Much like the poem, "Fire," by Judy Brown, suggests, we are able to build more "open spaces" for conversation and creation by "piling on the logs," or collaborating and innovating with our friends and colleagues. As the old song goes, it only takes a spark to get a fire going, and we definitely need a match to light our stack of ideas and community so that it can grow and warm others.... especially now that each of us needs so much encouragement to keep going....

We hope each quarter to share some matchlight in our little newsletter to inspire and warm your educator hearts this year -- to grow, to change, to enlighten, to inspire others, to seek, to find, and to even ... illuminate a path forward in this now very different "normal."

"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it."

--Margaret Fuller

We are here for you, and the fire is always going.

NTCTELA Board 2021-2022

EACH NEWSLETTER WE WILL SPOTLIGHT A DIFFERENT MEMBER OF OUR BOARD -- STAY TUNED!

Meet Holly!

Holly is a high school ESOL (English as a Second or Other Language) and Newcomer teacher in Lewisville, Texas, but sees her work much differently than simply developing students’ English. She hopes that her students build curiosity, stamina, and independence to be lifelong readers and writers. She has served in leadership positions in the North Texas Council for Teachers of English Language Arts and the North Star of Texas Writing Project, has served in NCTE and on the NCTE nominating committee. In 2016, Holly was awarded the High School Teacher of the Year award for the TCTELA, and this past year, Holly got published!!!

Holly is the co-author of But Does this Work with English Learners, a book on how to leverage our ELs’ (English learners', or emergent bilinguals') full linguistic repertoires in the ELA classroom, while remaining sensitive to those barriers that could restrict learning -- something she knows a lot about!

Outside of the classroom, Holly is involved in refugee and immigrant service work through her father’s gardening project in which he grows fresh food with the Chin community in his garden. She also enjoys attending former students' family, cultural, and religious events with her daughter as she watches her grow up!

We are ecstatic, because we have just finalized our plans for our 2022 NTCTELA Conference!

We have a FANTASTIC PANEL of speakers for you! We plan to offer an in-person experience at the Hurst Conference Center, and our conference will be on June 10, 2022, from 8:30 am - 3:30 pm. There will be a keynote, some breakout sessions, opportunities to get books signed and meet authors, and do a little shopping for your current shelf addiction. We will also will have door prizes and give our 2022 teaching awards out.

See the Save the Date flyer below and stay tuned for more details!

Registration will be available soon - watch your email!

There have been so many things passed legislatively in the regular and special sessions this year -- it is very hard to stay on top of bills that are affecting either instruction, schools, kids, etc. One thing that will help you catch up fairly quickly on a massive amount of legislation passed recently is the ATPE updates from Mark Wiggins, one of the state lobbyists for ATPE, who speaks at CREST each year. One of the most important bills impacting instruction and the classroom is Texas HB3979, now SB 3. It previously only applied to social studies teachers, but after Dec. 2, it will apply to K-12 teachers of all subjects in Texas.

Try to keep yourself updated on things happening, so that we can continue to help our representatives be informed of what is important to us as educators and professionals, and for our students!

• To see the ATPE legislative presentation at CREST, click here.
• To see ATPE's comprehensive review on the 87th session, click here.
• To see HB3979/SB3 in its final form for more information, click here.
• To find out more about upcoming topics in elections and candidates and their platforms, ATPE provides some great resources here.
• To get more information about teacher professional unions or advocacy organizations in Texas, also check out resources from AFT, TSTA, TCTA, and find more links on TASB's website. Many areas also have unions specific to local or regional locations.

We are working on some advocacy resources for our NTCTELA members to help you stay better informed and house them on our updated website. If you'd like to help with the development and research of those resources as a volunteer, send us a message through the website!

ALSO -- YOUR VOTE COUNTS! SEE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR POLLING LOCATION FOR FEBRUARY PRIMARIES AND LOCAL/REGIONAL ELECTIONS ON YOUR LOCAL ELECTIONS WEBSITES! To find your area SBOE, state, and national representatives, click here.

**We are not endorsing ATPE over any other teacher advocacy organization -- but they do partner with CREST and also provide a lot of legislative updates for Texas teachers.**

Pick up a moving or impactful read!

Children: Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine

YA: Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds/illus. Raul the Third

Personal Reading: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Professional: But Does This Work with English Learners? by Genova/Stewart

Cool Peeps to Follow!

Cult of Pedagogy by Jennifer Gonzalez, Editor in Chief

Austin Kleon's Blog by artist, Austin Kleon

Pernille Ripp's Blog (from our conference Keynoter, Summer 2021!)

Seth's Blog, by Seth Godin - GREAT mentor texts!

Stay tuned for next quarter's "matchsticks" newsletter to warm up your inbox and bookshelves! Contact us anytime or connect with us on social media.

And join us for our annual conference on June 10, 2022, at the Hurst Conference Center, and check out our updated website!!