Sneak Peeks: NCTE

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for creating community and valuing voice. Join us at Two Writing Teachers. Slide by the Slice of Life buffet for seconds or link up to serve your own slice of life.

Catherine  and NCTE and Carol  and NCTE and Bonnie and Margaret, and Dana and oh so many teachers are packing for NCTE's annual conference. I am too!

I am excited to talk about art, writing and creativity with Paul Hankins, Glenda Funk and Melissa Sweet during our session Word by Word: The Art of Crafting Responsibility and Creativity on Saturday (F.47). My segment of the session will focus on an arts infusion project: the art of analysis. For this project, students use art to think critically and creatively about poetry in order to write analysis.

A student's surrealist illustration of a poem. I'll be talking about how teaching
art movements and techniques scaffolds literary analysis in the session.

Sunday, I'm looking forward to a round table session, From Oops to Aha (L.02). We will all be talking about what we have learned from reflective on failure in our classrooms, in our professional lives, in our writing lives or in our lives as learners.  I am going to talk about a student I, as a teacher, failed and what I learned from that experience. You can read my reflective writing here.

Collaborating with educators from fifteen different schools or states inspires and energizes me. These people are part of my tribe and I can't wait to see them and share what we've learned this year.

• Co-Chair: Gary Anderson EMC Publishing 
• Co-Chair: Teresa Bunner Wake County Public Schools
• Co-Chair: Karen LaBonte Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York
• Roundtable Leader: Russ Anderson William Fremd High School 
• Roundtable Leader: Jennifer Ansbach Manchester Township High School, New Jersey 
• Roundtable Leader: Leslie Healey St. Mark's High School, Wilmington, Delaware 
• Roundtable Leader: Jeana Hrepich Antioch University Seattle 
• Roundtable Leader: Kim McCollum-Clark Millersville University 
• Roundtable Leader: Cindy Minnich Upper Dauphin Area High School, Elizabethville, Pennsylvania 
• Roundtable Leader: Cheryl Mizerny Cranbrook Schools 
• Roundtable Leader: Meenoo Rami Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 
• Roundtable Leader: Amy Rasmussen Lewisville High School, Lewisville, TX 
• Roundtable Leader: Jennifer Roberts San Diego Unified 
• Roundtable Leader: Lee Ann Spillane Orange County Public Schools, Orlando, Florida
• Roundtable Leader: Andrea Zellner Michigan State University, East Lansing 

I get to sleep at home one more night before I leave for NCTE. My husband will drive me to the airport early in the morning on Thursday. I can't wait! I can't wait to connect with authors at ALAN, to share great books with my son, Collin and enjoy a room full of passionate readers.

I can't wait to see my teacher friends. I can't wait to learn from the educators I admire. I can't wait to discover new voices and meet new people. I can't wait to man the ALAN booth and talk about YA literature. I can't wait to reconnect and recharge.

I told my students I'd be geeking out with thousands of English teachers who are just like me. It's true--we are going to geek out and fan girl and follow rock stars (teacher rock stars that is).

I can't wait. I'm packed.

In fact, I know I over packed.  I live in Florida and  thinking about packing for thirty degree lows sends

Love the Paper Towns echo...

me a sweater message. We just don't have those temperatures here (yet or often). I packed layers: shirts, sweaters, a cape, two suit jackets, a few sweaters, a coat. I even got my boots re-soled.

I can't wait to wear them. And I can't wait to see you at NCTE and ALAN. If you are not going to the conference this year, you can tune in using the NCTE hashtag on Twitter #ncte15 or #ncte2015. You can hear our voices on Voxer. Margaret Simon is setting up a Voxer stream to capture and share voices from NCTE. It's going to be a fantastic conference. I can't wait to see you.

Safe travels, everyone!