Jeff Spanke, ICTE President
Ball State University

Greetings, English teachers of Indiana!

On behalf of the entire Executive Board, I’d like to welcome you all to the 2021-2022 academic year. As your new President, I’m excited to continue building ICTE in ways that serve your personal and professional interests as vital fixtures in the lives of Hoosier children. If the past sixteen months have demonstrated anything, it’s that teaching really isn’t just a job. It never has been. And teachers, while perhaps woefully misunderstood and tragically underappreciated, are nothing if not strong, capable, creative, and curious people first. As a Board, we’re honored to represent you as such.  

This year, we look forward to extending upon the solid foundation established by the former members of the ICTE Team, most recently Mike Macasulo and Terri Suico. Our continued mission for these next several months is to anchor our organization firmly in the interests of community, fulfillment, progress, and, dare I say, fun as English teachers. 

Because teaching is fun. Or at least it should be. And we believe it can. 

To propel this idea of fun, purpose and personhood in our community—teachers shouldn’t feel like we exist in existential quarantine, after all—we will continue hosting virtual, “pop-up” conferences and workshops throughout the year. Our two virtual gatherings in the spring affirmed the need (and desire) for more consistent and productive community dialogue, particularly in our present era of rising tensions, stresses, and uncertainties. We need to keep talking, in other words. Sharing with and listening to one another. Learning through language and perpetuating that spark that led us here in the first place. Communication begets community, and vice versa. 

In addition to more frequent conversation and collaboration, we’re excited to expand the parameters of the ICTE newsletter. Rather than serving primarily as a means of information spread, our goal is to cultivate, via this resource, a space where we can gather as diverse but invested stakeholders to share our insights and engage with one another in provocative, progressive, and professional ways. Each newsletter will contain the following columns which we have modeled for this month: 

HAVE YOU HEARD OF THIS?

BETWEEN BELLS

POTLUCK

DEPENDANT C(L)AUSES

To read a description of each column, please see Jeff's full President's Message on our blog. 

If you are interested in contributing to any of the columns above—OR, if you would like to submit something that doesn’t necessarily fit into one of those columns—please send your materials to indianaenglishteachers@gmail.com. You can also submit material by filling out the CONTACT form on the ICTE website.  

In closing, thank you for your continued greatness and willingness to dance. We see, hear, and support you. Please let us know how ICTE can continue serving your interests and needs as Indiana teachers of English. Have a great August. Be safe, do good, teach well. Welcome. 

Corinne Gries, ICTE Co-Executive Treasurer

If you are going to begin a new teaching adventure, August might just be the best time to do it. I had the pleasure of accepting a job as a 5th grade teacher just 15 days before the start of the school year. In many ways it was the perfect time: To step in during a time of need, to bypass the stage of procrastination, and to return to the same school and community I left 10 years ago to be at home with my family. As I scramble to get ready for the start of school I am working hard not to get overwhelmed. It is important to be mindful that transitions are bumpy but only temporary. Passionate teachers, like each of us, are essential right now in this time of teaching.

I am choosing to look forward to new adventures as I reconnect with my LVIS account and apply for an emergency permit to teach science. 

I am choosing to reminisce as I work to dig up all addresses dating back to 1988 for Indiana’s Department of Child Services.

I am choosing to find comfort in the essential classroom items to begin the year: a library with books to read along with paper and pens for writing.

To everyone beginning new adventures or continuing on paths of familiarity: Let us remind each other to focus on what is essential and continue to wonder what it is our students need from us each day. It’s August again, here we go...

Dear ICTE,

While the last year and a half have taught me a lot about technology and how to teach amidst a global pandemic, I worry about how much different my undergrad experience looks like compared to teachers who graduated prior to COVID-19. Many of my in-person college classes that included opportunities for me to observe and work with students and teachers in classrooms were cancelled and turned into online classes when the pandemic started. As a preservice teacher who has spent very little time in classrooms putting theory into practice and observing teachers due to restrictions with the pandemic, how can I better prepare myself for student teaching and my first teaching position?

- Whitney Shelton
ICTE Undergraduate Representative
Ball State University