Hello SDCTE Friends!

I have so many items to share with you today. Please check out my list below.

• Summer YOUniversity rolled out TODAY! Information is attached to this Newsletter. We are featuring The War Outside by Monica Hesse, They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Displacement by Kiku Huges, and We Are Not Free by Traci Chee. The first 30 registrations will receive Monica and George's books for free! We will have author visits with Traci and Kiku in July! You aren't going to want to miss this Methods Book Study! DSU will host our graduate credit for $40.
• Fall Conference 2021 - Learning with Our Students: Growing as Teachers is being planned for Sept. 9 -11, 2021 in Deadwood, SD. This will be a hybrid conference. If you are interested in presenting in person or on Zoom, please complete the Call to Present Google Form link located in the online newsletter. More information will be available soon about registration fees and graduate credit options.
• After seven years Carrie Oorlog has decided to step down as our treasurer. Susan Farrell-Poncelet has stepped down as our VP Elect to fill the treasurer position. After visiting with the board and NCTE, I have decided to stay in the President position for another two years; however, we need to elect a VP to take over after those two years. We also need two people to Co-Chair our monthly/quarterly online (or maybe in-person) events. If you are interested in being a part of the SDCTE leadership or know someone who would be a good fit for this position, complete the SDCTE Position Nomination Google Form located in the online newsletter.
• We need nominations for the Teacher of the Year and Young Leader of the Year Awards. We currently DO NOT have any nominations for these honors, both of which get reported to NCTE for recognition at the national level. These candidates need to be members in good standing with SDCTE. Young Leaders need to be in their first FIVE years of teaching.
• Membership update: We are looking to expand our membership. The best way to do this is by word of mouth. I would challenge each of you to share the benefits of our membership with a friend or two. Take Summer YOUniversity with a friend. Invite them to one of our online sessions. "What we send out, comes back." Share our ECHO!
• Reviewing 2020-21 and Looking Forward to 2021-22: I cannot believe the AWESOME sessions and professional development opportunities SDCTE hosted in 2020! Summer YOUniversity gave us the opportunity to meet with Partick Hicks, Alex Kor - son of Eva Kor, and we hosted a variety of online sessions with the Dakota Writing Project and a variety of ELA methods activities. Our two-day conference included a wide variety of sessions and experts from about the globe: Jill Eggleton, Dave Stuart, Jr., Courtney Jones, Joy Allcock, and Project Lit. Not to mention all of our outstanding members who presented! This fall we hosted monthly sessions including learning about Hope in a Box with Joe English and having some laughs with comedian Devin Siebold. This spring we offered a book study with Dave Stuart, Jr.'s These Six Things, and wrapped up the class with a Zoom visit with Dave. These are all events that your membership dues help pay for.
  • As we look forward to 2021-22, we will be offering our monthly sessions as one CEU credit hour. If you cannot present at Fall Conference, please consider hosting a monthly one-hour session.