Bridging Reading and Writing: Balancing the Core

TCTE PD Institute
September 26-27, 2014
Bridges USA in Memphis, TN

Opening Keynot e: Dru Toml i n
"Wri te Your Li teracy Success St ory"
As the Director of Middle Level Services for the
Association of Middle Level Education, Dru Tomlin
has a commitment to educational improvement
and a passion for teaching, learning, and middle
school. In 1994, Dru began his 18 year career in
education as an English teacher at Harrisonburg
High School in Virginia and then, in 1998, he
discovered the joys of middle school in Georgia as
a language arts, reading, and social studies teacher
and then as a school administrator. He has also
been a school system staff development trainer and
a faculty member for AMLE's Leadership Institute,
believing firmly in the power of professional
learning. For his work, Dru has been recognized
as a school system Teacher of the Year and as
Georgia's Middle School Assistant Principal of the
Year.


Workshop sessions covering writing,
reading/literature, technology integration,
informational literacy, common core integration,
and engaging reluctant/struggling readers will be
offered by classroom E-LA teachers, university
faculty, and others who have vested interests in the
teaching of English.

Exhibitors will be on hand to share ideas and to
offer inspiration. Each exhibitor will showcase the
latest products available and will highlight
resources favored by teachers.

Cl osi ng Keynote: Barry Gil more
Barry Gilmore taught English and social studies for nearly twenty years before becoming a middle school
principal at Hutchison School. He is the author of seven books for English teachers, including Common Core
CPR (Corwin, 2013). A national board certified teacher, Gilmore is past-president of TCTE and currently
serves on NCTE's anti-censorship committee. His teaching awards include being named as TCTE's Don Jenkins
winner, NCTE's High School Teacher of Excellence, the Tennessee Holocaust Commission's Teacher of the Year,
and an American Star of Teaching by the U.S. Department of Education.
Luncheon Keynot e: Kwame Al exander
Kwame Alexander is a two-time NAACP Image
Award Nominee and author of 17 books,
including the middle grade novel, The Crossover,
Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band, a picture
book, about a Rooster that starts a jazz band with
Duck Ellington, which has been optioned for a TV
show, and the YA/teen novel He Said/She Said, a
Junior Library Guild Selection. Hes also a poet,
publisher, literary editor, playwright, producer,
speaker, performer, teacher, and book festival
founder. He believes that poetry and literature can
change the world, and he uses it to inspire and
empower young people. Hes the poet-laureate of
LitWorld, and, through his Book-in-a-Day literacy
program, he has created more than 3,000 student
authors of 64 anthologies of poetry and fiction. A
regular speaker and workshop presenter at
conferences in the U.S., he also travels the world
planting seeds of literary love (Brazil, Italy, France,
Turkey, Canada, and Ghana are recent stops).
Recently, Alexander led delegation of 20 writers
and activists to Ghana, where they delivered
books, built a library, and provided literacy
professional development to 300 teachers, as part
of LEAP for Ghana, a literacy program he co-
founded.