Middle Level Section 2019 Election Results
The Middle Level Section Steering Committee (MLSSC) members are elected each year to a four-year term. The Chair is elected from within the MLSSC to a two-year term and serves on the NCTE Executive Committee representing the interests of the middle level membership.
The Nominating Committee prepares a slate of candidates for vacancies that occur annually on the Middle Level Section Steering Committee and selects candidates for the succeeding year’s Middle Level Section Nominating Committee. The candidate who receives the largest number of votes in the election will chair the committee.
Learn more through the MLSSC Annual Report and MLSSC Member Activities Responsibilities.
Thanks to the 2019 Middle Level Section Nominating Committee: Alex Corbitt, The Bronx School of Young Leaders, New York, chair; Lakisha Odlum, School of the Future, New York, New York; and Shelly Shaffer, Eastern Washington University, Cheney.
Middle Level Section Steering Committee
(term to expire November 2023)
Section Committee members elect a chair who represents section concerns on the NCTE Executive Committee. Through correspondence and meetings once or twice a year, the members identify and explore issues of section concerns. Often the Section Committee will suggest new programs or revisions to present Council programs that may benefit section members. The Committee helps plan section conferences and portions of the NCTE Annual Convention that will be of interest to section members.
University of Alabama at Birmingham, professor, English education
Formerly: Middle school English teacher; teacher-in residence; Middle Level Representative-at-Large; member of the NCTE Editorial Board; Research Foundation Trustee; NCTE Executive Committee; NCTE Black Caucus
Membership(s): NCTE, NCTEAR; Red Mountain Writing Project; LRA; AERA; NBPTS Award(s): NCTE Outstanding Middle Level Educator Award; Alabama Teacher of the Year; National Teacher of the Year finalist
Publication(s): Voices from the Middle, English Journal, English Education, Theory into Practice; NCTE book Supporting Students in the Time of Common Core: Grades 6–8
Program Contribution(s): NCTE, AERA, LRA
Position Statement: As NCTE continues to provide literacy leadership, we must grow continuously, gaining a better understanding about how to instruct all students and creating a diverse society of productive citizens who are knowledgeable, caring, inclusive, and responsive to their communities. Literacy educators can provide opportunities for young adolescents to impact the world, designing purposeful and connected practices that are transformative. NCTE can continue to lead the way for inclusive, transformative teaching and learning.
8th-grade English language arts teacher, southwest Detroit; English language arts content lead; reviewer, Voices from the Middle
Formerly: 6th-grade English language arts teacher, Springfield, MA; Michigan Teacher Leadership Advisory Council; founding president, Central Michigan University student affiliate
Membership(s): NCTE
Award(s): Positive Impact Award, Detroit Cristo Rey High School; Inaugural Linda Rief Award (Voices from the Middle award); Outstanding Student Service: Heart and Soul Award, Michigan Campus Compact
Publication(s): Articles/essays in Voices from the Middle, Teaching Tolerance, Education Week Teacher, NCTE blog; forthcoming book chapter in the NCTE Principles in Practice series
Program Contribution(s): NCTE, MCTE, NEATE
Position Statement: I absolutely love teaching middle school! Young people have astounding capacities and perspectives; however, too often, students are silenced or dismissed, especially students of color and students from low‑income or working‑class families. As an educator and organizer, I am committed to collaborating with other educators, students, and parents to dismantle those systems that silence our students and to reimagine schools as a spaces of joy, healing, and justice.
Middle Level Section Nominating Committee
(term to expire August 2020)
Members of the Section Nominating Committee choose candidates for the Section Committee and the Section Nominating Committee for the following year. The person receiving the most votes serves as chair.
Middle level English teacher, Poland Middle School, OH; department chair and lead teacher; National Writing Project consultant
Formerly: Gifted Intervention Specialist (6 years)
Membership(s): NCTE, OCTELA
Award(s): Northeast Ohio Innovative Teacher of the Year, Ohio Master Teacher, Martha Holden Jennings Grant recipient
Publication(s): Ohio Journal of English Language Arts
Program Contribution(s): NCTE, OMLA, OCTELA
Position Statement: Each year I have the same goal no matter the students who walk through the doors: to charm my students into reading and writing. Too many see literacy as school work that is unrelated to their lives outside of school. I strive to allow the students to see not only the social nature of learning, but the value in becoming critical consumers of knowledge.
Assistant professor of education, Penn State University
Formerly: Middle school and high school English teacher (12 years); NCTE Middle Level Section Steering Committee member
Membership(s): NCTE, ELATE, ALAN, LRA, AERA, NWP, PCTELA
Award(s): NCTE Outstanding Middle Level Educator Award (2012); ALAN Smith-Carlsen Grant (2016); NBCT in early adolescence/English language arts (2010)
Publication(s): From Me to We: Using Narrative Nonfiction to Broaden Student Perspectives, author; Contending with Gun Violence in the English Language Classroom, contributor; articles in Voices from the Middle, The Clearinghouse, Kansas English, New Jersey English Journal, LAJM
Program Contribution(s): NCTE, ELATE, AERA, SXSW EDU, AETA, PCTELA
Position Statement: NCTE’s Middle Level section continues to promote exciting new avenues for educating middle level students and supporting their teachers. It would be an honor to help select diverse candidates from our talented membership for the middle level ballot who would support recent NCTE initiatives as well as point our section towards further innovation.
Staff developer, K–10; literacy consultant, K–10; author, West Hartford, CT
Formerly: Lead staff developer, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (2007–16)
Membership(s): NCTE
Publication(s): DIY Literacy: Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor and Independence; co-author, Thinking While Reading: The Beautiful Mess of Helping Adolescents Learn and Celebrate How Their Minds Work, featured in Voices from the Middle, December 2016; co-author, Two Units of Study in Argument, Information and Narrative Writing
Program Contribution(s): NCTE, ISTE, ILA
Position Statement: Raised in rural America and having taught in the heart of our country’s largest cities, I believe there is more that unites our middle school students than divides them. All middle school students, no matter their location, upbringing, or identity, need a dedicated and dynamic collective of teachers advocating for their stories. The NCTE Middle Level Section is one of those spaces for this important work to happen.
Questions or comments for the Steering Committee can be emailed to middle@ncte.org
Middle Level educators work with students at a unique moment in their development which means our approach to the teaching and learning of literacy is also unique within the field. Members of the Middle Level within NCTE will find that our resources and community provide meaningful opportunities to discuss classroom methods and philosophies with other innovative, nationally respected middle grade teachers. Join us to learn more about “Why Middle Matters” and to be part of the ongoing evolution of our profession!