If you haven’t yet done so, it’s time to re-enroll in BLSE!  Summer 2026 re-enrollment forms are now available on your portal, and dates and fees are posted on the website. See the Special Funding page for fellowships and scholarships. California teachers may be interested in the Global Change Fellowships for California Teachers, especially since this looks to be the final summer of our Monterey campus. The full list of 2026 courses and faculty is now live on the website. 

Note that special funding requires applying to Middlebury College's financial aid first. Financial aid and special funding applications are awarded in two rounds, mid-February and mid-April, then rolling, on a first-come, first-served basis. Please review aid and special funding application deadlines here.

The Call for Proposals for the 2026 NCTE Annual Convention focuses on innovative practices in English language arts education. The #NCTE26 theme of “Imagine. Innovate. Inspire.” encourages discussions on how to enhance ELA teaching and learning through creativity and imagination. Submissions are due January 27, 2026. Let us know if you send in a proposal, please!

In last January's newsletter, as we approached Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we shared a resource from Smithsonian Magazine, in which "Smithsonian educators share approaches to expand classroom lessons and student understanding of this great civil rights leader." This January, we drill into that collection to share what may be a timely resource on protest and dialogue in democracy. 

In "Where Do You Stand? Protest," The Smithsonian Learning Lab presents a movement and reflection activity to flesh out differing responses to scenarios potentially calling for protest. Students move to different spaces in a physical spectrum in response to prompts relating to issues they identify as important. 

The "Connections to Democracy" reflection questions seem particularly valuable.

We ask current BLTN fellows to submit their mid-year reports by February 15, 2026. These reports help us to make connections across the meeting, plan content, and share your learning and work with fellowship donors. The BLTN Mid-Year Report form may be found here. 

Have you received a Change Action Grant, or a BLTN Fellowship that asks you to share the work you've planned with students? BLTN editors Tom McKenna and Kurt Ostrow are ready to help you find creative and succinct ways to share your work in the BLTN Journal. While we're especially eager to help develop pieces collaboratively authored by students and teachers, we'd also love to work with you to share work in other formats (teacher-authored pieces, annotated slides, video work, etc.).

Please reach out to us (Kurt and/or Tom) with your ideas, however tentative or well-developed. As we approach mid-year report deadlines, we'd love to help you craft something that shares your students' work with a wide audience. 

Bread Loaf offers Bridge Scholarships for Winter Institute participants to attend a BLSE summer session. Read more. 

There's still time to register! One weekend. 13-15 hours of professional development.

Join us in Vermont this February for the Bread Loaf Winter Institute, a weekend teacher professional development workshop that will empower you to deepen your teaching practice with innovative, relevant workshops and activities.

Teachers will come to our mountain campus in Ripton, Vermont from February 27 - March 1, 2026 and earn 13-15 professional development hours though workshops and creative exercises led by renowned Bread Loaf faculty and focused on this year’s theme: Expanding the English Classroom.

Workshop focuses for 2026 include...

When the session concludes, you can choose to cross-country or downhill ski at Middlebury’s Rikert Nordic Center or Snowbowl at a discounted rate. Participants can stay on campus in our historic Inn or commute to Ripton.

Discover more on our Winter Institute website or reach out to us at blse@middlebury.edu with your questions.

We hope you will join us!

National Geographic announced a contest for 13‑ to 18‑year‑olds who submit a one‑minute video outlining an innovative solution to a local environmental issue, with $10,000 in funding on the line to help bring their idea to life. Deadline is February 6.

Please notify us of accomplishments you’d like to share in the monthly newsletter. Contact Tom McKenna if you’re interested in publishing in the annual BLTN Journal.

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