Celebrate This Week-NCTE 14

Every week, Ruth Ayres over at Discover. Play. Build. invites people to share celebrations from their week.  Please visit and consider linking up your own celebration. 

Thanks to Ruth for providing a platform for me to share my big and small celebrations. 

Ok, so yesterday I relfected on some of my learning from NCTE 14. It may be a bit late, but I would like to celebrate the awesomeness of the weekend. 

The Gaylord National Resort is beautiful! This picture was taken from the 8th floor overlooking the lower atrium. 

Mainers on the NCTE map!

Our Saturday session. 

I had the great fortune of presenting on a panel about fostering resiliency and empathy using literature. On the panel were my friends Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Leslie Connor, Jennifer Nielsen and Susan Dee. I thoroughly enjoyed preparing and presenting this session with these wonderful ladies! It was the highlight of my weekend. 

Yes, I was nervous to say the very least. I am not a "speaker" outside of my classroom so this was certainly way out of my comfort zone. It was good for me to prove to myself that I can present at NCTE and live to tell about it. 

I stalked and met Patrick Allen. I really enjoyed his book about conferring and I am glad I got to tell him so. 

I also got to meet Franki Sibberson. I felt like I already knew her since I read her work all the time. She is such a dedicated educator and a lovely person. It was great to meet in "real life". 

Me, Lesley Burnap, Melissa Guerette, Jason Lewis, Michele Knott

This picture was taken at the Scholastic dinner. Michele is a blogging buddy (Mrs. Knott's Book Nook). Lesley and Jason are online nerdy friends. I met all three of them in person for the first time at NCTE! Melissa is one of my nerdy Maine friends. This was our second NCTE together as roommates. She is super-nerdy in the best way. Please visit her amazing blog Educate, Empower, Inspire...Teach.

Here are a few pictures with authors.

 The incredible Laura Robb

 I gushed how much I loved This Journal Belongs to Ratchet to author Nancy Cavanaugh.

I was thrilled to get books signed by Raina Telgemeier! My students were beyond impressed. 

Ok, so I might have been eavesdropping on a conversation between Donalyn Miller and Laura Robb. Don't judge, you would have done the same thing. 

Although I didn't get any pictures, I was happy to be able to share meals with friends I met last year at NCTE including Mandy Robek, Cathy Mere, Karen Terlecky, Deb Frasier, Katie Keier, Pat Johnson and my Maine friend Mary Bellevance. 

I was thrilled to meet several other online friends, but I won't begin to mention them all as I will surely leave someone out. 

 A little fun before a bookish brunch for Lynda Mullaly Hunt. This sculpture is called The Awakening. Part of it is trying to grab my head. Photo credits to Jillian Heise. 

 Penguin Books hosted a brunch to celebrate my friend Lynda Mullaly Hunt's amazing success with her first book, One for the Murphys and the upcoming Fish in a Tree (to be released in Feb. 2015 and a must read, trust me). 

Nancy Paulsen (left) and Lynda discuss how Fish in a Tree was born. Lynda describes it as a "love letter to Mr. Daniels", her 6th grade teacher. Not a dry eye in the house.

This is my best nerdy friend Susan Dee. It is because of her friendship that I was able to present with the amazing panel of authors. She is the BEST conference partner ever and the truest friend anyone could have! We have had many nerdy adventures together and I look forward to so many more. 

So that's a wrap. I will continue to relive my nerdy NCTE experience. Experiences like this keep me motivated and renewed. I need to find a way to make the feeling last throughout the year. 

My NCTE '14 Reflection

Last weekend I was fortunate to be able to attend my second NCTE annual convention in Washington DC. After I attended last year I vowed never to miss another.  The entire experience left me invigorated, inspired and focused. Too often districts get bogged down in the "data" of testing and standards (I really hate using the word data to discuss children). This event has renewed my faith in education because of the incredibly dedicated and brilliant educators I had the privilege of learning from. It is the kids that matter. Connecting with and guiding each child as they develop as readers and writers is where our focus needs to be. 

My mind is still trying to process all that I learned and experienced during this incredible event, but here are a few tidbits I took away. 

 *During a session about reluctant readers and shame Lynda Mullaly Hunt mentioned how teachers should validate student choices in books even if the student does not like what we like. I have been guilty of this when students choose to put a book I love back on the shelves. My intention was to encourage the student to read a favorite of mine, but the message is "What is wrong with you?" This was an eye opener and something I will never do again. 

I attended a session with Melissa Sweet, Jan Bryant and Cynthia Gray about nonfiction writing. From that session I took away the importance of focusing on questions and how research should be a journey. I was reminded of the importance of using primary resources whenever possible. 

From a session about digital writing led by my friend Cathy Mere I learned about many new tools I would like to try out with my students.




The last session I attended was called Middle Level Mosaic and it was amazing! With an all-star line up including Teri Lesene, Alan Sitomer, Kylene Beers, James Dashner, Linda Reif and Donalyn Miller this session was jam packed with people, information and quote-worthy nuggetts. It was worth the price of admission just to see it. I did not know who Alan Sitomer was before, but by the end of his presentation, I would have followed him anywhere-What a dynamic speaker and passionate educator!

Some of my take aways from this session include: 
*A renewed believe in he fact that volume of reading matters. 
*Students who are struggling read far fewer words in a school day than average students. 
*"The strongest part of a book recommendation is the person giving it." Donalyn Miller
*If a child gets stuck in a particular genre, dub them "genre experts" (Donalyn). 
*"If we want students to take control of their reading lives, their voices need to be louder than ours. " (Donalyn)

When I was not in sessions, I was engaged in conversations about literacy with people I admire, getting books signed by authors or stealing very brief moments of reflection. Tomorrow I will share some fun photos including some from my session on Saturday.