#NCTE17

I had such an amazing time at the NCTE conference in St. Louis! It was a rewarding learning experience along with a lot of fun times! The trip started out with many Disney songs being sung at the top of our lungs, an adventure of running out of gas outside of Sterling, and an early morning trip to the Denver airport. The plane ride to St. Louis was fun and very scary for me. It was only my second time on an airplane, and it was a beautiful view. The train ride from the St. Louis to the convention center allowed me to see how pretty and huge the city of St. Louis is. It was rather unnerving for me to be in such a big city since I have spent almost all of my life in rural Nebraska. Thursday evening, we all attended the secondary section get together where we learned about how to defend the use of books with sensitive issues such as racism, sexuality, religion, etc. in our classroom.

Due to an unfortunate fall, we did not get to hear Lois Lowry speak at the Thursday evening general session. However, Laurie Halse Anderson replaced her as the general session speaker! Anderson told stories about how teachers had influenced her life, and she gave useful advice for future teachers. She told us to be the helpers that help children to find their path. She also told us a story about finding her love for writing in a time when she was not worried about being judged or assessed for what she wrote. Anderson spoke the ever important reminder that we need to look at our students as a whole. We have to understand that high school is a sensitive time, and that students are going through a lot of stuff at home and at school. We can’t be scared to call out the bullies in the faculty, and to love and care ceaselessly for our students. Finally, she spoke about challenged books. She said that parents often challenge books for two reasons: 1. the topics in the book bring forth painful memories of their own past, and 2. the parents have not learned how to talk to their children about these sensitive topics. She encouraged us to keep teaching these challenged books because they are the books that make us think!

“The only way to fight ignorance is with knowledge” – Jimmy Baca Santiago

Friday included many sessions, and several amazing meals! The food in St. Louis is incredible.  There were at least twenty restaurants within a half mile of the convention center! And here I was thinking that it was crazy that Bridgeport got a Taco Johns. The Friday morning general session included Jimmy Baca Santiago as the speaker. Jimmy taught his fellow prisoners to read, and has been drawn towards teaching his entire life. He talked about making sure that parents are involved in their children’s learning. And about how words and poetry are a form of rebellion where people can speak to injustices within the world. He encouraged us to invite writers to speak in our classrooms, and to encourage students to write about their mistakes and their fears because mistakes are where powerful, truthful poetry comes from. Finally, Jimmy talked about how difficult it is to teach students how to express their authentic voices. He said that it is easy to teach grammar every day, but giving students the ability to express their feelings without fear is way more difficult. We need to make our classrooms a place where authentic voices are expressed and heard, where the toughest subjects can be brought to the lights, and where children can learn to wield language and knowledge as a weapon against injustices.

The next session I went to on Friday morning was From Marvel to the Mannequin Challenge: Using Pop Culture to Revitalize the Classroom. Pop culture can be used to better connect with the students while allowing students to learn and display their learning in an interesting way. Using pop culture can motivate students because what they are doing in the classroom relates to their lives in a way that most things within the classroom do not. Pop culture should be used as a tool within the classroom, and it requires teachers to go outside of their comfort zone to use it. The session speakers gave examples of using Buzzfeed quizzes, snapchat, and the mannequin challenge within the classroom which all looked super fun and useful. The example of using pop culture in the classroom that I liked the most was using superheroes! The speakers used superheroes in place of Greek gods and goddesses where students would have to create a character that was the child of two popular super heroes. The students had to design their created hero’s outfit and super powers. I think this allows students to learn how to create a character in writing in a way that will interest them, and in a way that will show their creativity.

More on the NCTE conference in the next blog!