From Thursday, Nov. 21 until Sunday, Nov. 24, eight teachers from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) attended the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) conference in Boston. The conference, this year themed “Heart, Hope, Humanity,” brings together English teachers from all over the country to share ideas, network, and access resources. Having the chance once or twice a year to gather with others to reflect and learn is invaluable. The concentration of curious people with common interests at the conference in Boston made for a rich idea interchange. 

Workshops were offered on a wide variety of topics. During some sessions, teachers from CTL spread out so that they could hear about many different practices. They learned about novels of protest, Afro-futurism, podcasting, historical mysteries, poetry techniques, and so many sessions about different types of picture books. Some sessions, CTL teachers found themselves all in the same room, listening to presenters whose work they have read and discussed or who share CTL’s philosophies. Georgia Heard, Ralph Fletcher, Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, Kylene Beers, and Ellin Oliver Keene all gave presentations or workshops that drew multiple CTL teachers. 

Glenn Powers, CTL’s 5-8 math and science teacher, and Angela Lathem-Ballard, CTL’s 5-6 humanities teacher, presented a shared poster about the roundtable discussion protocol that Glenn pioneered and Angela currently uses. Glenn also had a poster about whole-school systems for revision and editing across subjects. One stand out moment at the posters was when they looked down the row and one of CTL’s interns was presenting about reading workshop systems he learned at CTL a few years ago. 

The convention also offered inspiring keynote speakers on each day. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson discussed her upbringing and her family’s impact on her ethics. Kate McKinnon had everyone laughing as she discussed her debut novel, "The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science." Bryan Stevenson brought the audience to tears detailing his lifelong crusade to reform the justice system and end the death penalty. Poet Laureate Ada Limon inspired as she discussed her project, You Are Here, about connecting to the natural world through poetry. 

There were so many intelligent and motivated people to reunite with at the conference. CTL teachers were glad to connect with the wider community of teachers who have benefitted from writing by Nancie Atwell, CTL’s founder. Nancie’s legacy still lives large at NCTE and sharing ideas with some of her national colleagues was a wonderful reinvigoration of energy to bring back to the classroom.