JOIN: NCTE 2016 Celebration

Every Saturday, join me as I CELEBRATE This Week 

with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.

Every year I look forward to attending the annual convention for the National Council for Teachers of English. This year was extra special for me in so many ways but mainly because I was able to be surrounded by wonderful friends who feel like family at a time when I really needed it. 

2016 has been one bumpy ride and November felt like we were careening down a mountain clinging fiercly to not get thrown from the car and then any semblance of a road disappeared and now we're just bumbling along with no clear direction. At least that's how I feel...

But NCTE was a chance for me to hug friends tight, share my love of books and writing, and once again feel empowered to do good work. I was thrilled to be part of four wonderful presentations. 

Artist as Historian

I talked about visual literacy and then handed it over to these talented illustrators to talk all about the research they do for their non-fiction picture books. I know I left with lots of information to share with students!

Sophia Blackall, Brian Floca, me, and LeUyen Pham

Compassion with Mentor Texts

I conjured up some questions to ask these brilliant authors about their stories that tackle raw emotions and how to encourage student writers. 

Tracy Holczer, H.M. Bouwman, Corey Ann Haydu, Kat Yeh, Karen Rivers and me

Get Writing!

I look forward to Teachers Write every summer but I also got to look forward to connecting with Teachers Write friend this fall at NCTE as we shared ideas for teachers to take back to students. So many awesome activities and we shared a poem we wrote collectively with the audience at the end. 

 Ammi-Joan Paquette, me, Jo Knowles, Mike Jung, 

Karen Romano Young, Kekla Magoon, and Kate Messner

Thinkers Who Thrive

This session was the perfect way to end NCTE. I'm so inspired by these three educators and am glad to call them friends. We each shared ideas for connecting with students - Terry talked about scaffolding support without rescuing students, Patrick talked about teaching kids to question, Ruth gave ideas for using compassion to entice reluctant writers, and I shared ideas for how reaching writers is about mutual trust. I keep thinking about this presentation. It will stay with me always.

 Ruth Ayres, me, Patrick Allen, and Terry Thompson

 What are you celebrating this week? Were you able to visit with family and friends over Thanksgiving or are you looking forward to time to connect with loved ones this month? I'd love to hear about it!