August 2025
In this issue:
As the new school year begins, I hope you’re returning from summer with renewed energy, a few good books read, and perhaps a fresh idea or two for your classroom. Whether you're teaching a new prep or welcoming a new group of students to familiar material, I'm here to support you with resources, opportunities, and community all year long.
In this month’s newsletter, you’ll find a wide range of professional learning and classroom-ready tools to kick off your semester. If you need some language about artificial intelligence for your syllabus, look no further than the next section. Join me for a hands-on fall workshop exploring how you and your students can use generative AI in English language arts. Apply for a special writing workshop at Quartz Mountain with poet Richard Blanco or novelist Sarah Weeks, and mark your calendar for the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of English fall conference in Oklahoma City. This newsletter also highlights four Oklahoma English teachers who received 2024 Fund for Teachers fellowships and shares a recap of summer learning with links to session materials you can use now. Plus, the lists of student writing contests are now updated and organized—perfect for sparking early writing goals.
Here’s to a school year filled with curiosity, creativity, and connection. I'm so glad to be learning alongside you again.
If you know a new teacher in your building or district, please forward this newsletter to them and have them click here to register for the OSDE's newsletters. The Oklahoma State Department of Education will receive updated contact information in November, so sharing and encouraging new staff to sign up now helps keep everyone in the loop.
Cheers,
Jason Stephenson
Program Manager, Secondary Education
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With the proliferation of generative AI (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot, students have the opportunity to use a large language model to create a polished essay with a prompt based on the assignment's parameters. Secondary English teachers can consider including a statement in their syllabus about their expectations for the usage of GenAI in their classroom. Teachers can also consider implementing a GenAI use statement that all students must include with their writing assignments. A sample syllabus statement follows, which can also be found on pages 3 & 4 in this handout from this summer's training on AI. Language from Monash University and the Writing Institute at the University of Pittsburg was used to create this sample syllabus statement.
Please ensure that your classroom policy is in line with your school's and district's policy about AI.
Sample Syllabus Statement on GenAI
The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) writing tools is allowed in this class on certain assignments and only if such use is properly acknowledged. Assignments for this class have been designed to help you develop as a writer. Some assignments may require you to write without GenAI, while others may allow or even encourage it. As your teacher, I will assume that any use of these tools will be only within the contexts the assignment allows.
 The use of GenAI outside of allowable contexts or failure to acknowledge any use of GenAI technologies in your work will be considered an academic integrity violation and addressed according to our school’s Academic Integrity policy found in the student handbook on page ___.
Please see me if you have any questions about this policy.
The Office of Standards and Learning at the Oklahoma State Department of Education is excited to announce free professional development workshops for the 2025-26 school year. These workshops will be held in different regions of the state and are designed to support educators with effective instructional strategies aligned to the Oklahoma Academic Standards.
 Harnessing the Power of GenAI in the ELA Classroom
Step into the exciting frontier where language arts meets artificial intelligence! This dynamic workshop explores how Generative AI (GenAI) can transform teaching and learning in secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. Discover the mechanics behind GenAI and unleash its potential as a powerful tool for students to enhance their reading comprehension, spark writing ideas, and refine revision skills.
Through hands-on exploration in collaborative groups, you'll categorize GenAI literacies appropriate for different grade bands. Experience GenAI in action as you evaluate your own writing assignments using an innovative acceptable use rating scale, customize a ready-to-use syllabus statement for your classroom, and examine practical student disclosure* templates with real-world examples.
Whether you're AI-curious or looking to refine your existing digital literacy instruction, you'll leave equipped with concrete strategies and practical tools to thoughtfully and ethically integrate GenAI into your classroom. (*Note: Claude, an AI tool, helped refine this description.)
Please bring a charged device!
This workshop is an expanded version of the one-hour session offered at InspireOK and as a webinar this summer.
The in-person workshops will be from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Space is limited, so register today!
Registration Links:
If you would like to have a full day of in-person professional development, Dr. Karen Leonard, Program Director of AI & Digital Learning, will lead a morning session from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on the same day as the ELA workshops. The workshop description and registration follow.
