E-FOCUSNJCTE Newsletter Archive Writing Winners

Issue: # 14 April 2016 Spring Conference and Writing Award Ceremony

New Jersey Council of Teachers of English Newslettere-Focus was created by Patricia Schall and Susan Reese to keep educators informed. If you have news to share,please e-mail us at njctefocus@gmail.com Photos in this issue by John and Donna Jorgensen.

Here is what we advertised.Scroll down to see what we delivered.

THE 2016 NJCTE JOURNAL IS YOURS!THE 2016 NJCTE JOURNAL IS YOURS!

Recently, we have

discovered that many ofour members prefer anonline copy go the journal. If that is not the case withyou, you are entitled to ahard copy.

njctefocus@gmail.com

Journals were distributedat the NJCTE SpringConference held atMontclair. But, if you are amember who did notreceive your copy, emailyour name and address tonjctefocus@gmail.comand request a hard copy.

Matt de la Peña Charmed the AudienceMatt de la Peña Charmed the Audience

Matt de la Peña, Newbery Medal winner and New York Times bestselling author of six youngadult novels (including Mexican WhiteBoy, The Living and The Hunted) and two picture bookswill receive the Muriel Becker Literary Award presented by the New Jersey Council of Teachers ofEnglish.

Almost everyone had several take-away quotations from Matt de la Peña's address. Here are someof the favorites!These from Julius Gottilla.

The YA novel contributes to the "acquisition of possibilities." Reading was his "secret place to feel."Guard against the perils of wrong or limited self-definition.Be a humble writer in order to leave room for the reader. The writer has a template, but it's the reader who"puts his flesh in the margins." Allow the reader to take ownership of the book.

Another great day at MSU!

Delight Penaverde-McKitrick chatswith Matt de la Peña.

(left to right) Laura Nicosia,Matt de la Peña

and Susan Reese

Ellen Papazian looks on as Mattde la Peña signs.

Prince ton sa lu ta to rian Dan-e l Pad i l la Pe ra l ta , au tho r o f thePrince ton sa lu ta to rian Dan-e l Pad i l la Pe ra l ta , au tho r o f thep rovoca tive memo ir, p rovoca tive memo ir, Undocumen tedUndocumen ted , o ffe red the open ing keyno te, o ffe red the open ing keyno tespeech .speech . Dan-el Padilla Peralta has lived the American dream. As a boy, he came here legally with his family.Together they left Santo Domingo behind, but life in New York City was harder than they imagined.Their visas lapsed, and Dan-el's father returned home. But Dan-el's mother was determined to makea better life for her sons.

The family joined the ranks of the city's homeless. Dan-el, his mother, and brother lived in a downtownshelter where Dan-el's discovered a scant collection of books that introduced him to the lives ancientGreeks and Romans.

Throughout his youth, Dan-el navigated two worlds: the rough streets of East Harlem, where he livedwith his brother and his mother, and the elite halls of a Manhattan private school, where he couldimmerse himself in a world of books and where he soon rose to the top of his class. From Collegiate, Dan-el went to Princeton, where he excelled. He gave the salutatorian's traditionaladdress in Latin at his commencement.

Dan-el's story asks larger questions about race and community, outsiders andinsiders, and about feelings of belonging. Those who attended received a freehardback copy of Undocumented.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta

The day began with coffee andbagels followed later by a buffetlunch.

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS

Book vendors gave an insider'slook at their offerings.

Montclair State University BookStore made books available forpurchase.

MONTCLAIR STUDENTS WERE THERE TO HELP

ENGLISH SPEAKING UNION

NCTE'S Millie Davis visited the NJCTE Spring Conference and hadinteresting observations. Click here to read the full article

David Lubar, author of dozens of books for teens, electronic game programmer (whoDavid Lubar, author of dozens of books for teens, electronic game programmer (whoprogrammed Super Breakout for the Nintendo Game Boy, and Frogger for both theprogrammed Super Breakout for the Nintendo Game Boy, and Frogger for both theSNES and Game Boy), presented the opening welcome.SNES and Game Boy), presented the opening welcome.

Heather Rocco Named Educator of the YearHeather Rocco Named Educator of the Year

NJCTE is proud to announce the recipient of this year's Outstanding English Language Arts EducatorAward: Heather D. Rocco.

Heather holds degrees in English and the teaching of writing from Hofstra University. She began hercareer at New Hyde Park High School in New York, before coming to New Jersey to teach Englishand later serve as Supervisor of Language Arts in Westfield. She is currently K-12 English LanguageArts Supervisor for the School District of the Chathams.

Heather's professional leadership is far-reaching. She is a consultant with The EducatorCollaborative, Associate Chair for the Conference on English Leadership, and a frequent presenter atnational conferences sponsored by NCTE and ASCD, formerly the Association of Supervision andCurriculum. In addition, she has published articles in English Leadership Quarterly and in our ownNew Jersey English Journal.

