Affiliate News - 02/22/2019 (Plain Text Version)
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MINNETESOL: STRENGTH IN COLLABORATION Catherine Clements, MinneTESOL, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
At Minnesota TESOL (MinneTESOL), our motto is “educate, advocate, elevate.” The year 2018 provided us with many opportunities to do this, online and in-person and outside the state. Statewide partnerships with the Minnesota Department of Education, boosted social, affiliate, and professional communication, and mentorship in Advocacy Statewide Partnership Helps Grow an Affiliate MinneTESOL has been growing steadily in recent years thanks to our collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) at this annual conference. Our first joint conference took place in 2014 when the former MinneTESOL fall conference and the MDE Bilingual and Migrant Education conference combined to become MELEd -- the Minnesota English Learner Education Conference. In November 2018, Minnesota TESOL (MinneTESOL) hosted our largest ever annual Minnesota English Learner Education (MELEd) Conference, with more than 1200 attendees over three days, 113 breakout sessions, and two keynote addresses and follow-up sessions from Bonny Norton and Ester de Jong.
Amy Hewett-Olatunde, pictured here with MinneTESOL Past President Sam Divitam, was presented with the Mary Diaz Advocacy Award at the 2018 MELEd Conference. The impetus for combining our conferences was to allow Minnesota ESL professionals one fall event to fulfill their professional development needs. Previously, attendees had to choose to use their limited funding and substitute days on either the MinneTESOL or MDE Bilingual/Migrant conference. By combining conferences (and conference resources), we can have a bigger, more comprehensive event. Now, MELEd includes one day of K-12 coordinator programming, and two days of breakout sessions, interest section and standing committee meetings, and keynote speakers. This conference merger has also allowed MinneTESOL to grow from less than 400 members in 2014 to more than 1000 members in 2018.
(MinneTESOL Past President Sam Ouk with “Mini TESOL” onesies and T-Shirts at the annual MELEd Conference. The membership grew mostly out of the inclusion of paraprofessionals, volunteers, and teachers in training groups from the greater Minnesota area outside of the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area. The increased revenue from the larger conference has allowed us to give back to the membership, too, in the form of the following: travel and first-time presenter grants to allow more people to attend the conference. sponsorship of the growing SLIFE spring conference, donations to local organizations, and increased mini-grants and funding for Interest Section and Standing Committee events.
Governor Mark Dayton proclaimed the week of Nov. 11-17, 2018 “Minnesota English Learner Education Conference Week” in recognition of the conference and our affiliate. This partnership has allowed amazing growth for our affiliate and positive benefits for our membership. We look forward to continuing this fruitful collaboration. Bigger and Better: the MinneTESOL Journal One key to staying in touch with our members is using a variety of communication media. We use Social Media, Letters from the President, and the MinneTESOL Journal to connect with membership. The Journal recently released its Fall 2018 issue on an updated website, which we redesigned for easier navigation and content delivery. The Journal is published in Spring and Fall and includes invited, peer-reviewed and editorial board-reviewed articles in both issues, giving authors flexibility to submit manuscripts for either editorial board or blind peer review for either issue.
International students pause for a photo between taking notes and sampling products from Heather Camp’s article “Enhancing International Students’ Language Learning through Venturing into the Community” in the 2018 MinneTESOL journal. The mission of the MinneTESOL Journal is to provide a meaningful benefit to members by sharing relevant, thought-provoking content linking theory and practice of interest to teachers, researchers, teacher educators, and the many others whose work touches the lives of English learners. Two Members Attend Advocacy Summit Each year MinneTESOL funds two members to attend the TESOL Advocacy Summit. As MinneTESOL Past President Sam Ouk says, “We feel that advocacy is very important and crucial in our work. It is important that we advocate for our students, our colleagues and the continued elevation of our field at every level. This is why our organization feels that it is extremely important to continue to support and participate in TESOL’s Advocacy and Policy Summit.” Each year, MinneTESOL sends a junior and senior member to attend the summit. The senior member mentors the junior member about how to make the most of the summit; the following year, the junior attendee becomes senior, and the mentoring process begins anew. For the writeup of the 2018 trip to the Summit, attended by Sam Ouk and Southwest Regional Officer Rachel Casey, see our website.
(From left) MinneTESOL Past President president Sam Ouk, Southwest Regional Officer Rachel Casey, and Legislative Staffer Margaret Callahan (Sen. Amy Klobuchar) visit Klobuchar’s office in Washington. All in all, 2018 was a productive, positive year of growth and strength for our affiliate. We look forward to continuing to find ways to “educate, edvocate, and elevate” English language learners and professionals in 2019 and beyond. Catherine Clements is a teaching specialist in the Minnesota English Language Program at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received her M.A. in ESL and Graduate Certificate in Online and Distance Learning at the University of Minnesota. She has taught ESL and CALL to undergraduate and graduate students for more than ten years. Clements has been active in MinneTESOL for more than ten years, acting first as a vice-president and since 2014 as executive assistant. |
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