Keeping CoTESOL members up to date
The Rocky Mountain TESOL Reception is scheduled for TESOL Boston: Thursday, March 25, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Channel Cafe, 300 Summer Street
Here’s the link to a colorful announcement on the CoTESOL website: http://www.colorado.edu/iec/cotesol/tesol2010/RMTESOLReception.doc
A member recently asked the board about the “Best of CoTESOL”. You may remember that TESOL once sponsored a “Best of [affiliate name]“, which came with a guaranteed presentation slot at TESOL—a year and a half after our convention because CoTESOL had to submit the presentation before we held our convention. Thus, the Best of CoTESOL 2007 was not selected before the TESOL 2008 presenter had to be named, so the Best of CoTESOL 2007 was named for TESOL 2009.
In the last couple years, TESOL has no longer guaranteed the presentation slot, so even if we submitted a presenter, we weren’t sure that that presenter would be on the TESOL program. Also, neither of our Best of Colorado 2007 and 2008 selectees were able to attend their TESOL conventions (2009 and 2010). Both had accepted positions overseas, a factor in their not attending TESOL.
I suggested, and the board agreed, that we not award a “Best of CoTESOL” for the 2009 CoTESOL convention so that we could reduce the time between the selection and the award since we couldn’t guarantee the TESOL acceptance anyway. (At that time, we didn’t know for sure that our best of 2008 would not be able to attend the TESOL 2010 convention.)
Sooooooo, look for the Best of CoTESOL to be back at CoTESOL 2010, with the selected presenter to attend TESOL 2011, sponsored by CoTESOL.
How do you get to be the Best of CoTESOL? It all starts with a proposal for CoTESOL 2010. Information should be coming out soon…
Debra@CoTESOL
The February 2010 meeting of CoTESOL was held on the 5th at the Colorado Department of Education. The meeting was the first formal gathering of the 2010 board and we are busy already looking at how we can make the 2010 CoTESOL convention a success.
Mark the dates: Nov. 5 and 6, 2010. See you there!
Larry Fisher, our CoTESOL Executive Secretary, was contacted about an internet publication, EdNewsColorado.org.
I went to the website to look the contents and was pleased with what I saw. I’m going to give the newsletters a try and see how it goes.
Subscribing is easy. Just go to:
http://www.ednewscolorado.org/about-2/newsletter-signup/
Does anyone else subscribe to this? What do you think about it?
Thanks,
Debra
Liz Henry, our soci0-political concerns liaison, has put together some information about 4 pieces of legislation relevant to CoTESOL. Take a look…
SENATE BILL 10-017
Establishes a grant program at CDE that allows districts to apply for money to support creating a weighted student funding formula and professional development to implement the formula.
Summary… The bill makes legislative findings concerning the benefits of implementing weighted student funding formulas at the school district level. The bill creates in the department of education (department) a grant program to provide moneys to school districts for designing weighted student funding formulas and providing professional development for implementation of the formulas. The department will review the applications to ensure they meet the minimum specified requirements and award grants in the order applications are received. The grant program will be funded from any federal moneys or gifts, grants, or donations received by the department for the grant program. The commissioner of education will inform the revisor of statutes on July 1, 2011, that the department has or has not received sufficient moneys to implement the grant program, and the grant program will repeal on July 1, 2011, if the department has not received sufficient moneys by that date to implement the grant program.
SENATE BILL 10-050
Changes the probationary period for teachers from 3 to 5 years.
Summary… The bill increases from 3 to 5 years the required length of continuous employment that a probationary teacher shall have before being classified as a nonprobationary teacher. Once a teacher is classified as a nonprobationary teacher, he or she shall be given a 5-year contract that shall be renewed every 5 years thereafter if the teacher receives a satisfactory final cumulative written evaluation report at the end of the 5-year period. If the board of education of the employing school district is not going to renew the nonprobationary teacher’s contract, the board will provide written notice to the teacher and provide him or her with the reasons why the contract is not being renewed. The bill makes conforming amendments.
SENATE BILL 10-065
Reduces funding for K-12 education.
Summary… Reduces by $110 million state K-12 support in 2009-10. Does not fund current year enrollment and at-risk increases.
SENATE BILL 10-089
Establishes a “Religious Bill of Rights”.