Dr. Edie Weinthal, District English Supervisor at Pascack Valley, describes Heather as "upbeat,forward-thinking, professional, and focused on doing everything she can to make our profession andher own teaching district a wonderful place to be." Her colleague Rachel Ruffner concurs,appreciating Heather's "collaborative approach and desire to share and learn." Finally, Heather'ssuperintendent, Dr. Michael LaSusa, attests to "her love for the work" and "her nobility of cause." Clearly, she is a model for all of us in teaching and a credit to our profession.You can find Heather on Twitter @heatherrocco.

Heather talks with Julius Gottilla who presented her with the Educator of the Year Award.

Weiss and Holzmann Award WinnersWeiss and Holzmann Award Winners

Patricia Schall with Delight Penaverde, College of Saint Elizabeth. Whippany ParkHigh School, Whipping. DeeDee is the Marcia Holtzman Pre-service TeacherAward winner.

Not Pictured Marcia Holtzman Pre-service Teacher Award winner is Darcy Lucia. Rowan University,Woodlynne Elementary School. Accepting her award -- Donna Jorgensen.

Ellen Papazian , College of Saint Elizabeth, West Morris Central High School, Chester is the M. JerryWeiss Early Career Teacher Award winner.

Meet the NJCTE Board of Directors

President, Susan Reese; Laura Nicosia, Last Past President; Co-Vice-Presidents, JenniferAnsbach and Sarah Gross; Recording Secretary, Patricia Hans; Treasurer, James NicosiaBoard members:

Beth Ann Bates, Shawn Berger, Liz DeBeer, Audrey Fisch, Julius Gottilla, Donna Jorgensen,Dana Maloney, Michele Marotta, Joe Pizzo, Maria Schantz, Pat Schall

Save the Date: October 29, 2016: Our firstconference at Manchester Township HighSchool, 9 am-12 pm. More details to come!

L ike New Je rsey ' s teache rs , we ' re on ly ge tt ing be tte r!L ike New Je rsey ' s teache rs , we ' re on ly ge tt ing be tte r!

THE WRITING CONTEST CEREMONIES

The New Jersey Council of Teachers of English honors high schoolauthors from throughout New Jersey

William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Harper Lee make guest appearances.

Students from throughout the State of New Jersey had their names permanently associated with

those of William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Harper Lee as the NJCTE recognized their

winning literary works at the Award Reception held Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at Union Catholic High

School in Scotch Plains, NJ. The reception commemorated the 400th anniversary of death of

Cervantes and Shakespeare, as well as the recent death of Harper Lee this year, shortly after the

publication of her second novel,

Go Set a Watchman, a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, but written years earlier.

The theme, "Separated by a Pane of Glass: being an outsider or learning from one", found echoes in

the works of the classic authors, and was beautifully explored by our winning poets, short story

writers and essayists. Top-scoring students in each genre were awarded gold, silver and bronze

medals.

Reception Host and Master of Ceremonies--Julius Gottilla

Writing Contest Coordinator, Michele Marottaand Kathy Webber, Short Story Curator

Poetry Curator- Shawn Berger

Not pictured -- Personal Essay Curator, Kristen

AngeloJudge Liaison, Tiffany Erikson

Top scoring students from each school/district in which at least 10 different students

participated received the Honorable Mention distinction, while top scorers from schools with at least 3

different students participating received Certificates of Merit.

The full text of the medalists will be published on the NJCTE web-site, www.njcte.com in the coming

weeks. Excerpts from the works of the Honorable Mention and Certificate of Merit winners will also be

posted on the web-site.

Gold Medalist:

"Butterfly Cage" Maressa Park Mary Help of ChristiansGrade 10 Elizabeth Evans

Silver Medalist:"You Know" Alexa Dersovitz Livingston H.S.

Grade 10 Susan RothbardBronze Medalists:

"Interstate" Eva Lebovitz Newark AcademyGrade 10 Tess James

"Mothers Become Their Valery Tarco Newark AcademyDaughters Become Their Grade 12 Tess James

Mothers""Everything That's Wrong Melody Xiao Newark Academy

With Me" Grade 10 Tess James

Gold Medalist:"Blow Smoke" Richard Brown Tenafly H.S.

Grade 12 Gary Whitehead"Silver Medalists:

"Clock Strikes Jamie Greer Bergen Cty AcademiesTwelve" Grade 12 Richard Weems

"Inferno" Zoe Rivera West Orange H.SGrade 9 Janine Sullivan

Bronze Medalists:"Pro Patria Mori" Tom Yuz Bergen Cty Academies

Grade 12 Richard Weems"And the Stars Threw Jessica Zhu Bergen Cty Academies

Down Their Spears" Grade 12 Richard Weems

Gold Medalist:"Finding Them" Grace Springer Northern Highlands Reg'l

Grade 12 Kristin SchumacherSilver Medalist:

"Confessions of a Alexandra Franchino Livingston H.S.Social Phobic" Grade 11 Susan Rothbard

Bronze Medalists:"Meeting Vincent" Caitlin Chan Bergen Cty Academies

Grade 11 Richard Weems"Am I Alone?" Katelyn McCreedy Morristown H.S.

