How could you and your students use financial support to address a conflict that matters to young people? BLTN is once again offering up to $3,500* for collaborative projects designed to transform conflict and support BLTN partnerships and exchanges. 

See the Call for Proposals. Due date is March 4 for projects to be completed by December 31, 2024. (*Higher funding is available for those collaborating with Beyond the Page.) 

Congratulations to Venecia Proctor, Marianela Rivera, and Susan Miera (MA '97), who successfully applied for Goswami Action funds to catalyze BLTN-related work. Venecia's grant will provide space and snacks for a spring reading among her creative writing students. Marianela will facilitate collaboration between Shaleisa Brewer's (MA '22) students in Atlanta, and the Humanities Amped organization in New Orleans. Susan Miera will support Santa Fe Indian School students and teachers to collaboratively plan the spring writing events for "Harvesting Healthy Communities: Write Makes Might." (See below for information on the February event.)

We ask current BLTN fellows to reflect and report on their teaching and collaboration at mid-year (by February 15). Fellows, please find the report form and instructions here. Be in touch on BreadWeb or via email with any questions, please. 

All BLTN educators are welcome to attend our March meeting at 7 pm Eastern, Thursday, March 7. Dr. Marianela Rivera, currently a Special Education Physical Therapist at the Learning First Public School in Lowell, MA, as well as a Pathway Coach for University of Massachusetts Lowell, will be our featured speaker. Marianela will draw from her work with Homeplace Collective to give a presentation and discussion titled “Activism for Educational Justice: Adult Co-Conspiratorship and Mapping Out Our Roles as Educators for Social Change.” Register now for your Zoom link. 

You are welcome to join us for the fourth annual NextGen Youth Advisory Board-hosted writing conference on Saturday March 9, from 10 am to noon Eastern. This year the Board chose to recognize the immense human suffering in the Israeli-Palestinian war, and to offer writing together as a gesture of peace. The morning will begin with a guest appearance from poet Naomi Shihab Nye, and be followed by writing and sharing opportunities for all participants. You and your students (middle school or older, please) are welcome to register at http://bit.ly/peacewrite . The Board will be planning a second event featuring a guest writer of Israeli descent, later this spring. Stay tuned! 

Congratulations to Dr. Kayla Hostetler (left), who has recently earned distinction as Aiken High School Teacher of the Year, a "Golden Apple Award", and who is one of ten South Carolina teachers to be selected for the Spring 2024 STAR Teacher Seminar Cohort. Cory Wozniak (center) recently published an essay in The Revealer , New York University's online magazine about religion in culture and media. Jessie Yanes was named Derby High School and Derby Public Schools Teacher of the Year in Derby, Connecticut.

(Please send us information if you have announcements or would like to make sure we note the accomplishments of a BLTN colleague!)

The staff at Santa Fe Indian School, one of BLTN NextGen's Hub Sites, would love your presence at the next student-run writing and sharing session, Monday, February 26 from 4:00-5:30 pm Mountain time. Youth are welcome and encouraged. Sessions this year are under the theme "Harvesting Healthy Communities: Might Makes Right." Each event is a chance to learn about Pueblo culture and to reflect and write in a supportive community. Contact Susan Miera if you're interested in attending. 

Why publish in the BLTN Journal ? Write with your students. Use the composing process to reflect on your practice. Help shape the teaching narrative: Colleagues and policy makers need to hear your stories. (And it never hurts to have publications on your résumé.) Please read the 2024 Call for BLTN Journal Submissions and contact Tom McKenna, Journal Editor, with any questions, or to discuss ideas for submissions. Tom is eager for these conversations, especially as current fellows compose their mid-year reports.

Here's your reminder that Summer 2024 program dates and fees are posted, as are special funding opportunities, including fellowships and scholarships. See the Summer 2024 course offerings .  Please note we are once again offering some options for online study.

We encourage students to submit their re-enrollment form asap for the best campus selection and access to financial aid and special funding. Financial aid applications are available, with aid awarded in two rounds to admitted students: one February 16 and one in April. 

We hope that you will join us this summer. Share with colleagues! 

Once again, BLTN was well-represented at SCCTE's annual conference, in early February. Dr. Kayla Hostetler, SCCTE's 2024 President, organized the conference and presented "Engaging Minds and Hearts in Secondary ELA". Ashlynn Wittchow (MA '18) staffed the BLSE booth, and presented "Consuming & Creating: Disrupting Literary Analysis." Patrick Martin (MA '12) presented, "Mosaic PBL," on a year-long project-based research project for secondary English classes, and was the featured speaker for "The Safe Schools Project: Fostering Inclusive and Secure Learning Environments."

Wittchow (left), Hostetler (center) and Martin at SCCTE in Kiawah, SC.

The Bread Loaf School of English is once again offering Otway Fellowships for 2024, a special funding opportunity for teachers from South Carolina as well as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. See the BLSE special funding page. 

Thanks to a tip from Bread Loaf and University of Arkansas faculty member Dr. Eric Darnall Pritchard, we share this link to an exciting opportunity for teachers and students with the Massachusetts Historical Society. It appears that the research using the society's archives could take place on site or virtually. 

Please notify us of accomplishments you’d like to share in the monthly newsletter. 

Follow BLTN on Social Media

Follow BLTN NextGen on Social Media