Getting Pumped for NCTE Orlando

In five days I will be taking a mini break from student teaching in order to attend a major professional development convention in Orlando, Florida. Last year, one of the most significant choices I made in advancing my professional career was to join NCTE, the National Council of Teachers of English. I attended their 2009 Annual Convention in Philadelphia, at which I attended excellent workshops on learning how to teach graphic novels, how to integrate technology in the classroom, and how to use reading strategies to enhance comprehension. Over the past several days, I have been eagerly flipping through the online program, attempting to narrow down my session choices for this year's convention. There are so many seminars I would like to attend, some of which include: Building Teacher Communities Through Social Networking, Author Strand with Brandon Mull and Neal Shusterman, and Putting Art into Language Arts.

One of the greatest resources available to English teachers at this convention, is the Exhibition Hall, in which publishers from companies such as Scholastic and Random House, bring advance copies of Young Adult Literature texts, which they willingly distribute to the teachers. Many times throughout my student teaching experience I have been able to foster a love of reading for my students by loaning them books that I received at last year's convention. Avid readers, they eagerly soak up new materials, constantly asking for more suggestions. Hopefully after this year's convention I will be able to bring back new books and new choices for my students.