These readings and resources are selected to stimulate class discussion and to further our understanding of course topics. My selection of a link is not necessarily an endorsement of the author's work.

Teachers as Writers

Teachers Writing for Publication (Reid)
Being a [Teacher-]Writer (NWP)

Grammar Craft Aids

Combining sentences through subordination
Subordinating conjunctions

Annotated Bibliographies

UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center, "Annotated Bibliographies"
NCTE Inbox, "Teaching with Graphic Novels"

Mentor Texts for Genre Study and "They Say, I Say" Moves

George Ella Lyons, "Where I'm From"
Template, "Where Are You From?"
Dordt library links for genre study
Teacher cover letters
Becca Schelhaas, "The Power of the Story Retold" [Becca's professional submission for ENG 306, 2008]
Waldman, "Can Democrats Reduce Abortion More Than Republicans???"

Web Portfolio Design Aids

• Sample portfolios: http://kairosnews.org/sample-student-websites
• Colors: Color Scheme Designer helps you choose colors for your sites.
• Fonts: dafont.com offers freely downloadable fonts; check individual fonts for restrictions.
• Photos: Flickr: Creative Commons links to photos availble for use under alternatives to full copyright.
• Photo editing: Picnik is free and requires no downloads.
• Image manipulation: GIMP is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring; it enables everything from paint to photo editing to animation.
• Licensing: Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."
• Copyright & Fair Use: Consult Stanford Copyright & Fair Use for information about how you may use others' work.
  

Professional Conversations & Resources for Writing Teachers

Journals

• Language Arts is NCTE's professional journal for elementary and middle school teachers and teacher educators. It provides a forum for discussions on all aspects of language arts learning and teaching, primarily as they relate to children in pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade. Issues discuss both theory and classroom practice, highlight current research, and review children's and young adolescent literature, as well as classroom and professional materials of interest to language arts educators.
• Voices from the Middle, another NCTE journal, devotes each issue to one topic or concept related to literacy and learning at the middle school level. Each issue includes teachers' descriptions of authentic classroom practices, middle school students' reviews of adolescent literature, a technology column, and reviews of professional resources for teachers. Voices from the Middle also explores the connections between the theory and practice of each issue's topic.
• English Journal is NCTE's journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. EJ presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language. Each issue examines the relationship of theory and research to classroom practice and reviews current materials of interest to English teachers, including books and electronic media.
• Other journals for teachers available through the Dordt library

Databases

• ReadWriteThink.org is a searchable database of language arts lessons that have sustained peer review and include discussion of relationships between theory and practice.

Books

• Certain publishers tend to focus on resources for language arts and literacy teachers. You may want to consider publications from Heinemann and Allyn & Bacon, as well as books from NCTE and Stenhouse.

Conferences
Conferences for teachers across the disciplines welcome presentations about writing in the classroom.

• ICTE (Iowa Council of Teachers of English) Annual Fall Conference (October 1-2, 2009)
• Heartland Christian Educators Convention at Dordt (October 1-2, 2009)
• Iowa Council for the Social Studies (October 12, 2009)
• IRA (International Reading Association) Plains Regional Conference (November 4-6, 2009)
• NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Annual Convention (November 19-22, 2009)
• Iowa Culture and Language Conference (February 9-10, 2010)
• Iowa Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference (February 19, 2010)
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (national and regional conference dates)
• National Science Teachers Association (national and regional conference dates)
• Iowa Reading Association
• WLU (Whole Language Umbrella) Literacies for All Summer Institute (July 8-11, 2010)

Grants

• NCTE overview of grants available to elementary and secondary teachers
• IRA grants
• DonorsChoose.org