NCTE is forming five new cohorts of the This Story Matters Teacher Corps!
Each cohort will learn in collaboration with one another, a facilitator, and an NCTE staff member to create, review, and improve rationales that will expand NCTE’s one-of-a-kind book rationale database. These rationales provide invaluable resources to educators across the country.
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Applicants should be current educators in K–12 education, children’s literature scholars, writers, collaborators, and, most importantly, readers. Experience with rationale writing is valuable but not a requirement. Broad knowledge of state standards, literature, and writing is needed.
This round of the This Story Matters Teacher Corps will begin April 1, 2024, and is expected to conclude August 15, 2024.Due to the demands of the fall and back-to-school, these Corps will have an accelerated timeline and take advantage of the summer months for dedicated work time.
Corps members will:
- Write eight new rationales and review additional rationales
- Attend monthly virtual meetings with fellow members
- Read or re-read titles under consideration
- Recommend ways to increase database and rationale functionality
Apply by February 25, 2024, to be considered!
“Being part of the This Story Matters Teacher Corps is both empowering and invigorating. It has me thinking deeply about books that may be challenged, crafting solid defenses of critically important stories in the form of teaching points, ties to curriculum standards, and positive reviews. In this era of increasing book challenges, our rationales offer a lifeline to teachers who want to use these books in their classrooms. They also create a bulwark to protect authors and their books, ensuring access to readers who need these stories now more than ever.”
—Mary E. Cronin, current Teacher Corps member