WVELA 2020: West Virginia English/Language Arts Teacher Conference

The 2020 WVELA Annual Conference has been canceled due to WVU closure in response to Covid 19 pandemic

The 2020 WVELA Annual Conference will be held April 17-18, 2020 in Morgantown, WV

This annual conference, co-sponsored by WV Council of Teachers of English (WVCTE), the National Writing Project at WVU (NWP@WVU), WVU’s student chapter of NCTE (NCTE’eers), and the West Virginia Humanities Council (WVHC) is an opportunity for English and language arts teachers from around West Virginia and the region to share and learn insights and practices from their classrooms, and to learn from nationally recognized teachers and writers. Our conference is a celebration of powerful literacy teaching.

Conference Theme

Voice, Identity, Community: Responsive Teaching In and Out of Schools

Registration

• In-State One Day: $40
• In-State Two Days: $60
• Out-of-State One Day: $60
• Out-of-State Two Days: $80
• Saturday Awards Luncheon: $30
• Student ticket: $10

Register & Pay Online 

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Call for Proposals

English and language arts teachers K-16 are welcome to propose a 55-minute workshop presentation highlighting a powerful strategy to support students' learning. The proposals will be accepted from December 18, 2019 until January 15, 2020. Notifications about presentations will be sent out in February 2020. All presenters are required to pay registration fees for the convention. WVELA does not reimburse presenters for travel or hotel expenses.

Submit a proposal

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Keynote Speakers

• Silas House

  House is a nationally bestselling author of six novels--Clay's Quilt, 2001; A Parchment of Leaves, 2003; The Coal Tattoo, 2005; Eli the Good, 2009; and Same Sun Here (co-authored with Neela Vaswani) 2012, and Southernmost (June 2018)--as well as a book of creative nonfiction--Something's Rising, co-authored with Jason Howard, 2009; and three plays: The Hurting Part (2005), This Is My Heart for You (2012), and In These Fields, with Sam Gleaves, 2016.

• Dr. Peggy O'Brien, Folger Shakespeare Library Education Director

  Dr. O'Brien's long and distinguished career has brought her numerous awards and honors, including Doctor of Laws honoris causa from Trinity University, Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Georgetown University, the Public Humanities Award from the D.C. Community Humanities Council, and the Folger Shakespeare Library’s 2008 Shakespeare Steward Award. Prior to her first appointment at the Folger, she spent a number of years teaching high school English in the DC Public Schools, and since then has taught undergraduate courses at Georgetown University.

• Corinne Viglietta, Folger Education Assistant Director

• Dr. Jocelyn Chadwick, NCTE Past President and Harvard Education lecturer

  "At heart, I am a high school English (ELA) teacher because I learned so much about my craft, pedagogy, and about the depth of my passion for teaching during my ten years in the classroom in Irving, TX. From there, I experienced a brief time at a community college while completing my doctorate in English and Rhetoric, completing my doctoral residency at the University of London through Texas Woman’s University. And although I have spent the bulk of my career at university (University of North Texas and Harvard Graduate School of Education), I spend a great deal of my consulting and research time in high schools around the country–working with students, teachers, administrators."

• Liz Prather, Teacher and author

  Prather is a writing teacher at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, a magnet arts program at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky. A classroom teacher with 21years of experience teaching writing at both the secondary and post-secondary level, Liz is also a professional freelance writer and holds a MFA from the University of Texas-Austin.Liz is the author of Project-Based Writing: Teaching Writers to Manage Time and Clarify Purpose, and Story Matters: Teaching Teens to Use the Tools of Narrative to Argue and Inform.

• Amy M. Alvarez, Teacher and poet

  Alvarez's research interests include: Affrilachian Poetics, Hip Hop and Gender, and Contemporary Black and Latinx Poetry in North America and the Caribbean. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Sugar House Review, Rattle, Black Renaissance Noire, The Wide Shore, The New Guard Review, and elsewhere. Her poem “Alternative Classroom Senryu” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Amy holds an MFA in Poetry from the Stonecoast Program at the University of Southern Maine. She is a native of Queens, NY.

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Conference Details

Food 

Friday lunch is on your own. Fast food options are available in the Mountainlair. On Saturday, you can buy a ticket to the awards luncheon for $20 or have lunch on your own. The Mountainlair has fast food options available, and it is within walking distance of downtown Morgantown.

Parking

Parking is available in the Mountainlair parking garage. On Friday, WVU classes are in session and parking spaces in the garage may be limited, so plan to arrive early. Credit or debit card is accepted in the Mountainlair parking garage, and on Saturday garage parking is free.

Morgantown Parking Authority offers additional garages and lots. We encourage you to explore and take advantage of this awesome college town!