Susan and I just spent a week in Boston, Massachusetts, getting smarter together at a few professional conferences!
We both attended the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Susan chose sessions related to high school libraries, looking for new ideas for how she, as a library media specialist, can support other teachers in developing students' literacy. My own goal was to gather ideas for using artificial intelligence (A.I.) tools in college writing classes--specifically, teaching college students how to use A.I. effectively to support their learning, not to cheat their way out of learning (by having A.I. write their essays for them, for example).
Some of the convention highlights were the excellent keynote speakers (see below). Susan and I also had opportunities to explore the area near the convention center and enjoy restaurants including Seaport Social (seafood), Serafina (Italian), and Citrus and Salt (Mexican). We especially loved wandering through an outdoor Christmas market in the Seaport district (called "Snowport" for the winter holidays!).
Immediately following the NCTE conference, the convention center was used for two more conferences of NCTE-related groups--and Susan and I each attended a different one.
- She went to the annual ALAN Workshop (ALAN = Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE), which is all about adolescent literature. Attendees receive a box of about 40 works of recently published books and advance reader copies of upcoming releases. Their authors and more attend ALAN, too, and appear on panels and do book signings. There are also workshops ... and this year Susan presented in a poster session (see photo below)!
- I have attended the ALAN Workshop for several years but this year attended a different event that occurred concurrently: the annual convention of the Conference on English Leadership (CEL). I made connections with other English leaders and heard from keynote speakers, including Carol Jago, whose work I have been familiar with since my English education classes in my undergraduate days.
Susan and I both learned a lot at NCTE, ALAN, and CEL, and we have a lot of resources to share with our colleagues in the coming weeks and months. But for now, we are pooped. That was a long time to be gone--and to be engaged in learning all day and night for six consecutive days. We are ready for a little Thanksgiving break.
(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)
NCTE's keynote speaker on Thursday, November 21, was Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. One of her topics was her recent memoir Lovely One. Despite her important position, she seemed so down-to-earth and shared anecdotes from her impressive journey to the Supreme Court.
The keynote speaker on Friday, November 22, was Kate McKinnon, an actor many people recognize from her years on Saturday Night Live or the recent movie Barbie. She has written a work of adolescent literature called The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science. She was hilarious but humble, saying that she was intimidated to be in the presence of so many people doing such important work: teaching. (There were over 8,000 attendees at the NCTE convention.)
A very Moberg thing is to bump into someone we know no matter where we are. When visiting the vendor booths in the exhibition hall, Susan saw our friend Olivia, who used to work with me in Dickinson and who now teaches at the University of New Hampshire.
The keynote speaker on Saturday, November 23, was Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the memoir Just Mercy. He was an excellent public speaker: polished and mesmerizing.
The keynote speaker on Sunday, November 24, was Ada Limón, United States Poet Laureate. She read from one new and one upcoming book of poetry (here). The already-released book is an illustrated version of her poem "In Praise of Mystery," which was engraved on the Europa Clipper spacecraft that was launched last month to Jupiter and its moons!
Here's a view of the quirky interior of Citrus and Salt. We had a great meal of several small plates that we shared ... and margaritas, of course (which we did not share).
One of the featured speakers at the ALAN Workshop was Randy Ribay, one of my favorite authors of adolescent literature. His recent book Everything We Never Had was an excellent read and has been raking in the awards lately.