AI in the Classroom: A Practical Workshop for Educators
Ready to make AI your ally in education? This session offers a clear pathway to understanding and using artificial intelligence. We'll start with the basics of AI, then explore practical AI tools and helpful resources you can use right away. You'll gain strategies for integrating AI into your teaching, thoughtful insights into the ethical questions surrounding its use, and actionable ideas for equipping your students for an AI-driven future.
Registration Links:
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Journey to Quartz Mountain this fall for an all-inclusive, extended weekend workshop retreat at the Oklahoma Fall Arts Institute. Taught by nationally renowned artists, workshops are offered for all skill levels and are held at the beautiful Quartz Mountain State Park & Lodge in the Wichita Mountains of southwest Oklahoma. Unlike other workshops, all meals and lodging are included in tuition.
Thanks to partnerships with the State of Oklahoma and generous private donors, scholarship funding is available to cover the tuition costs for Oklahoma PK-12 public school educators. Tuition discounts are available to Oklahoma private school educators, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute alumni, and those working in higher education.
There are two literary workshops offered this fall. Consider applying for one of these magical experiences, especially if you teach creative writing. Online registration opened on August 1, 2025, and will remain open as long as space is available.
Photographic Poems with Richard Blanco
October 2-5, 2025
In this workshop, participants will engage in interactive lectures, exercises, and readings of various illustrative poems, taking a deep dive into some of the core techniques of poetry: sensory details, modulation of the poetic line, figurative language, and linguistic musicality. Participants will draft poems using personal photographs as prompts to explore emotional responses and uncover the conscious and unconscious stories those images hold. They will also take new photographs to explore how the poetic eye—like the eye of a camera—focuses and frames experience, then “redevelop” those photos into poems. The group will spend time workshopping drafts while continuing to investigate the relationships between imagery, imagination, and story.
All skill levels welcome.
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Richard Blanco
Richard Blanco was selected as the fifth Presidential Inaugural Poet in U.S. history, becoming the youngest person to serve in that role. In 2023, he received the National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, Blanco’s work explores themes of identity, place, and belonging. He is the author of several poetry collections, including Homeland of My Body, as well as two memoirs. Blanco currently serves as Education Ambassador for the Academy of American Poets and is an Associate Professor at Florida International University.
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Nurturing Story: Writing for Young Readers with Sarah Weeks
October 9-12, 2025
In this creative writing workshop, participants will explore the joys and unique challenges of writing for young readers. Through a range of targeted exercises and prompts designed to help boost confidence and spark ideas, every writer will have an opportunity to practice and discuss the elements of story in a collaborative, nurturing environment. Participants will be encouraged to share their work with each other and constructive group feedback will be a central component of every session, In addition to group discussion, individual meetings with the instructor will offer dedicated time for one-on-one feedback and personalized guidance, ensuring that each participant's voice is heard and nurtured with care.
All skill levels welcome.
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Sarah Weeks
Sarah Weeks was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has been writing books for young readers for the past thirty years. She is a graduate of Hampshire College and NYU and has taught creative writing to graduate students at The New School and Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. Her Young Adult novel, SO B. IT, a New York Times best seller was awarded the 2004 Parents Choice Gold medal and is now a full length feature film starring Alfre Woodard and Talitha Bateman.
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The Oklahoma Council of Teachers of English will host its fall conference on Friday, October 24, 2025, in Oklahoma City at the MetroTech Springlake campus. The conference theme is Dream Boldly with Technology.
The keynote will be delivered by Kristin Ziemke, the recent co-author of the book, Read the World: Rethinking Literacy for Empathy and Action in a Digital Age.
Registration closes on October 1.
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Pre-K through 12th-grade teachers have the opportunity to pursue self-designed professional learning through a Fund for Teachers fellowship. Teachers decide what they want to learn and where they want to learn it. Their odysseys take them all over the world—as researchers, musicians, artists, and agents of change—and they return to their classrooms with new ideas that transform student learning and achievement. Individual teachers may apply for up to $5,000, and teacher teams may apply for up to $10,000 in grant funds.
