Anna_Roseboro CATE President

CATE is for you. Sure, you know this. But do you know why? Pondering this idea and considering the implications of each word, I recognize that this simple sentence will present a complex challenge for me this first year as president of CATE. So, I invite each of you to help make this statement a reality for all of us. Think with me what it means.

CATE is for you. CATE is an association - a group of people joined together for a common purpose. Members will find that it is the working together that gives us the courage and inspiration to return to the classroom each fall convinced that this year we'll get it right. We will have spent the summer reading those journals, reviewing the Standards, exploring new texts, expanding our knowledge of book titles to recommend to our students. We'll be re-structuring our lesson plans to incorporate ideas we learned in a summer course or workshop, or from an informal conversation with a friend or a recommendation by a colleague. I've been challenged by Robert Sholes' article, "Does English Matter?" in which he reminds us that successful teachers present lessons that help students form intellectual tools they can use effectively. "In practice," he states, " this means a reorientation of courses around the work of students with a better balance between textual consumption and production." We hope that careful perusal of articles in this issue of CALIFORNIA ENGLISH will give you ideas for utilizing young adult literature in ways you've not considered before.

CATE is for you. This indicative verb states a fact. CATE exists for its members. We are dedicated to being the voice of and voice to the thousands of women and men who've committed their time and talent to teaching in the state with the most diverse population of youth - California. Noticing the tense of the verb is crucial. CATE is working - in the present - to maintain communication with the State Board of Education and with the California Department of Education through our liaison, Beth Breneman, and with our legislators through our legal analyst, Martha Zaragosa-Diaz. As members, you'll receive regular mailings of our COMMUNI-CATE that will update you on legal and political issues that impact your work with students and their families, with administrators and school boards. Our website, www.cateweb.org, provides links to NCTE, the National Council of Teachers of English, with its myriad leads to resources essential to teachers. You'll find lively discussions through the CATENet link. Equally vital are the local conferences, workshops, and celebrations that individual councils sponsor throughout the year. Each of these provides opportunities for English/language arts educators to keep in touch and up to date with ideas, policies, and practices that affect our profession.

CATE is for you. This preposition indicates the relationship between "you," its object, and CATE. Among various dictionary meanings for this word is in honor of. Annually, CATE honors educators for their service to their students and colleagues. Following a four-year rotation, members from each Council may name an elementary, middle, secondary, or college level teacher for the Classroom Excellence Award. And, if there is a person or organization in your community who makes outstanding contributions toward the improvement of teaching English/language arts, you may propose one of them for the CATE Award of Merit. Our most prestigious award honoring those who have given long-term service to the profession, locally, regionally, and nationally is the Distinguished Service Award. Applications for all three will be posted on our website, www.cateweb.org. We encourage you to nominate colleagues whom we will acknowledge and pay tribute at the annual CATE convention, to be held this year in Palm Springs.

CATE is for you. Whether you are a novice or veteran educator, currently working in the classroom or are long time retired, CATE is for you - the person interested enough in the teaching of English/language arts to be reading this journal. When you join and maintain your membership, your dues not only provide funds for publishing the journals and newsletters and sponsoring the annual convention, but also for making available monies which members may tap for various reasons. The CATE Memorial Scholarship Fund is one for members to solicit interest-free loans for activities and events that support English/language arts education. The Virginia Reed Scholarship makes it possible for a CATE member who is a beginning elementary school teacher to attend an annual CATE convention. And, the Marilyn Kahl Scholarship for high school journalism students and the CATE Professional Writing Award round out ways you may benefit as a member of this association. Your students at all levels are invited to submit the work to the CATE Creative Writing contest offered each year. Winning manuscripts are published in California English. So, you see, CATE is for you and your students.

As the school year begins, I encourage you to take seriously your membership in this organization and to maximize its services to help you become the kind of teacher who not only knows the literature and the language, but can present lessons that inspire and engage your students to read and to write, to speak and to listen, and to develop into the kind of persons you'll be proud to say you helped to educate. Plan now to go the convention in Palm Springs, where you may attend a broad array of workshops and hear outstanding keynote speakers chosen for their ability to articulate with flair and fluency the issues and ideas of most interest to language arts educators. Of equal significance will be the time spent between workshops and lectures. As you meet in informal settings and share an inspiring or frustrating account of a classroom incident, you'll find yourself revived intellectually, professionally, and personally and you'll return home with a spark that will ignite and keep you going for the remainder of the school year. In the meantime, bear in mind: CATE is for you.

Anna J. Roseboro