A Conversation about Intellectual Freedom with NCTE Affiliates
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
7:00–8:00 p.m. ET
REGISTER HERE
Registration will close 90 minutes prior to the event’s start time.
Our popular shared conversation with NCTE state and regional affiliates returns, focusing on work that educators are doing across the country to stand up for the students’ right to read and intellectual freedom in the classroom. We know that much of the work happens at the local level, which makes the work of state affiliates even more necessary. If you aren’t yet familiar with your state affiliate, learn more here.
Join NCTE’s Committee Against Censorship and members from across the country for a timely and important conversation. This webinar will share more about the landscape of censorship challenges in the classroom, what resources are available from NCTE and at a local level, and uplifting ways to encourage students’ right to read and teachers’ freedom to teach. We will be featuring information and experiences from members of the New York State English Council and Western Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English.
Contact profdev@ncte.org with any questions.
FEATURED GUESTS
Amy Bouch is an 8th-grade English Language Arts teacher near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is the President of the Western Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English (WPCTE), a Teacher-Consultant for the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project (WPWP), and a Co-Vice President of the Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar (ATEG). Amy was the 2022 ATEG Grammar Teacher of the Year, the 2023 NCTE Edwyna Wheadon Postgraduate Training Scholarship recipient, and a member of the 2022 NCTE Middle Level Section Nominating Committee. Amy’s favorite parts of teaching include getting over-the-top excited when pairing students with books they’ll love, empowering students to share their writing with wider audiences, and inspiring students to find the magic and power in grammar.
Dr. Christina L. Dobbs is an associate professor and director of the English Education for Equity and Justice program at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research interests include adolescent writing development in the disciplines, supporting culturally and linguistically diverse students in secondary classrooms, disciplinary literacy, and teacher beliefs and professional learning. Additionally, she does research about the experiences of women of color in the academy. Dr. Dobbs’ work has been published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, TESOL Journal, Reading and Writing, English Journal, Bilingual Research Journal, Reading Research Quarterly, Professional Development in Education, and the Journal of School Leadership. She is the author of several books, including Investigating Disciplinary Literacy and Disciplinary Literacy Inquiry & Instruction (2nd ed.), and Critical Disciplinary Literacy. She is also the editor of Preparing Antiracist Teachers and Until Every Woman is Free. She edits the Journal of Literacy Research. She is a former high school teacher in Houston, Texas, as well as a literacy coach and reading specialist.
Carol Frow is the Executive Director of WPCTE. She was previously the President for the 2019-2022 term and has sponsored teams for the WPCTE’s English Festival for nearly every year the festival has been in existence. Carol is a veteran teacher of thirty-four years and recently retired from her 7th and 8th grade ELA teacher position at Belle Vernon Area Middle School where she also sponsored the literary magazine and yearbook and directed the fall play and spring musical. Carol is also a teacher-consultant for the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project and was a 2021 Keystone Technology Innovator Star. A 2014 finalist for PA Teacher of the Year, Carol remains active in their TEACH program which involves mentoring pre-service teachers and mini-professional development conferences. Carol is always searching for new ideas since she has now moved into her own business, Carol Frow Coaching, which offers consulting on educational practice for teachers and professional development programs for schools. Carol also continues to work with students in book clubs and creative writing groups in local libraries. Carol can be reached at either her home email carolfrow@gmail.com or her consulting email carolfrowcoaching@gmail.com.
Bridgette Gallagher is a 9-12 Department Chair and English Teacher in Saratoga Springs, New York. She has had professional experience as a teacher, department chairperson, and as NYSEC Board President in advocating for systems and processes that assure intellectual freedom for all students. She’s an avid reader and writer, and relentlessly tries to cultivate a student’s knowledge of self in everything they read and everything they write.
Kate Lechtenberg is a teacher educator, instructional coach, and researcher based in Des Moines, Iowa. She has been a literacy educator for over 23 years, including over 12 years in secondary classrooms, four years as a school librarian, five years as an instructional coach. Her writing has appeared in English Journal, Journal of Curriculum Studies, and School Libraries Worldwide, and she is passionate about collaborating with teachers on action research, memorizing poetry to cope with institutional oppression, and buying books at independent bookstores.
Emily Lewis is a high school English teacher in central Iowa and a member of the ICTE board, serving as conference co-chair. Over her twelve years in education, she has taught grades 7-12, as well as supported teachers in leadership roles. Emily believes that books are an essential pillar of our society, reflecting the multitudes we all contain, the pains we have overcome, and the possibilities we can choose to avoid or embrace. It is her goal to keep these narratives alive in all communities, which is why she chose to step up and participate as a plaintiff in the lawsuit to overturn the book ban in her home state. In addition to her dedication to English education, Emily is a mother, a musician, a friend to many, and a consumer of stories in all forms of media.
Christopher Mazura is a teacher, teacher educator, and researcher committed to reflective, humanizing writing instruction that nurtures equity, agency, and community. A longtime English teacher at Guilderland High School and instructor at Syracuse University, he creates spaces where writing invites empathy and dialogue across difference. During his six years of service to the New York State English Council, he helped launch its online learning platform, co-developed Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion programming, and contributed to advocacy efforts supporting New York’s Freedom to Read Act. A longtime National Writing Project site leader, 2025 NYSEC Fellow, and 2025 NCTE Emerging Leaders Fellow, his work—featured in English Journal, English Leadership Quarterly, and PBS NewsHour—centers on reflection, vulnerability, and revision as pathways to renewal in teaching and learning.