Summary… The bill establishes the “Religious Bill of Rights for Individuals Connected to Public Schools Act” (act), which requires the state board of education (state board) to adopt a religious bill of rights for public school students and parents and a religious bill of rights for public school teachers and employees (religious bills of rights) outlining each party’s respective inalienable individual religious rights. The state board shall distribute the religious bills of rights to school district boards of education (local boards), and each local board shall adopt policies and procedures to implement the act, including the annual distribution of the religious bills of rights to students, parents, teachers, and employees of the school district. Additionally, local boards of education shall provide opt-out provisions to individuals for classes or course materials that are in conflict with the individual’s religious beliefs. The bill provides that individual members of local boards are personally liable for lawsuits brought under the act if the local board fails to adopt policies and procedures to implement the act or to ensure compliance with the act.
I have high school foreign exchange students looking to come to the Northern Colorado area in August for the school year but are in need of host families. If you know of someone from the education association who would be interested in hosting would you please pass this email along to them about our program.
lashags@msn.com
HAITI DISASTER RELIEF: Thirteen board members voted a resounding “Yes!” to contribute $1000 to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti disaster relief. The donation has been made.
Our thanks to Larry Fisher for initiating this proposal and following through with the donation.
On Feb. 27, 2010, Lenore Blank Kelner, the author of “A Dramatic Approach to Reading Comprehension” will visit Denver.
Participants will experience what we call ‘full circle’ learning; concept→ implementation→ demonstration→ ongoing
Registration for TESOL members is easy via Blacktie Colorado
The Pellish Foundation, a private-operating foundation committed to “improving children’s life skills through creative expression”, created a series of professional development workshops for educators.
Thinking Outside the Classroom is geared towards providing educators professional development that doesn’t break the bank. Each program is designed to be fun, engaging and relevant to educator needs – and to help teachers deliver their desired curriculum.
www.ThinkingOutsidetheClassroom.org
‘improving children’s life skills through creative expression’
Hi,
I work with U.S. State Department funded educational programs, and I write to share program announcements for two fully-funded programs for schools, teachers, and principals. These programs, supported through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, offer strategic investment in K-12 language programs and professional development for teachers and principals. Each of these programs is administered by American Councils for International Education: ACTR / ACCELS (www.americancouncils.org).
I am writing to request your assistance to distribute program announcements for these two fully-funded programs. Will you please make this information available to your association membership? We also ask you to post this information in your association’s newsletter and on its website?
Teachers of Critical Languages Program
The Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) is funded through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS. TCLP seeks to develop Chinese and Arabic programs in K-12 schools throughout the United States by bringing EFL teachers from China and Egypt and placing them in US schools for an academic year where they teach Mandarin or Arabic language and culture. TCLP provides teachers‘ salaries, health care, r/t airfare, training, professional development funds, and on-going program support. Additionally, host schools receive access to $5,000 grant opportunities to support language learning projects, and their designated mentors receive monthly honoraria as well. Applications, due February 12, 2010, can be downloaded or completed online at www.tclprogram.org. For more information, contact Ben Dunbar (bdunbar@americancouncils.org) or Eliza Doton (edoton@americancouncils.org)
Educational Seminars
Educational Seminars provides opportunities for teachers and principals to participate in fully funded, short-term educational exchanges to Argentina, Brazil, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Thailand, and Uruguay. The program is funded through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS. While in the host country, participants shadow their international peers’ schedules, network with educational leaders in the country, and develop joint classroom projects and school partnerships supportable through the program’s grant funds. Through nation-wide competitions, approximately 80 U.S. teachers and principals are selected each year to participate in 2-3 week exchange programs in the host countries. Additionally, the program brings approximately 80 international teachers and principals for 2-3 week programs to be hosted by schools across the U.S. Applications for principals to participate in programs in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Jordan, or Uruguay, due March 12, 2010, can be accessed at www.americancouncils.org/es. For more information, contact Tim Hair (thair@americancouncils.org), or Julia Homstad (jhomstad@americancouncils.org).
I appreciate your assistance distributing these announcements, and I am happy to answer any questions you have about these programs.
Thank you in advance for your collaboration!
Respectfully,
Ben
Ben Dunbar Program Manager,
Teacher Programs American Councils for International Education
CoTESOL Spring Conference 2010
Click on this link to see the CoTESOL Spring Conference flyer.
For more information, visit the CoTESOL website at
www.colorado.edu/iec/cotesol
Space is limited; 1 UCCS graduate credit is available.
