#NCTE13 Round Up

The power of attending NCTE's annual convention cannot possibly be explained in a blog post or two. We each have our own experiences and because none of us can be at two places at once, we can't possibly experience all there is at any one convention. So, the best way for me to get a sense of all that NCTE was and all that I missed, is to read everyone else's reflections.  Every year, for weeks following the annual convention, I read and reread posts of friends, old and new, who I continue to learn from through the year. Every year as I do this, I am reminded of all that I learned and I am also able to add new thinking from sessions I missed. The conference isn't over when it's over.

And, I think this week is the week that my list of people I follow on Twitter grows as I continue to discover new people to learn from.  So, in today's round up, I hope you find some new thinking as well as some new people to follow on Twitter. That way, we can all chat until we can meet in person again at #ncte14!

Every time I read a new post, I was reminded of why I am so happy to be part NCTE!

(Add an NCTE badge to your blog by going to the NCTE site.)

Below are links to several posts reflecting on #NCTE13!

Reflections on NCTE 2013 from @MaryLeeHahn

The Magic of NCTE from @guerrette79

20 Random Thoughts From NCTE Boston from RAMS_English

Notes From NCTE Ignite Session from @dogtrax

Slice of Life: NCTE 2013 from @katsok

Unpacking NCTE 2013  from @teachingfactor

NCTE Takeaways from @utalaniz

Raising Our Words: (re)Inventing the Future of English Education #ncte13 from @CathyMere

Thank You, NCTE! from @brenkrupp

The One With Awesome People from @mentortexts

NCTE 2013: Teachers Matter, Kids Count!  from @ClareandTammy

Celebrate This Week #NCTE13 and Celebrate This Week:A Primary Perspective! from @Deb_Frazier

Slice of Life NCTE Edition from @Flynn_Catherine

On Broken Door Handles and Butter Knives from @iChris Lehman

Thankful for NCTE from @MaineMeryl

Once a Teacher, Always a Teacher From @mariacaplin

New Generation from @busch_mariah

A Storify from @elisabethelling

NWP and NCTE: Collegial Conferring and Conversation at Its Best from @JanMeEwing

NCTE Recap from @barbaraoconnor

Falling Down the Up Staircase (NCTE Talk) from @NeumannicTimes

Reflections on NCTE: How My Work Will Change from @JessicaRae929

NCTE Rookie from @Jasontes5th

Vicarious Professional Development: Censorship from @judyjester

NCTE 2013: My Presentation from @WeinsteinDaniel

Thanks for a Giving Conference, NCTE and CEL 2013 from @teachcmb56

Teaching the Lessons of #NCTE13 from @litreader

NCTE13-A Note of Appreciation from @JustinStygles

NCTE Highlights (via Smore) from @MaryBellavance

What Teachers are Reading This Year from @SuzanneMcCabe1

The E in NCTE stands for Empowering Energizing and Enlightening from @BethShaum

Reinventing the Future at #NCTE13 from @AndersonGL

National Council of Teacher of English Convention 2013 from @MarcTNobleman

NCTE 2013-Boston from @megangreads

Celebrate Saturday from @MuellerHolly

Slice of Life Surprises at #NCTE13 from @GigiMcAreads

A Cornucopia of Ideas and Wise Ideas from NCTE from  @VickiVintonTMAP

Igniting NCTE 20O13 from @rholland5

NCTE in Boston-Amazing Weekend! from @LynMullalyHunt

Celebrate This Week! NCTE Version  from @frankisibberson

Coming Back from @nilegulm

My NCTE 13 from @medinger

Learning and Connecting at NCTE from @raisealithuman

NCTE: Reflections on Fear and Hope from @YABookBridges

NCTE and ALAN: Hardly Relaxing but Always Rejuvenating from @CBethM

Reflecting on NCTE 2013

I can't find the one perfect metaphor to describe what it's like to attend NCTE's annual convention.

There's the obvious -- NCTE is a family reunion. Not your biological family, your professional family: your peeps, your tweeps, your colleagues; your blog followers and blog idols; the authors whose books you've read and read aloud and used to grow readers and used to grow yourself as a teacher. Like a family reunion, NCTE is full of joyful squeals, warm hugs and handshakes, food and drink, and conversation long into the night.

But NCTE is more than just a family reunion.

NCTE is the loom where we weave the tapestry of our professional life. The people we meet there and the people we reconnect with there are certainly threads that make up part of who we are as teachers, but so are the ideas that we explore in our sessions (both giving and receiving). Our committees and groups and affiliations are also threads in our cloth. For the week we are at NCTE, we weave like crazy -- sometimes outlining a basic pattern we'll fill in once we return to our lives and our work, sometimes adding detail to an existing pattern.

But NCTE is more than just a loom.

I imagine all of the teachers who attend NCTE as glass jars. Some are fancy, others are plain and functional. All are filled with marbles that represent who they are and all they do in their lives. Every jar is filled to the top with marbles: family, teaching, writing, reading, friends, hobbies. Every life is filled to the top, and yet here they all are, at NCTE. NCTE is like a fine sand that can fill the spaces between the marbles. The thinking, the learning, the connections to teachers and authors -- all of that filters in and surrounds the rest of who we are. Instead of empty spaces between our marbles, there are people and ideas and books we can lean on throughout the year.

But NCTE is more than fine sand.

My professional life is one room in the house of Me. Actually, my professional life wants to be the whole house, but for right now, I'm just giving it one room. It's a big room, spacious enough to fit all of the people who help me to be a better teacher. The ceiling is high, to accommodate lofty ideas and ideals. The walls are lined with books that grow me and that grow my students. There's a large wooden table in this room (probably as filled with stacks of papers and books as the table before me right now), and there's a lamp in this room, shedding light on it all.

NCTE is the lamp in the room of my professional life.