After all of the anticipation, NCTE 2014 is history. What an exciting, inspirational, and energizing time it was.
I stated on Thursday at an off-site session held at the Holocaust Museum. I had never been there so I was looking forward to it. About 20 of us went. We started off in one of their classrooms where we were grouped and given 60 pictures, 2 markers, and a sheet of chart sized posts-it paper. We had 8 minutes to look through the pictures, pick out 6 that touched us and told some kind of story, glue them on to the chart paper, and give it a heading.
After a kind of gallery walk to view the other posters we discussed things and then were given two hours to tour the museum. Because of the time limit, I just did the permanent exhibit. We then met back in the classroom for some final remarks. It was truly a moving experience.
NCTE kicked off on Friday with a keynote address by Marian Wright Edelman. She offered some disturbing facts and figures about the failure of our country to break the cradle to prison syndrome. She was followed by a panel discussion featuring Rudine Sims Bishop, Christopher Myers, Matt de la Pena, Mitali Perkins, and Rukhsana Khan (who I ran into and spoke with at dinner that night). Their topic was about the underrepresentation of people of color in books for children and young adults.
There were many good sessions I attended on both Friday and Saturday. I have to say that the highlight of the event was the Slicer dinner I attended Saturday night. It was so nice to meet and talk to people read most weeks. It is always nice to be able to put a face with a name. Here are some pictures from the area:
The Gaylord 
The Lobby of the Gaylord.
No way you would ever get me on this.
Even at night. 
The Awakening. 
Slicer dinner. 
Slicer gift exchange. 
Inspirational words in the notebook.
More about the individual sessions in future posts.
arjeha 
Looks like fun! I was bummed I didn’t get to attend, but it was nice to use Twitter to keep up with everyone! Looking forward to the next time…
I saw that pre-conference session at the Holocaust Museum. I’ve been there before, which is why I didn’t go, but the session looked good. Glad you went.
So good to see you in person again, Bob! Thanks for sharing the pics!
Love the multi-modal post. Looks and sounds like you made the most of your time. Glad to have met you, in person, at the dinner!
I’ve been to the Holocaust Museum, a tough and poignant experience. How great that you chose that for one of yours. Glad you had fun, & sorry not to have made it this year. Happy Thanksgiving!
Those are great pictures. I would love to hear more about your visit to the Holocaust Museum, I’ve always wanted to go there.
It was such a pleasure to meet you and get to chat with you over dinner! I wish we could have talked a bit more, but time was so limited over the weekend. I hope I will see you again next year in Minneapolis.
Such a joy to meet you, Bob! I wish dinner had been a bit quieter, but it was such fun for so many of us to be at the table together. Happy Thanksgiving!
next year…I will be there…what an incredible experience
disturbing facts and figures about the failure of our country to break the cradle to prison syndrome…we need to figure out the answer to this!!! xo
It was an incredible experience. Thanks for your thinking and the pictures. I’m usually camera crazy, but I just tried to soak things in this time, so it’s nice to see your pics. The slicer dinner was the best, sorry we ended up at opposite ends of the table. It would have been fun to swap 6th grade stories with you.