Join NCTE for a members-only Build Your Stack®-inspired event, led by members of the Middle Level Section Steering Committee. Presenters will discuss many middle grade texts to share with students for their summer reading, or to add to your own summer reading plans.

Learn more about the Build Your Stack initiative and see upcoming and previous events led by members of the committee, read previous blog posts, and learn more about Build Your Stack at the Annual Convention here.

Thursday, May 16, 7:00–8:00 p.m. ET

This is a members-only event, and registration is required. Please contact profdev@ncte.org with any questions.

Sarah Bonner is a 20-year teacher in middle school language arts and an assistant professor for the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her research interests include inquiry-based pedagogies, transformative practices, middle grade literacies, and design based methods.

Alethea Maldonado Cavin (@aemaldo) is a Texas native and has worked alongside emergent bilinguals for eight years. She is a teacher consultant for the Heart of Texas Writing Project. She is passionate about teaching literacy through culturally relevant pedagogy in her classroom and advocating for the education of multilingual learners.

Alex Corbitt, PhD, (@Alex_Corbitt) taught middle school English in the Bronx, New York. He is now an assistant professor of literacy at SUNY Cortland. His research focuses on critical literacies, gaming, and speculative fiction.

Eva Goins (@eva_goins) is completing her 23rd year in the middle school classroom setting. She is pursuing a doctoral degree at Texas Woman’s University. She is president-elect of the NCTE Texas affiliate, TCTELA.

Sonam Shahani is a middle grades ELA educator of more than 11 years. Sonam received her bachelor’s degree at The University of Texas at Austin and her master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University and has enjoyed teaching middle school students at American schools abroad and in the United States. She resides in Houston, Texas.

Vanee Smith-Matsalia (@TokenBlackTeach) is a 13-year veteran middle school English teacher. She is an experienced curriculum writer and developer whose research focuses on antiracism, literacy best practices, and African American speculative fiction.

Tanisca M. Wilson has 27 years of experience teaching and leading literacy instruction. She is a reading specialist and teacher leader at a charter school in New Orleans. Her research foci are access and equity for underserved students, hip hop and language acquisition, and women in leadership.