The 104th NCTE Annual Conference Capitalized On Excellent DC Location

By Erik Bean

The main Washington, D.C. Gaylord Convention Center exhibit hall proved to be an effective delivery and visitation mechanism for the various publishing, corporate, scholarship, presentations, workshops, and attendees at this year’s National Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference (NCTE), its 104^th!  Perusing through the many relative program offerings the content was an English teacher’s dream.  Assembling in the capitol was a capital idea!

On the banks of the Potomac, about 10 miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the hotel located in National Harbor was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from outstanding amenities. Amenities such as a sprawling waterfront featuring 30 restaurants, an animated colorful Christmas tree, large outdoor LCD TV, and heated Ferris wheel, greeted NCTE guests not to mention access to the acclaimed museums and historical landmarks. Center stage this year was diversity in teaching and many technology based curriculum lesson demonstrations as well as social networking examples designed to keep students engaged.

Before the November 27-30 convention began, savvy guests could download the smartphone conference app simply by searching for NCTE. Lest one developed some type of app “MyShow” plan, he or she was surely overwhelmed! Upon entering the conference hall the feel was definitely more like a trade show than simply a gathering of academicians. Publishers such as Scholastic, Harper Collins, Corwin, Penguin Random House and others wooed attendees with homemade cappuccinos, freebies such as books, CDs, and DVDs, not to mention author signings including Thursday’s Keynote Sonia Nazario.

In the spirit of this year’s conference theme, Story as the Landscape of Knowing, attendees were able to mix and mingle with their choice of peer reviewed workshops, English discipline related films, lectures, and poster demonstrations. From Telling American Stories Through Art by Laura Griffin and Phoebe Hillemann to Revising the Story: Reluctant Readers Overcoming Shame by Kara DiBartolo, Melissa Guerrette, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Liesl Shurtliff and Justin Stygles and Blurred Lines: Landscape of Truth and Fiction in Imaginary and Informational Texts by Glenda Funk, Debbie Greco, and Cherylann Schmidt to Read Like a Writer and Write Like a Reader by Jason Griffin, a plethora of classroom ideas were just waiting to be grabbed.

Among the more notable poster sessions included Who Let the Elephant in the Room? Analyzing Race and Racism through a Critical Family Literacy Book Club by Lamar Johnson, Mind Maps and Other Language Art by Daniel Weinstein, and The Story of an OWL: Creating an Open-Source, Multimedia Online Writing Lab by Crystal Sands. Regarding social media and technology, Authorship 2.0: A Classroom Story of Interactive Composition with Social Media by Marielle Palombo, Using Technology in Urban English Language Arts Classrooms by Bridget Mahoney, and Encouraging Effective Use of Technology by Tracy Recine were designed to encourage the novice to try and reaffirm the pro to continue.

And what of 2015? The NCTE Annual Conference is set for Minneapolis! Will you heed the call to inspire the English classroom? After all, Minneapolis is the third most literate city in the U.S, has the longest continuous downtown shopping skyway in the world, and is fictitious home to WJM-TV, where the 1970s Mary Tyler Moore show demonstrated a new independent feminism in broadcast journalism. If next year’s convention yields as many capital ideas as it did in the capitol, then Minneapolis should be a great harvest.

Erik Bean, Ed.D. presented Beatnik Poetry YouTube Lesson at this year’s NCTE conference. He is the author of a new 2015 book to be released by Westphalia Press, Washington, D.C, entitled, Social Media Lessons for YouTube, Facebook, NanoWriMo, and CreateSpace: Plus Intro to Blogger. In 2014 Erik also authored two other books, Rigorous Grading Using Microsoft Word AutoCorrect: Plus Google Docs also published by Westphalia Press imprint of the Policy Studies Organization and Using WordPress for Writing Projects released by Brigantine Media/Compass Publishing division.