NCTE recap Part IV: Sunday

By Sunday, I was in full conference mode and in a haze as well. Lots of presentations and meetings and running to and fro. Sunday was actually rather calm in comparison. I chaired my first ever ALAN Board of Directors meeting. From the BOD to the ALAN Reception next.



Met Kristen Chandler and Francisco Stork there and renewed talk to Rita Williams-Garcia, Coe Booth, and many more.

Having survived that, I headed out to dinner with the amazing and talented Victoria Stapleton from Little Brown. Dinner was with AS King, Matthew Quick, and Sara Zarr. I got to sit next to Donalyn and Victoria. There was never a dull moment.







Back to the hotel for in the morning, the #alan11 WORKSHOP WOULD BEGIN.

NCTE recap Part III: Saturday

Saturday was like a roller coaster ride. Fast, furious, lots of curves, screaming, laughing, and finally relief to have survived. it began at 6 am when I headed down to help set up for the ALAN Breakfast. This was my first breakfast as the ALAN Executive Secretary, and I was so nervous even though all I had to do was make a few announcements.

Gary Salvner received the Hipple Award for his considerable contributions to ALAN and gave the most stirring speech I can recall hearing in some time. I do hope THE ALAN REVIEW sees fit to publish it. Sharon Draper received the ALAN Award for her contributions to YA literature and was equally eloquent and moving. And then, Jacqueline Woodson delivered the after breakfast speech. Wowwza! Triple whammy.

Here is a photo done with Toon Paint showing James Dashner, Marshall George, and the lovely Adrienne Waintraub at breakfast courtesy of Random House. I did tweet out from the breakfast as well. If you search Twitter, use #alan11 hashtag and username @ProfessorNana.



I did a quick tour of the exhibits that grew lengthier as I kept running into folks. I also had a meeting with my editor at Stenhouse about a couple of projects. Then, onto the shuttle to the Palmer House for the Middle Mosaic where I spoke along with Kate Messner, Janet Allen, and Gordon Korman. My presentation (all of them) are at Slideshare.net/ProfessorNana.

After I spoke, I went up two floors to join Donalyn Miller, Franki Sibberson, and Sara Kajder for a session on engaging readers with digital texts and tools. Of course we experienced some technical issues. Sara had to use my dongle (there was much hilarity about my magic dongle), my own connections had to be held so they did not slip, etc. However, as Donalyn observed when it was all over, each of us was tweeting, buying apps, and tools as the others were speaking. When is the last time that happened? it was a whirlwind 75 minutes. I learned a LOT!

Dinner that evening was courtesy of Candlewick. Katherine Paterson, Laura Amy Schlitz, Chris Crowe, MT Anderson, Allan Wolf, Abby MacDonald. Great food and fun and conversation ranging from zombies to Common Core to books (of course). Thanks Jenny and Sharon and Liz for a delightful evening.

NCTE recap Part II: Friday

Friday's first session was STOP THE BULLYING! Kylene Beers put together an incredible array of speakers including Judy Shepard:



Keynoters included Kevin Jennings, coordinator of the Safe Schools movement who talked about the heart and soul matters: the kids who are harassed and bullied. Round tables featured Linda, Rief, Michael Cart, and cj Bott among others. Handouts and presentations should be up at the NCTE Connected Communities.

In the afternoon, I presented a round table at Joan Kaywell's session on the history of YA literature and the Commission on the Teaching of YA Literature. It was a small audience (the exhibits were now open and the feeding frenzy had begun) but the table talk was invaluable.

Then it was on to dinner with Lois Buckman, my roommate, and Suzanne Metcalfe, my good friend from Alaska. We returned to Italian Village and ate ourselves into a giddiness. The maitre d came over to share some stories with us as well. What a lovely day.

NCTE recap Part I

I arrived in Chicago Wednesday afternoon. After I checked in at the hotel (that will be a separate post as I had issues with this hotel), I donned some extra layers and walked down the street to grab an Italian beef sandwich. I returned to the room and finished reading SEE YOU AT HARRY'S by Jo Knowles (Separate blog posting to follow on this remarkable post) and BALTHAZAR, part of the Evernight series by Claudia Gray. Dinner was at Italian Village with Donalyn Miller, Mindi Rench, and Kellee Moye. We talked policy, books, and basically shut down the restaurant. Much laughter, much tweeting! While I hate that I have to travel long distances to see folks from my own backyard (Donalyn), I so love being in the company of passionate readers and writers and thinkers. These three are remarkable teachers who just inspire me.

Thursday morning was quiet so I read about half of Jordan Sonnenblick's forthcoming CURVEBALL: THE YEAR I LOST MY GRIP. In the afternoon, I chaired my final Standing Committee Against Censorship Committee meeting. ReLeah Lent is now the chair, and I know she will do a bang-up job! We dealt with several perennial issues and had a lengthy discussion about the new NCTE Connected Communities and their moderation of posts. More on this to come from the committee.

I dashed from that meeting to the Middle Level Get Together where I received the lovely plaque (below)and some bear hugs from Jim Johnson and Dick Halle and a few other colleagues. My late friend Martha Magner had received this award, and I felt her absence as I stepped to the podium. I had written out my thanks as I knew I would be a bit overwhelmed.



After the award, I stayed to listen to James Dashner (his power point was entitled THE MOST BORING NCTE PRESENTATION EVER, it was not) and Don Gallo. Then, it was off to dinner with my roommie who had arrived in time for the section get together. We actually went to the room and ordered in as we were tired and the hotel restaurant was packed.