GCTE 2023: Georgia Council of Teachers of English 2023 Annual Conference University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education Athens, GA, United States, February 2-4, 2023

GCTE Conference Vision: The GCTE Annual Conference will foster community among English Language Arts professionals from diverse backgrounds, career stages, and contexts, extending attendees rich opportunities to explore and improve practice.

Call for Proposals

Conference Proposal Advice Video

Submission Guidelines and Rubric

Call for Proposals:  In March of 2020, the Georgia lawmaker John Lewis urged us to “Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” We invite the English teachers of Georgia to join us for the 2023 conference in Athens, GA to have a conversation with colleagues about how to use language and literacy teaching to speak up and speak out with students. Recently, the censorship canon seems aimed at high school reading lists, and the natural discussion of social injustice that arises in the English classroom. As proponents of “good trouble,” we seek to bulwark the status of English teachers and our students against those obstacles. This is not a call for trouble for trouble’s sake, but in service of students and teachers. 

We invite session proposals for the 2023 GCTE Conference that address the theme of exploring good trouble through engaging with colleagues, students, parents, and other stakeholders, particularly through the contexts outlined above. Proposals might consider the practical implications of the questions below: 

• How can Georgia English teachers provide students the opportunities to constructively challenge the status quo through hope and optimism?
• How can English teachers use language and literacy instruction to help students to understand and purposefully affect their world?
• What conventional assumptions--about English language arts instruction in general and schooling writ large--have been called into question recently? What transformative practices might now have the space and attention to flourish? 
• What are the consequences of white-washing literacy practices, reading lists, and curriculum? How can English teachers push back constructively?
• How are English teachers positioned to be a force for constructive criticism in our schools and communities?
• What role do the principles of student-centered learning, choice, and culturally sustaining pedagogy play in language and literacy instruction?
• What does social justice and anti-racist teaching now look like in practice?

Session & Submission Categories

Panel Workshop

• Panel/Workshop - a 75-minute session featuring 2+ panelists addressing aspects of a topic, with at least 15 minutes for participant questions and responses --OR-- a 75-minute session featuring 1+ presenter(s) engaging participants as students in promising teaching practices.
  • Panel examples-- from a vertical literacy team; collaborating professors across institutions; student-teacher cohort, etc.
  • Workshop examples-- Exploring affinity spaces; writers workshop; interdisciplinary literacy development, etc.

Posters

• Posters - displayed throughout the conference with an embedded 60-minute gallery walk and presentation opportunity. 
  • Ex. action research; anatomy of a lesson; critical conversations in the field, etc.

"The Future is Now"

• “The Future is Now” (https://bit.ly/3w6pNg8) Roundtable - invitation for preservice and first-year teachers to share their experiences and practice with peers. “The Future Is Now: Exploring 21st-Century Teaching Ideas with the Next Generation of Georgia's English Teachers” is a roundtable session offered at the GCTE Annual Convention that provides undergraduate and master’s level students with an opportunity to present their innovative teaching ideas and research-driven pedagogical practices in a supportive, low-stress environment while allowing them to explore the visions of their peers from across the state. Students find their way to the “Future Is Now” session with the support of dedicated English teacher educators who encourage and prepare them to present their scholarship for a state-wide audience.

Venue

The conference will be held in Athens, GA from February 2-4, 2023 at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education and Hotel.

Registration 

All presenters are required to register with the conference. You can find information about registration here.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Nick Thompson and/or Kyle Jones (Kyle.Jones@gcpsk12.org).