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Eligibility Requirements
- The teacher must be a full-time pre-K through 12th-grade teacher who spends at least 50% of his/her time directly providing instruction to students.
- The teacher must have at least three years experience as a pre-K through 12th-grade teacher at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
- The teacher must be returning to the classroom in the following school year after receiving the grant funding.
School administrators or support staff that do not spend a minimum of 50% of their time in direction instruction to students are not eligible to apply.
How to Apply
The Fund for Teachers application portal will likely open October 1, 2025. The application is comprised of a coversheet signed by the applicant’s principal, the proposal, and an itemized budget of the proposed fellowship.
Questions? Contact Fund for Teachers Oklahoma Program coordinator Lauren Dow at ldow@ofe.org or visit www.fundforteachers.org.
2024 ELA Fellowships
In 2024, seventeen Oklahoma teachers received a Fund for Teachers fellowship, including four high school English teachers. Read on to learn more about their adventures, and visit their Passport pages for inspiration for a trip of your own!
 Tammy Acuff & Kirsten Harrison, Fort Gibson High School
Joint Fellowship Proposal: Explore sites in England and Scotland associated with literary figures and historical events to improve students' ability to visualize and appreciate British literature and literary movements, understand the significance of place in literature, and inspire an interest in reading the classics.
 Emily Roiger, Tulsa School Of Arts & Sciences
Fellowship Proposal: Participate in The Creativity Workshop in Prague to develop tangible ways of stimulating creativity and creative thinking that will prepare students to become global citizens.
 Amanda Austin, Edmond North High School
Fellowship Proposal: Experience the South African setting of Trevor Noah’s biography Born a Crime to deepen personal knowledge of South African history of Apartheid and enhance a world literature curriculum with more authors of color.
 Oklahoma English teachers spent part of their summer learning together online and in person. The InspireOK conference was held in Norman on June 27, and four webinars were offered in July. Whether you attended online or in person, thank you for spending part of your summer learning instructional strategies about English language arts. I appreciate your dedication to your profession and students.
Summer workshops for Secondary ELA:
- Grammar Instruction in Secondary ELA: Crafting and Combining Sentences
- Prefixes and Suffixes and Roots, Oh My! Supporting Striving Adolescent Readers
- The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Secondary English Language Arts
- Crafting a Creative Writing Course
You can find the workshop resources (slideshows, webinar recordings) on the Professional Learning Vault page on the ELA Framework. Alternatively, you can use this one-pager to access the 2025 summer learning resources.
The Oklahoma History Center held an exhibition in 2012 called Oklahoma Writers: A Literary Tableau. Although the exhibit has since closed, many of the resources have been archived; visit the Writers section for biographies, interviews, and more about various Oklahoma writers.
The Writing Contests page on the ELA Framework has been updated for the 2025-2026 school year and is now organized into three charts: state, national, and international.
There are contests for nonfiction, poetry, audio essays, and more. Review the list on the Writing Contests page and determine which ones you would like to advertise to your students throughout the school year.
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Writing Prompt
 The current Top 10 texts with their publication years
A 2024 survey of over 4,000 ELA teachers in the United States has revealed the 10 most popular texts in classrooms.
- Romeo & Juliet
- The Great Gatsby
- The Crucible
- Macbeth
- Of Mice and Men
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Night
- Hamlet
- Fahrenheit 451
- Frankenstein
The findings were recently published in a white paper, "The State of Literature Use in US Secondary English Classrooms" funded by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The white paper is only available to members of NCTE, but a recent article from Education Week sums up the findings. As an Oklahoma English teacher, you probably have some thoughts and experiences related to these texts.
Choose one of the following prompts and write for five minutes.
- Did you study any of these texts when you were in high school and/or college? What was your experience like?
- Have you taught any of these texts? What is that experience typically like? Do your students find them engaging?
- What do you notice and wonder about these ten classics? What do you think makes them so popular?
- What texts do you think should be on this list? What works are you excited to teach that might represent the future of secondary ELA?
Reading Quote
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