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Posts from the ‘NCTE’ Category

Nov 30

NCTE November: A Compilation of Experiences

Things You Learn as a First-Timer at NCTE 2019 by Courtney Knowlton

1. If you coincidentally find yourself in an elevator with Kelly Gallagher, don’t be afraid to tell him that Reading Reasons made you a better teacher.

2. Ideas and books will fly at you in every direction. Make a quick note of things, like ‘Read Woke,’ that you want to look into more later.

3. Stock up on the playful badge ribbons, such as “I’m a page turner” and “Word Nerd.” They will go fast!

4. Standing in line at George Takei’s book signing is more than worth it for the chance to listen to his husband’s quips and to experience George’s appreciation for teachers firsthand.

5. Make use of group texts to plan meals together. It is an ideal time to reflect and to hear stories about that time in New Orleans when a writing marathon included a carousel.

6. Download the NCTE conference app. You’re going to need your own “personal assistant” to keep all those times and room numbers straight. You do not want to miss Ralph Fletcher discussing visual literacies using a zoomed in puffin photo.

7. Listen to your mentor when she tells you to wear comfortable shoes. Don’t let blisters slow you down when you’re trying to get from that poster session regarding video grading to a translanguaging presentation several city blocks away within the convention center.

8. Also, listen to her when she tells you to bring an extra suitcase for all the books you will receive for free/purchase. No one wants to be the person sitting on the ground surrounded by her toppled stack of titles because she didn’t come prepared. 

9. Make time for decompressing and processing, maybe in the hotel hot tub.

10. Attend the NWP Brunch. It helps you remember that you are truly part of a writing movement.

A first experience perspective of NCTE by Sharon Williams

In the weeks leading up to attending NCTE for the first time, I considered each session carefully as I perused through the offerings posted in the online schedule for each day. I honestly thought that I would be attending professional development workshops that would offer me ideas on how to enhance my teaching practices in my classroom. And, while this was one of the ultimate aftereffects of attending, NCTE was so much more.  For me, the conference not only offered me the benefit of useful tools that can readily be implemented into my classroom, but it also afforded me the opportunity to collaborate with peers, meet with mentors known personally and from afar, and to reflect upon inclusiveness and social justice in my own practices. 

One session, in particular, that stands out to me is YA Literature and Teaching Poverty. The presenters were dynamic and passionate about the subject of childhood poverty and hunger and the impact that it has upon the learning environment. They created and shared a unit with attendees that included book speed dating, a poverty simulation, and argument essays. Students chose novels addressing the topic of poverty and its impact on not only individuals but also society as a whole.  The chosen novels were read in literature circles. Students were required to write an analysis of their novels with a focus on various themes such as the relationship between poverty and power. 

In addition, the teachers utilized the PBS Series, Poor Kids to drive home the effects of poverty and hunger in the lives of children prior to participating in the simulation and reflection activity. Finally, students were asked to choose a social justice issue related to poverty, craft a claim, and develop an argumentative essay upon that claim. 

At the end of the presentation, the presenters shared student writings crafted during the implementation of this unit. As an attendee, I found it to be very moving. In the samples share, students were thoughtful and reflective in their arguments. 

Even though the unit presented in this session is for 10th-grade, it is my intention to collaborate with my 8th-grade LA department team to include portions of the unit in our hero’s journey unit in January. 

Standout Speakers by Janice Ewing

Three standout speakers for me were Tommy Orange at NCTE, and Dr. Dana Stachowiak and Dr. Kim Parker at CEL. They were all passionate and memorable. I’ll be sharing more about  their presentations in my blog post on December 4th.

What if… by Kelly Virgin

At the very end of a long and packed four-day conference, I attended the NWP brunch and was invited to spend some time reflecting through a What if poem:

What if...
I'd said I'm too busy 
this year?
I don't want to spend the money
the professional days
the time
the energy
to travel to NCTE.
I wouldn't have gathered 
around tables 
and talked with educators from 
as far as the West Indies 
and near as "a few blocks down the road."
I wouldn't have shaken the hand 
of a mentor idol and thanked him for his inspiration.
I wouldn't have rekindled old friendships
and sparked new ones. 
I wouldn't have written
poetry
and inquiry questions
and personal narratives
and new plans for Monday.
I wouldn't have opened my eyes
and my heart
and my mind
to a wealth of innovative and imperative ideas.
What if
I'd stayed home instead?

I hope to see you all at NCTE in Denver next fall!

Nov 29

NCTE November: Bringing together a Community of Educators

by Liz Corson

I arrived at the Baltimore Conference center on Thursday morning and happily bumped into Pauline Schmidt, PAWLP director, who had invited me to join PAWLP fellows to lead a roundtable the next day. This was my third NCTE conference and, by far, the most transformative, because of how much I felt a part of communities of educators.

One of these is an on-line community of educators. Through @ValBrown’s #cleartheair and #disrupttexts, I began learning from educators of color and reading books such as White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and White Rage by Carol Anderson and Being the Change by Sara K. Ahmed.

At a Thursday workshop on Identity, Inquiry, and Equity, Jess Lifshitz, a 5th grade teacher who I followed on Twitter and through her blogs (https://crawlingoutoftheclassroom.wordpress.com/) shared how she teaches a critical reading process. “We can give them a critical reading process that they can apply to the reading they do in the world and the ways in which they live and interact with others in the world” (J. Lifshitz, NCTE 2019). This is something I am striving to do with my students constantly and year round. 

