Over 100 affiliate leaders from 39 different affiliates gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, last weekend. They came to learn from each other and from experts on topics pertinent to NCTE, NCTE affiliates and, most important, to their members and would-be members. Four NCTE presidents (and two former presidents), a few Policy Analysts, the 2017 Cohort of Early Career Educators of Color, and some NCTE staff members joined them.
The Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English Language Arts blog, anticipated the meeting with Friday Five: Reasons We’re Excited for the NCTE Affiliate Meeting. Reasons 2 and 5 capture the feeling:
“Informal conversations between affiliates. This, like those informal conversations at conferences, is often where we find out best ideas. Collaborations and conversations with other educators in other states is the goal here, and we’re excited to see what ideas the synergy of our conversations generate.”
“It feels like Thanksgiving in the summer! The energy and excitement of meeting other teachers and making connections in the summer is like attending the annual NCTE conference. We’re grateful to be a part of this organization and to add our voice to the conversation.”
Author, former English teacher and affiliate person, Sharon Draper reminded us we all possess super powers.
And calling upon our super powers, we listened, laughed, discussed, and worked our way through the weekend, documenting what we saw, heard, and said on Twitter to the hashtag #NCTEaffiliate.
I invite you to join and keep the conversation going!
