The Georgia Council of Teachers of English (GCTE) is a non-profit professional organization whose aim is the improvement of the teaching and learning of English and language arts in Georgia's elementary, middle, secondary schools, and colleges and universities. GCTE is an advocate of theory and pedagogy based on sound and current research, teacher and student rights in the classroom, effective and innovative teaching of language arts and non-censorship of teaching materials. GCTE provides a variety of services to meet the diverse needs of its members, including annual conferences and workshops, professional development seminars, and council publications.

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GCTE Goals and Objectives

I. To increase the membership of the Council.

Objective 1:  To increase the number of members of the Council over the next five years.

Step A.  To maintain current members.

1. Establish a membership committee.
2. Continue to issue membership cards and renewal reminders with envelopes.
3. Continue to offer 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year memberships, institutional memberships for elementary school faculties, and discounted undergraduate student membership rates.

Cost:  $2000 total cost

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Membership Director, Membership Committee, Public Relations Chair

Step B.  To make Council membership more appealing to the needs of English/Language Arts teachers.

1. Form special focus group meetings in each county or system to survey members and potential members of how the Council can better serve them.
2. Membership recruiters in each county will receive a complimentary three-year membership to GCTE upon successful completion of their enrollment process.
3. Membership forms will ask for data concerning new members' school system, regional location, and ethnic background.
4. Investigate the possibility of awarding "Honor School" status to schools whose entire departments of English/Language Arts teachers are members of GCTE.
5. Investigate the possibility of fixing a set, annual date for membership fees to come due rather than having a quarterly system of membership renewal.

Cost:  $1000 total cost

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Membership Director, Membership Committee, Public Relations Chair

Step C.  To increase the college and university membership over the next five years.

1. Build student affiliates in Georgia colleges and universities that offer teacher education programs.
2. Continue to offer scholarships to members of GCTE student affiliates, student teachers, and future teachers of color.

Cost:  $2000 total cost

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  First Vice-President and Director of College Relations

Step D.  To increase the representation of new and retired teachers over the next five years.

1. Recognize new and retired teachers at the annual conference.
2. Include articles in the Council's publications regarding new and retired teachers.
3. Continue to award the Guy Ellis Scholarship and the Louise Capen Lifetime Achievement Award.
4. Support programs to encourage retired teachers to mentor new teachers.

Cost:  $1200 total cost

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Conference Director, Conference Chair, Teacher/School Awards Director, Secretary, Treasurer, Publications Editors

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II. To increase and recognize the diversity of the Council.

Objective 1:  Broaden the diversity of the Council over the next five years.

Step A.  To increase the diversity of the Council's leadership.

1. Continue to award the Future English Teachers of Color Award.
2. To promote diversity in the Council's leadership.
3. To develop and implement a recruitment plan for under-represented groups, specifically, teachers of color, international students, retired teachers, new teachers, rural teachers, minority teachers, and elementary school teachers.
4. To collaborate with other groups of similar purpose, such as the Georgia Writing Project and Georgia Reading Association in order to draw in a more diverse membership.

Cost:  $1000 total cost

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Diversity Directors, Diversity Committee, Writing Project Liaison, President

Step B.  To achieve greater diversification of the Council's conference programs and to increase multicultural programs.

1. Continue to offer scholarships for teacher education for under represented groups.

Cost:  $1000 total cost

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Diversity Directors, Conference Director, Conference Chair

Step C.  To rebuild the Diversity Committee to determine how GCTE can better serve the needs of minority teachers and students.

1. Establish a task force to determine the needs of minority teachers and students.
2. Investigate the possibility of incorporating more ESOL focus in programs of the Council.

Cost:  $2000 total cost

Time frame:  2004-2009

Responsible persons:  Diversity Director, Diversity Committee, Second Vice-President

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III. To expand the professional services of the Council.

Objective 1:  To offer periodic workshops and seminars to address current topics of interest or meet the needs of all English/Language Arts teachers.

Step A.  Schedule professional development opportunities and thematic workshops for members.

1. Mini-workshops.
2. Roundtable discussions on specific topics at conferences.
3. Professional Development opportunities.
4. Investigate the feasibility of offering fall mini-workshops every two years.
5. Continue to offer Writing Project strands at annual conference.

Cost:  $2000 total cost

Time frame:  2004-2009

Responsible persons:  President, Conference Director, Conference Committee Chair, Writing Project Liaison

Objective 2:  To improve communication with the membership.

Step A.  Develop a communication network for membership.

1. To form county or system GCTE representative network.
2. Continue to maintain informative Council web site, journals, newsletter, and mailings.

Cost:  Cost of mailings, web site maintenance, organization of representatives network

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Membership Director, Membership Committee, Public Relations Chair, President, Publications Editors

Objective 3:  To continue to maintain links to current research on GCTE web site.

Cost: 

Time frame:  2004-2009

Responsible person:  Technology Director

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IV.  To promote best teaching practices based upon research.

Objective 1:  To establish a task force to deliberate on professional issues and recommend a position to the Board of Directors.

Step A:  Determine professional topics for deliberation.

1. Curriculum standards.
2. Themed strands for conferences.

Cost: 

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Department of Education Liaison, Conference Director, Conference Committee Chair

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V. To increase the efficiency of the operation of the Council.

Objective 1:  To update the 5-year Strategic Plan in a timely manner.

Step A:  Update policy handbook listing GCTE programs and procedures.

Step B:  To have the Executive Board review GCTE's Constitution, policies, and procedures as needed.

Cost:  $500

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  President, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, Past President, and Directors

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VI. To continue to expand the Council's use of technology.

Objective 1:  To maintain a high standard of excellence for the GCTE website.

Step A:  To use technology for communicating with GCTE membership.

1. Promote the listserv for GCTE members.
2. Organize specific conversation groups for special interests and have periodic special listserv chats on special topics such as End of Course Testing, the Writing Test, and ESOL.
3. Archive as many of the past issues of newsletters and journals as possible.
4. Establish the history of GCTE on the Council web site.

Cost: 

Time frame:  On-going

Responsible persons:  Technology Director, Historian, Publications Editors

Objective 2:  To assist English teachers in the use of technology.

Step A:  To offer educational opportunities for the use of technology in the English/language arts classroom.

1. Articles in the Council's publications (Scribbles 'N Bits, Connections).
2. Continue to offer technology strands at conferences.
3. Special interest technology group workshops.
4. Investigate inviting computer hardware and software exhibitors to the annual conference.

Cost:  To be determined

Time frame:  Yearly

Responsible persons:  Technology Director, Conference Director, Conference Committee Chair, Publication Editors

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