Each year, on October 20^th, the National Council of English Teachers (NCTE) celebrates the National Day on Writing. This Sunday’s event marks fifteen years of sharing assignments, prompts, and other educational materials across institutions and writing communities to foster student engagement with critical writing skills. This week, and into the next, the NCTE is sharing resources for instructors to implement into their own classrooms and join in the celebration—reflexive writing assignments, themed discussion ideas, interviews with writers, and much more.

A toolkit specifically created for the National Day on Writing celebration is available to download for free on the NCTE’s website, and provides educators with ideas to place a concentrated focus on writing, writing’s critical importance to literacy, and engage with the overall mission of the National Day on Writing—that this relationship between writing and literacy deserves more attention.

While the National Day on Writing happens annually on October 20^th, the NCTE works year-round to provide teachers with classroom resources and overall increase access to an educational community centered on writing. The NCTE spans K-12, but also has a specific space on their site dedicated to college writing. Membership to the NCTE is not required to utilize a great deal of their curriculum materials—instructors can access blog posts and community channels focused on sharing current pedagogical concerns and interests pertaining to the FYC classroom. Instructors can also search through NCTE teaching groups to find communities that are tailored to personal educational needs, interests, and research (CCCC, Literacies and Languages for All, English Language Arts Teachers Educators, etc.). The NCTE publishes College English, “the professional journal for the college scholar-teacher.” College English is a pedagogical opportunity, providing instructors with contemporary best-practice conversations regarding rhetoric-composition, literature, reading theory, and other learning sites. It is also a professional opportunity, a place for instructors to share their research and critical engagement with their teaching philosophies. Non-members of NCTE have access to a job posting site, which updates regularly to reflect openings for university positions, as well as other employment opportunities pertaining to literacy and writing. Finding both pedagogical and professional communities as an instructor is important, and the NCTE offers both—visit their organization’s website to access exciting educational materials to implement into your own scholarly and teacherly practices.