Whew! NCTE was awesome and exhausting. What a lovely, lovely time. I’m going to share some highlights here over the course of several posts.
Thursday night was my first taste of NCTE, with a lovely get-together with Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell (aka Pomelo Publishing), Susan Marie Swanson, and Heidi Mordhorst. We celebrated the release of the brand new edition of the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science (so new it’s not live on Amazon yet). We chatted poetry and publishing and told embarrassing stories (“Iceland. For the geology.”) and laughed. After sampling delicious cheese brought by Susan Marie, we headed downstairs to Monello’s, where I had the yummiest buttercup squash ravioli. Sigh. A lovely evening.
Friday started out bright and early with the board meeting for CLA (Children’s Literature Assembly). I’m Secretary, so I typed madly for 2 hours taking minutes. Then I rushed to the opposite end of the Minneapolis Convention Center for The Power of Passion-Driven Research panel.
I loved hearing about everyone’s research methods! Kate’s story of interviewing a scientist distracted by clouds; Laurel’s sharing of the marginalia from her childhood book on Anna Pavlova; LeUyen Pham’s incredibly in-depth research for The Boy Who Loved Math; Jen’s inspiration and resources (must check out Genius Hour); and Deb’s National Biodiversity Teach In…wow, these people are all doing amazing things!
Later that day, I presented at Into the Poem, about poetry and movement, with Sylvia, Janet, and Susan Marie. And Nancy Bo Flood as a final guest star. I learned a lot about movement and how it helps learning of all kinds, and what role poetry can play in that. I had “volunteers” quickly choreograph performances to a couple of my poems, and we did some circle reading, and we had a blast:>)
Then it was out of the Minneapolis Convention Center and into the world for a cocktail party and dinner. More on those next time.
9 Responses
I bet “volunteers quickly choreograph performances” was a blast. So happy that you were selected to be part of the NCTE conference. Happy Thanksgiving!
I know we cannot make it every session. I was so happy to see you Friday morning with such an inspiring group. But I missed the poetry performance. That one looked like such fun! I will cherish the time sitting with you at the Children’s Lit Lunch. Your advice about my own session was invaluable and it went very well. Thanks.
I’m so glad your session went well–I never had a moment’s doubt! Yes, lunch was fun:>)
Happy to see that you had such fun, Laura. Would love to have seen you and all those poetry sessions. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sounds like a blast! Thanks for sharing your experiences here in your blog, Laura. I look forward to the next installment. 🙂
I’m glad you had a such a fun, positive experience at NCTE, Laura! I hope to get there one of these years, too. Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving!
Thanks, Matt–it’s really a great thing. So much energy and book love! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family:>)
“Awesome and exhausting” are exactly the words to describe NCTE! So many wonderful sessions and so many friends to see. I’m glad we got to visit, even if only briefly. Thank you for sharing highlights from your experience. Reading blog posts about sessions I couldn’t get to is the next best thing to being there.
Me, too. I’m not really sharing content, I know. Some folks are doing that wonderfully. But at least trying to share a. It of mood and experience:)