NCTE-NEHS Award

for English Language Arts Innovation

The NCTE-NEHS Award for English Language Arts Innovation provides opportunities for dedicated teachers to be rewarded for the innovations they are making in high school English Language Arts education around the world. The award will generate a bank of high-quality innovative lesson plans and teacher resources, which can be accessed freely by all members of the NEHS and NCTE communities with the aim of improving the quality of lesson planning and lesson execution within high school English Language Arts classrooms.

Awards

1 x First place: $500; 2 x Second place: $350; 2 x Third place: $250; 3 x Honorable mention: $100.

Eligibility

 

  1. Applicants must be current NEHS Chapter Advisors at school in good standing with NEHS.
  2. Applicants must be current NCTE members.

Application Dates

  • First round (AwardSpring Winter Period): December 11, 2023 – January 8, 2024
  • Second round (AwardSpring Spring Period): April 15 – April 29, 2024

Submission Requirements

  1. Applicants are invited to submit lesson plans or classroom resources they have created that relate to any aspect of grade 9-12 high school English Language Arts teaching, including diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is understood any lesson published on ReadWriteThink will be peer reviewed.
  2. The lesson plans or resources must cover one topic in its entirety.
  3. Submitted materials must be in a format ready to be used by other teachers who might not have a strong background in the topic covered and should include a concise outline of the grade 9-12 English Language Arts standards being met by the materials.
  4. All resources necessary for the lesson plans or resources to be used should be linked or included.
  5. If any other readings or materials are needed to implement the lesson plan or resources (which are not freely available or otherwise linked), they must be submitted along with the lesson plans or resources.
  6. The name of the applicant should be present on each lesson plan (you can also include your email address if you want, but this is not required).
  7. All submitted lesson plans and resources must be the original creation of the applicant and have not been previously published.

Submission Process

  1. All submissions must be made via the NEHS AwardSpring platform during the winter or spring period.
  2. Applicants must complete demographic data questions prior to submitting their documentation.
  3. All submissions must include an Advisor biography and photo.Applicants must upload a PDF format file including the following information:  
  4. Applicants must agree that, should they win an award, they are willing to provide a written report and photos detailing the impact the grant has had on their organization and their local community, which can be used by NEHS to promote this and other awards in future years.

Evaluation Process

  1. All submissions will be evaluated by at least two volunteer NEHS evaluators.
  2. All submissions will be evaluated against a rubric containing (but not limited to) the following categories:
    • Breadth and depth of objectives covered
    • Quality of instructions provided
    • Innovative use of technology included
    • Quality and variety of differentiated activities included
    • Quality and variety of assessments included
    • Quality and variety of reading and/or writing activities included
    • Level of innovation included

 

Scholarships/Awards