NCTE Reflections

It's hard to believe that a week ago I was in Orlando attending NCTE's Annual Convention. It seems like yesterday, and it seems like it's been months, all rolled into one.

There was time Wednesday evening after we got in for my one Disney Experience. I chose Epcot. We rode a few rides, took a brief walking tour of the world, hugged Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, too, and saw the amazing fireworks.

Thursday was my Vacation in Florida Experience. I swam laps in an outdoor pool, made some vitamin D the old fashioned way, and caught my breath from the whirlwind week of teaching, grading, and sub plans.

Thursday evening at the Elementary Section Get-Together, Stenhouse Editorial Director Philippa Stratton received the NCTE Outstanding Educator in the Language Arts Award, and our blogging pal from Hilliard, Julie Johnson, received the Donald Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing. At dinner, I sat next to Louise Borden and across from/next to Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. (mandatory name-dropping)

Friday morning, I was due at the Yacht Club for a 7am Children's Literature Assembly board meeting. Disney Magic got me there on time with a magic carpet ride my very own van ride as the sun rose. After the board meeting, and upon my return to Coronado Springs, I snuck into the end of the Poets and Bloggers session, did some hard thinking in a session about how to teach 21st Century Literacies in spite of the "reforms" that would make sure our students can pass a test but not ensure that they would grow up THINKING, and got another dose of poetry at the Poetry for Children Notables session. Friday evening was all about the communities of writers I am privileged and honored and proud to belong to: the Stenhouse reception was followed by the Choice Literacy dinner. (Too many names to drop without forgetting some, but I would be remiss if I didn't thank Stenhouse for continuing to include me as one of their own, and Brenda Power for her incredible generosity, creative vision, and passion for teaching and leading.)

Saturday sessions/thinking: using conferences in writing workshop as a kind of formative assessment; smart ways to use picture books; three hours of talking about books and winnowing our list of Notables (fabulous committee, must drop names: Mary Napoli, April Bedford, Nancy Roser, Donalyn Miller, Yoo Kyung Sung, Tracy Smiles), and then a dinner sponsored by Macmillan. The authors at the dinner were fun, but it was also great to spend a little time with Elaine Magliaro, Trisha Stohr-Hunt, Karen Terlecky, and Barbara O'Connor. (drop, drop)

On Sunday, those who attended the Children's Literature Assembly breakfast were treated to an amazing talk by David Wiesner about his newest book, ART AND MAX. (There was much bantering later on Twitter between certain pairs of friends -- @donalynbooks / @PaulWHankins, and @maryleehahn / @frankisibberson -- about who is Art and who is Max.)



More about ART AND MAX here and here.

After the breakfast, I presented on reading workshop with Franki, Aimee Buckner and Donalyn Miller, then raced to Coronado Ballroom H and presented about the 2010 Notables (2009 books). After we talked briefly about the 30 books, there were 8-minute roundtable sessions with some of the authors. I got to hear Rebecca Stead (WHEN YOU REACH ME), Alexis Frederick-Frost (ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING), Ching Yeung Russell (TOFU QUILT), and Linda Barrett Osborne (TRAVELING THE FREEDOM ROAD). (drop, drop)

Two of my favorite people to run into in the hallways or in sessions were Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and Heidi Mordhorst. We know each other mostly on our blogs, but it's amazing how well we know each other. Heidi picked right up on my penchant for purple, and I gave her an idea for her next book. Amy and I sat on a bench in the hallway and chatted like sorority sisters.

(This post is getting way too long and I'm 1/2 hour over budget time-wise, but we're almost to the end, so let's just finish it up...)

Monday was the Children's Literature Assembly workshop. Now, I know there are some die-hard ALAN fans out there, but CLA puts on a classy workshop for those of us who work with younger readers. The CLA workshop is not about speed and huge boxes of books. There were 5 author/illustrators and we left with a stack of 7 picture books. We heard Doreen Rappaport talk about her  recent series of biographies, especially Martin's Big Words and John's Secret Dreams, which were both illustrated by Bryan Collier. Then we got to hear Bryan Collier. After a break, Andrea Davis Pinkney sang to us, and talked about Sit In. After lunch, David Diaz taught us to draw and told us about his process for Me, Frida.

We ended the day with a trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, led by Hester Bass (she ALSO sang to us!), who wrote about the artist Walter Anderson in Orbis Pictus winner, The Secret Life of Walter Anderson. Her slide show gave us a peek into the process that E.B. Lewis used to create the amazing illustrations from extensive research and photographs taken on a site visit with Hester.

Next year when you are planning your NCTE experience, consider staying on Monday for the CLA Workshop! It is a fabulous, intimate day with children's authors and illustrators.

And now it's time for me to get back to my current reality: lesson plans, grading, and an attempt to make my days at NCTE a part of my life in the classroom.

