English professor to present at conference

Kim Van Es, lecturer in English at Northwestern College, will give a presentation at the annual Iowa Council of Teachers of English conference in Johnston, Iowa, on Oct. 9.

Van Es’ session, “The Zebra Mussels of Grammar,” focuses on the grammatical errors that students bring from high school into their college writing assignments.

“My presentation will be a crash course on the invasive grammar issues commonly seen in college essays,” says Van Es. “I advocate the use of a mini-lesson approach to highlight editing issues during the writing process.”

The Iowa Council of Teachers of English is a volunteer organization that facilitates deep connections and professional learning for English and language arts teachers. The 2014 conference will feature keynote speakers Sara Kajder and Aimee Buckner, published authors and English teachers who will present within the theme of “Wild and Whirling Words, Literacy and the Iowa Core.” Four Northwestern English teaching majors will accompany Van Es to the conference.

A member of Northwestern’s faculty since 2002, Van Es received the college’s first Faculty Inspirational Service Award in 2013. The coordinator of Northwestern’s English teaching major, she has taught English at the high school and college level for 20 years and has served as a copy editor for the Write Source Company. A graduate of Dordt College, Van Es earned a master’s degree from the University of Iowa.