Open The Box

74^th Anniversary Conference
Friday & Saturday, February 19 & 20, 2010
Marriott: Louisville Downtown

280 West Jefferson Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40202

Phone: 502.671.4266

Keynotes

As of Tuesday 9 February 2010 our scheduled featured speakers are

• NCTE Vice-President Yvonne Siu-Runyan, Professor emerita from the University of Northern Colorado.  Formerly, Siu-Runyan was a classroom teacher for grades K-12; a district reading specialist and language arts coordinator for Boulder Valley Public Schools; and participated in, as well as chaired, NCTE's Elementary Section Steering Committee.  Siu-Runyan believes that "Stories matter!" and that "Literacy should empower all its citizens—the young and the seasoned—to learn about the world around us, and question the status quo, uncover social inequalities and injustices, and take social action." Siu-Runyan has published articles in several literary magazines including Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Reading, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literature, and School Talk.  She has also written the "Forward: Notable books for the Global Society—the Beginnings" in Breaking Boundaries with Global Literature for IRA and "Asian and Pacific Island Literature," in Adventuring with Books, 13th edition for NCTE.
• Georgia Heard: Georgia is the author of numerous professional books on writing including her most recent A Place for Wonder: Reading and Writing Nonfiction in the Primary Grades, as well as The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work; Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School; Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way; For the Good of the Earth and Sun: Teaching Poetry; Climb Inside a Poem: Reading and Writing Poetry Across the School Year (coauthored with Lester Laminack); and Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School, which was cited by Instructor magazine as "One of the Twelve Books Every Teacher Should Read." She is also the author of several books for children including Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems; Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky; Songs of Myself: An Anthology of Poems and Art; and This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort.
• Thomas Foster: The author of the wildly popular How to Read Literature Like a Professor and the follow-up How to Read Novels Like a Professor, Tom has been teaching literature and writing since 1975, the last twenty-one years at the University of Michigan-Flint. In that time, he claims that he has learned more about literature from his students than in all the classes he ever took. "[It is] Amazing what questions, explanations, and the odd-doubting look can accomplish."
• George Watsky: Only 23 years young, George Watsky is a writer and performer who believes in the equal power of the tear and the belly laugh. Watsky aims to cross-pollinate the stage, screen, and stereo with work that speaks to both the humor and frustrations of modern life. Watsky was featured on Season 6 of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO. He was the 2006 Youth Speaks Grand Slam Poetry Champion, 2006 Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam Champion, and performed in a record six consecutive Youth Speaks Grand Slam Finals. The last three of those audiences, all topping out at over 3,000, were the largest ever for poetry slams anywhere in the world. In 2009 Watsky was one of three poets who performed live on FOX at the NAACP Image Awards in honor of Russell Simmons' lifetime achievement award.
• Frederick Smock: Frederick Smock holds degrees from Georgetown College and the University of Louisville. He has received an Al Smith fellowship in poetry and won the 2002 Henry Leadingham Award for Poetry from the Frankfort Arts Foundation. He has also published a travel memoir, This Meadow of Time: A Provence Journal, with Sulgrave Press. Mr. Smock is currently poet-in-residence at Bellarmine University, in Louisville, where he teaches creative writing, literature, and art criticism; each summer, he teaches in Denmark with the KIIS Consortium. Mr. Smock currently serves on the advisory editorial boards of the Kentucky Writers Coalition, Paris Press, and The Louisville Review. He has published three books of poems with Larkspur Press, a letterpress publisher—Gardencourt, The Good Life, and Guest House. He also published a book of critical essays with Wind Publications, Poetry and Compassion—Essays on Art and Craft. The Iowa Review, Poetry, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The International Quarterly are among the many American journals to have published his poetry. Mr. Smock was the founding editor of The American Voice, the international literary journal published in Louisville for fifteen years—during that time he published many of the ground-breaking authors working throughout the Americas. In 1999, when he closed the journal, he published a retrospective collection, The American Voice Anthology of Poetry, with the University Press of Kentucky
• Neil Brewer: Neil Brewer spent the first twenty years of his teaching career in 5th and 6th grade classrooms, and has drawn from that journey with students on many occasions in various written forms. For his epic thematic adventure, The Travels of Harmon Bidwell, Neil received The Christa McAuliffe Fellowship, and Phi Delta Kappa International published Flying With Both Wings, which tells the story of how 104 year-old Harmon and the highly interactive curriculum of his travels were created. Neil also penned the story, and co- wrote the music for the book and stage performance Rusty and Dusty, a fun-loving romp of encouragement for young audiences. The author also enjoys playing a variety of instruments and has performed in two long-running stage productions of A Cotton Patch Gospel. Neil has also taken The 8 O'Clock Bell to the stage of The Derby Dinner Playhouse, to The Ogle Center for the Arts as a member of the Chase Bank Children's Series, and to Hayswood Theatre of Corydon, Indiana. A frequent keynote speaker/performer for special events and conferences across the country, Neil has written hundreds of poems related to personal experiences, and performs the very best of the 'school ones' in his current presentation.
• George Ella Lyon: Her poem "Where I'm From" has become, quite literally, world famous. Born and raised in the mountains of Kentucky, George Ella Lyon grew up with a love of poetry and music. She has published two collections of poems, along with Where I'm From, Where Poems Come From, a poetry primer; twenty-two picture books, five novels for young readers, an autobiography (A Wordful Child, in the Richard Owen "Meet-the Author" series), Choices (a book of stories for adult new readers), and With a Hammer for My Heart, a novel. She is the editor of A Kentucky Christmas, and co-editor, with Leatha Kendrick, of Crossing Troublesome: Twenty-Five Years of the Appalachian Writers Workshop. Her work is featured in the PBS series, The United States of Poetry.

The 74^th Anniversary Conference chair's contact address is

Brandon Abdon
Highlands High School
2400 Memorial Parkway
Ft. Thomas, KY 41075
859.815.2615
conference@kcte.org

Hotel Accommodations

You must reserve your room before 21 January 2010 and indicate that the room is for the KCTE/LA conference. The special conference room rate is $125.00 single (per night) $125.00 double, $135.00 triple, and $145.00 quad, plus tax. Call now and reserve using the name of KCTE/LA. or book online. Cancellations within 48 hours of planned check-in will be charged one night. The "Group Code" is tecteca. Visit the Marriott: Louisville Downtown web site.

Vendors email booths@kcte.org to inquire about exhibiting.

Email membership@kcte.org to inquire about registrations, invoices, payments, etc.

Email conference@kcte.org to inquire about sessions, proposals, speakers, or schedules.