ALAN 2010

The room for ALAN was huge! I think I overheard someone say that 500 people attended.

I have been hearing about the ALAN workshop at NCTE for years. It has always sounded like a great day, but I've never been able to attend. This year, listening in on Twitter conversations of @donalynbooks, @ProfessorNana and @PaulWHankins and all of the great YA books they were reading, I realized how behind I was on my YA Reading.  So, this year, I attended ALAN for the first time and I think I am addicted. I was excited to see so many authors who write YA as well as middle grade fiction. I knew more of them than I had expected.  I have always loved YA literature and today reminded me of that.

ALAN (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents) is an assembly of NCTE. Each year, they sponsor a 2-day post-conference workshop featuring YA authors. The day was incredible.  I am finally a member of ALAN too and will begin to receive The ALAN Review.  James Blasingame, ALAN's president, received several rounds of applause today for all of the work in putting this together.  I cannot thank the planning group and the publishers enough for such an amazing day.

My 35 pound box of books!

My friend told me to arrive early in order to "organize my books".  I understood what she meant when I arrived.  At 7:30 am, I arrived to a giant (and quite heavy) box of books. At first, I thought about leaving it taped up and opening it when I got home. That thought lasted about 1/10 of a second. I cannot leave books untouched so I opened the box and dug in.  Inside were about 40 books of all kinds.  Some were books I had heard of. Others were new to me. I looked around to see what others were doing. People had quite a system for organizing their books in front of them.  500 people X 40 books. That is a lot of books thanks to so many generous publishers.  I spent about $38 to ship the books home (all but the 4 I couldn't part with).  What a great bargain day!

I tried to keep count.  By mid afternoon, we had heard about 30 authors speak. Authors spoke for 10-15 minutes each and I was amazed at the power of what each said in that amount of time.  Each was brilliant and gave such insight into their writing.

Following each speaker, a huge line formed at the back of the room for autographing. Anyone that wanted a book autographed could stand in line and quietly wait. From the line, they listened to other authors speak.

This day felt like a party.  It was full of energy, fun and important work.  From the day, I wanted to decide to dedicate a year to YA reading. I know that is impossible. I can't give up the other reading I love. But I did put lots of new books on list of books to read soon. Most are from authors we heard. Some are from the books I saw. We all got different books in our boxes so I spent lots of time looking at other people's piles to see what they were excited about.  Here are the ones that I added to my To Be Read Pile from the day (in no particular order):

Multitasking at its best: Waiting for an autograph
from one author while listening to another!

GIMME A CALL by Sarah Miynowski

HOW I, NICKY FLYNN, FINALLY GET A LIFE (AND A DOG) by Art Corriveau

THE INDIGO NOTEBOOK by Laura Resau

NINTH WARD by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Teri Lesesne, The Goddess of YA Lit, tweeted that everyone should read this book and that means we should all read it!)

VIRUS ON ORBIS by PJ Haarsman  (This one has a great additional online piece that the author shared that sounds like something I want to check out.)

PAPER DAUGHTER by Jeanette Ingold

MARTY MCGUIRE by Kate Messner-Due out May 2011 --(This one is not YA, but I saw Teri Lesesne with it today and took a peak.  Looks great for middle grade readers!

DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS by Beth Kephart

ATHENA:GREY-EYED GODDESS by George O'Connor (a graphic novel)

HEREVILLE: HOW MIRKA GOT HER SWORD by Barry Deutsch

SHINE by Lauren Myracle

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY by Ned Vizzini

WARP SPEED by Lisa Yee

BLACK HOLE SUN by David Macinnis Gill

Poetry Friday -- Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too

HOPPITY

Christopher Robin goes

Hoppity, Hoppity,

Hoppity, Hoppity, Hop

Whenever I tell him

Politely to stop it, he

Says he can't possibly stop.

If he stopped hopping, he couldn't go anywhere,

Poor little Christopher

Couldn't go anywhere...

That's why he always goes

Hoppity, Hoppity,

Hoppity,

Hoppity,

Hop.

by A.A. Milne

You can't have NCTE at Disney World in Orlando without having at least one magical day before the meetings and sessions start! 

Diane has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Random Noodling today.

Planning for NCTE in November

The Children's Literature Assembly of NCTE hosts a one-day workshop the Monday after the annual conference (this year: Monday, November 22, 9:00-3:30). The theme of this year's workshop is

Literacy and the Arts:

Books that Inspire the Visual Artist, Poet, and Musician in All of Us.

Authors and illustrators that will participate this year include: Bryan Collier (Uptown), Doreen Rappaport (Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy), David Diaz (Me, Frida), Laban Carrick Hill (Harlem Stomp), Hester Bass and E.B. Lewis (The Secret World of Walter Anderson), and Marilyn Singer (Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse).

Hope to see you there!