Week 13: NCTE

Okay guys, my feet hurt, I’m exhausted, still defrosting, but this trip has been amazing. Honestly, all of my English teacher friends if you have never been to NCTE yo need to go. This conference has been so eye opening, and I have learned so much. Plus, I have gotten to hear some of my idols speak, and meet some of them.

There have definitely been some major highlights of this trip. Yesterday I stood in line for 15 minutes in order to get a copy of All’s Faire in Middle School signed by Victoria Jamieson! I can’t remember if I’ve talked about All’s Faire before, but if I have then you know I think very highly of it. I think it was definitely like being on cloud nine getting to meet such an amazing authors. Plus, I’m pretty sure meeting authors is an English Major’s form of meeting a movie star (not that we wouldn’t enjoy that too).

Another highlight of this trip was getting to listen to Nancie Atwell, Penny Kittle, and Kelly Gallagher. Their session was so informative, and I got so many ideas for it. One big take away that I have heard from their session was the idea that you have to give students choice about what they are reading. Their project was interesting because it took schools from two different sides of the state and had them choose books to be in a book club together. The way that they organized it almost blew my mind, but the amount of ideas that I have now are slightly overwhelming.

In fact, this whole conference has been super overwhelming. I feel like I have been handed a whole bunch of information, and I’m just crossing my fingers hoping that I have everything I needed written down. My notebook is overflowing with notes that I’m hoping make sense.

Anyway, I’m pretty satisfied with this adventure. St. Louis is a beautiful city, and I haven’t even been to the Arch yet. I’m hoping to fit in a visit tomorrow morning before we fly out. I’m excited to bring back everything I’ve learned, but I’m definitely not excited for the plane ride home, the drive from Denver, and then having to drive all the way home.