September 25, 2001

Contact: Marvin Hunt, KU Continuing Education, 785-864-7857.

Kansas English teachers to convene for composition, literature conference at KU

LAWRENCE Ð Kansas high school and college-level teachers of English will gather in Lawrence Monday, Oct. 8 for the 49th Annual Conference on Composition and Literature.

Interested persons may register via the Web at http://www.kuce.org/app/ccl.

The conference theme, "Teaching Traditions in a Time of Transition," reflects the changing face of English instruction. As teachers attempt to maintain the rigor of what they do, many questions emerge regarding the field as a whole: what is taught and how, who is teaching, who is learning, and for what purposes. The conference will address challenges in educational systems that are created by transitions among students, teachers, and instructional policies.

The featured speakers are Amanda L. Golbeck, director of academic affairs with the Kansas Board of Regents, and David Anthony Durham, author of "Gabriel's Story," a novel about a 15-year-old African-American boy who moves with his family to central Kansas in the 1870s.

The conference will include panel discussions and workshops on topics including a literary genre approach to the teaching of writing, intra-nationalizing the high school canon, teaching in real and virtual time, teaching and testing students about plagiarism, and the Douglas County Jail community education program.

The conference, which will occur in the Kansas Union, is sponsored by the University of Kansas Department of English, Office of the Provost, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Continuing Education.