogee, Chickasha, and Enid. There was also a virtual workshop.
The focus of the workshop was how to implement the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which provides guidance on how to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. The framework is organized into a matrix with various topics.
 During the workshop, teachers learned and applied ELA strategies aligned to the nine lenses of the UDL framework:
- Recruiting Interest
- Sustaining Effort & Persistence
- Self Regulation
- Perception
- Language & Symbols
- Comprehension
- Physical Action
- Expression & Communication
- Executive Function
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Teachers read a shared text from CommonLit, "Funeral" by Ralph Fletcher, and then identified UDL strategies that could be used in an ELA lesson.
Throughout the workshop, teachers participated in engagement strategies to share their learning. Most of these strategies were taken the middle school and high school pages from the ELA Framework.
At the Muskogee workshop, Heather Davis, the Bartlesville District English Chair (pictured at left), took to the Hot Seat to field questions about how to apply perception UDL strategies to the "Funeral" lesson plan.
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Based on the survey results, teachers appreciated the time to collaborate and learn from one another and to realize they were already using some UDL approaches in their classrooms. "I liked all the opportunities to think about application, and being able to practice strategies," wrote one teacher.
 Workshop Resources:
 The Oklahoma Center for the Book in the Oklahoma Department of Libraries invites Oklahoma students in grades four through twelve to participate in the My Favorite Book writing competition. Students attending public, private, charter, or home schools are eligible. To enter, students must write a letter to the author of a favorite book, series, or short story, explaining how it or a character from the work impacted their life. The deadline for entries is December 20, 2024.
Contest Levels:
- Level 1: Grades 4 – 6
- Level 2: Grades 7 – 8
- Level 3: Grades 9 – 12
Cash prizes will be awarded to the first, second, and third place winners in each level:
- First Place: $500
- Second Place: $250
- Third Place: $100
First place winners will also select a school library or public library to receive a $1,000 cash prize! The 2024-2025 winners will be honored at an awards ceremony at the Oklahoma Capitol in May 2025.
Visit the contest website for the official rules, instructions for submitting, teacher instructions, and frequently asked questions. A contest flyer, participation certificate, and bookmarks are also available.
National Shakespeare Competition
The ShakeFest 25 competition will take place on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, in Tulsa at Cascia Hall Preparatory School's auditorium. Check in is from 9:30-9:45 a.m. The contest begins promptly at 10:00 a.m. and should be completed by 11:30 a.m.
In this contest, high school students from across Oklahoma perform a 20-line monologue and a sonnet. The 1st place winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to New York City to perform at Lincoln Center, tour the city, and attend an acting class and a Broadway show. Cash prizes are awarded to the 2nd ($200) and 3rd place ($100) winners. Participation is free.
The competition webpage includes many resources, including a Teacher’s Handbook, Student Handbook, monologue packet, and sonnet packet. To sign up your school to participate, complete the online form.
If you have questions, contact Paul Stevenson, paulwstevenson75@gmail.com.
 Oklahoma ESU Shakespeare Festival
After the national competition, the non-competitive ESU Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Students from grades 6-12 will perform scenes, monologues, or other creative performances using Shakespeare’s language (Maximum of 2 minutes X the number of actors with a limit of 6 minutes). They will also participate in a short performance-based activity.
By design, this festival is also geared not only towards drama students, but also English classes and students who may have never acted before. For us, performance is a means to an end: making Shakespeare's language come alive.
To register for the non-competitive Shakespeare festival, send an e-mail with the title of your performance to pwstevenson@cox.net.
The Oklahoma Writing Project (OWP) is sponsoring its annual statewide Write To Win contest for students and teachers.
Winners in each division will be invited to an OWP Spring Celebration & Writing Conference and will have their writing published in the 2025 Anthology of Winning Writing and on the OWP Website. Winners and their teachers will receive free anthologies of winning writing.
Students and teachers will be competing against others in their own divisions and genres. Divisions are determined by grade: Primary (pre-K though 2nd); Intermediate, (grades 3-5); Middle School (grades 6-8); High School, (grades 9-12), and Teacher.
The contest webpage provides expectations for the following writing contest genres: descriptive paragraph, personal narrative, poem, short story, flash fiction, essay, writing across the curriculum, sentence, and comic.
There is no entry fee, and the deadline is January 21, 2025.
Questions? E-mail owpwritingcontest@gmail.com or janiscramer@att.net.
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Celebrating Readers and Crafting Writers
The Oklahoma Literacy Association conference is planned for Friday, February 28, 2025, at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
The keynote speaker is Helen Perkins, ILA president and OSU alum.
The featured Oklahoma author is 4th grade superstar Sammy D. Wallace III, author of The No Sleep Curse and I Slept in my Bed Last Night!
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Writing Prompt
- Trace your hand on a piece of paper.
- Inside each of the fingers, write down someone or something for which you are thankful.
- Then pick one topic and list some reasons you are thankful inside the palm.
- Hang up this thankful hand near your desk the week before Thanksgiving break.
My thankful hand example is to the right.
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Reading Quote
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