Another presenter, Sara K. Ahmed, shared the importance of examining our own privileges as well as helping our students to recognize their privileges. On Saturday, I was able to speak with Sara in between sessions in the hall and thank her for her book, Being the Change, that a year ago, gave me the courage to start to explicitly bring identity into my classroom with my fifth graders through choices of texts, topics we study, and discussions we have. 

Tricia Ebarvia, a PAWLP fellow and #disrupttext founder, led us in creating our own timelines and explained how our students’ time lines can be shared and discussed. Tricia shared Beverly Daniel Tatum’s (2000) work, “Who I am? The answer depends in large part on who the world around me says I am” (Tatum, The Complexity of Identity: “Who am I?”).

In addition, I grew closer to the PAWLP community. I became a PAWLP fellow two years ago. I had the pleasure of presenting at last year’s PAWLP day and am a part of the Anti-Bias Book club. Hanging out over dinners in restaurants, sharing pizza in a hotel lobby and talking long after the pizza had gone cold, enjoying s’mores and finding more books to buy, and diving deep into our passions and worries as educators, wives, mothers, and citizens, we connected and I felt lucky to be part of the PAWLP community. 

And that was even before the Sunday brunch when PAWLP directors, Mary Buckelew and Janice Ewing, authors of Action Research for English Language Arts Teachers: Invitation to Inquiry (Routledge, 2019) presented. I had attended their workshop the previous day, along with other PAWLP fellows, and loved being guided by Mary and Janice and Liz Mathews to creatively reflect on my research question through sketching and poetry and sharing. At the brunch, in addition to hearing Mary and Janice talk about action research, we also got hear from Brian Kelley about his use of sketching to help slow down kid watching and noticing, and from Courtney Knowlton who shared her discussion with a colleague that helped her refine her action research, and Liz Mathews’ use of art to reflect. I felt lucky to be a part of such an incredible group of educators and grateful I had been able to spend time with fellow PAWLP educators.

Nov 28

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NCTE: Diversifying Who I Hear & Read

While I want to learn and I want to personally change, my wanting to contribute to universal changes in equity, social justice, and anti-racist structures and policies in education might also mean not thrusting my whiteness into conference sessions.

Read more

Nov 24

NCTE November: NCTE Stands for Something More

By Chris Kehan

Although NCTE stands for National Council for Teachers of English, after experiencing their national conference in Baltimore, Maryland this weekend I can see those letters standing for something more – Networking, Collecting, and Teaching Excellence.
Walking the long halls and gathering in the rooms enabled teachers an opportunity to network across districts and states.  I was able to talk with teachers from around the country and make connections through our common desire to discover best practices in the teaching of reading and writing and bring them back to our students and colleagues.

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Sitting in each session and writing quickly all of the strategies and amazing quotes provided by the speakers inspired me to continue to grow as a teacher and a person.  I collected numerous strategies and books throughout the days I attended, and I am anxious to share them with my school community when I get back.

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Attending this conference was such a treat.  You find yourself in awe of the teaching excellence that abounds among the presenters, the authors, and the attendees.  I loved my experience and I hope to get another opportunity to attend this incredible conference.  Attending the NCTE Conference is something EVERY teacher should do at least once in their career.

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Nov 1

NCTE November: Magical Moments

Happy November! With NCTE right around the corner – physically and metaphorically – we want to dedicate this month’s feature to the conference. Please check back regularly to enjoy posts about NCTE past and present as our teacher consultants reminisce about past conference experiences and share their plans for presenting at this year’s event.

With the flip of my calendar page, my excitement for this year’s conference became palpable. As I count the days until my next NCTE experience, I can’t help but think back on past moments that are filled with memorable encounters and game-changing presentations.

There was the elevator ride with Matt de la Peña. With my infant daughter wrapped to my chest, we chatted about our children, bed time stories, and his books. I was able to thank him for creating the sweet story, Love, which without fail lulls my daughter to sleep each night while bringing tears to my eyes.

There was the Kylene Beers’ presentation when we were asked to share memorable reading experiences with someone nearby and I turned to find Bob Probst standing to my left. We introduced ourselves and chatted in response to Kylene’s question for a bit before I let my excitement take over and I gushed about his influence on my teaching. I was able to thank him for his reading signposts, which have changed my reading instruction and strengthened my students reading engagement.

There was sitting next to Nic Stone as she read aloud from Dear Martin and led us in a book discussion. Afterwards, I was able to thank her for writing a book that made my husband, a strict nonfiction reader, fall in love with fiction again.

There was meeting a friend for dinner, and upon arrival being introduced to the “kind person who kept her company while she waited” – Linda Rief. We chatted about books and writing and our kids and her grandchildren until our tables were ready. Before we parted ways, I was able to thank her for her quick writes, which have made my students and me better, more confident writers for years.

And there are the countless hard-working, thoughtful, innovative educators who take the time to share their craft. From them I have gained new insights into teaching poetry, fiction, nonfiction, writing, reading, and, of course, my students. Because of them I am a better teacher.

Finally, there are my colleagues and friends, who have co-planned, co-presented, and collaborated with me. They have invited me to join them in sharing our voices. They have pushed me out of my comfort zone. They have encouraged me to take chances on my own. And they have celebrated every success along the way. I cannot wait to make more memorable experiences with them in just a few short weeks.

If you have attended NCTE in the past, what magical moments happened for you? If you are attending this year, please stop back later and share your experiences. Please also stop by the PAWLP roundtable – How Can We Help Our Students Establish and Maintain a Writer’s Identity? – and say hi!