Grade 11 Claudine Priola"Dichotomy" Rebecca Zaritsky Bergen Cty Academies

Grade 12 Richard Weems

The Union Catholic Forensic Team brought the poems, stories and essays brilliantly alive.

Lexi Marta, Deidre Pepe, Neill Lynsey, and Cameron Guanlao

Svea Barrett, Northern Highlands Regional High School teacher and published poet, introduced the poet,

whom she has known personally for many years. Svea attended a Dodge Poetry "Clearing the Spring"

poetry workshop led by Maria during a difficult time in her life and grabbed hold of poetry as a lifeline as

a result.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan brought to the audience of youngwriters, their parents, friends and teachers, her ownperspective of growing up as an outlier, a dark, "dirty"Italian immigrant child with olive skin and dark hair. Thepoems she recited painted portraits of other members ofher Italian family. She read to us about "Poppa," silkfactory worker, and homemade wine maker, who wasgiven a new name, "Daddy," when discussed with others inthe "white " world. Her mother, a tiny woman made of iron,dominated her sons and daughters.

NJCTE wishes to thank the students for having the courage to share their written works with us, the

teachers for encouraging them to follow the trail of their ideas to their polished end, and the judges and

members of the Writing Contest Committee for shepherding the entries through two rounds of judging.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan is a recipient of the 2014 George Garrett Award forOutstanding Community Service in Literature from AWP (Association ofWriters & Writing Programs), the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for WritersAward from Poets & Writers and the 2008 American Book Award for herbook, All That Lies Between Us (Guernica Editions).She is the Founder /Executive Director of the Poetry Center at PassaicCounty Community College in Paterson, NJ, and editor of the PatersonLiterary Review .She is also Director of the Creative Writing Program and Professor of Poetryat Binghamton University-SUNY. (From www.mariagillan.com )

2017 Issue ofNew Jersey English Journal:

New Jersey English Journal, a peer-reviewed publication of The New Jersey Council of Teachers of

English, invites you to share submissions on "Professional Growth: What's Inspiring?" We seek

researched articles as well as 500-word personal essays and other creative responses that shed light on the

many possibilities, topics, issues, problems and solutions related to professional growth and inspiration in

teaching K-12 and college. Articles should relate directly to English Language Arts teaching and learning.

We value responses from both veteran and new teachers.

We invite you to respond to the theme of "Professional Growth: What's Inspiring?" by considering such

questions as:

Where do teachers find inspiration? (e.g.,peers, workshops, education programs, mentors, books, articles,

journals, and films)?

How can educators feel passionate and/or inspired about their jobs despite the standardization of teaching

and other challenges to creativity?

What can teachers do to keep their passion for teaching alive, and/or continue to grow professionally?

What role does a teacher's outlook or perspective play in student learning?

What teaching methods help teachers feel inspired and inspiring?

What else can teachers do to take care of themselves during challenging times - both at work and at home?

In addition to submissions that respond to the theme, we also welcome poetry on the topic of teaching. Submissions

will be accepted between April 1 and December 15, 2016. Submissions should not have been published in any

other journal. Submissions must use MLA formatting and Time New Roman or Garamond Font in Size 12. All

submissions will be reviewed by multiple members of our editorial board. Submitters will receive a response by

February 1, 2017; journal will be released by April 1, 2017. Send queries and submissions to 2017 journal editor

Liz deBeer at ldebeerwardell@gmail.com.

Make NJCTE Your Professional Homein New Jersey

The New Jersey Council of Teachers of English (NJCTE) is the NewJersey affiliate organization of The National Council of Teachers of English(NCTE). The NCTE and NJCTE are different organizations with differentmemberships and separate dues. We invite teachers, administrators and friends of English/language arts to join us.We encourage our members to dedicate their time to participate and make adifference in their own professional lives and the lives of their fellow teachers andstudents.

Consider the Benefits of Joining

Members of NJCTE receive:

NJCTE's electronic newsletter, E-FOCUSThe New Jersey English Journal, an annual publication of NJCTE (next issue: YALiterature Today!) Reduced (sometimes FREE!) admission to conferences and workshopsProfessional development opportunities through volunteering for committeesand events, judging the writing contest, and much more!Networking opportunities and idea exchanges with a diverse group of teachers

throughout the stateLocal, more affordable events, with workshops at the NJEA Convention andconferences frequently offered on weekends to avoid problems with substituteteacher coverage.

Visit our Website and sign up online through PayPal, or download themembership form to sign up by check or money order by mail.