National Council of Teachers of English Convention

The annual NCTE convention was held in Nashville this past month. I attended with JoAnne Williamson, Margie Voss and Susan Zarwell. There were thousands of sessions offered and millions of books to peruse, all in the completely overwhelming Opryland Convention Center. Nobel Prize Winning author Elie Wiesel was scheduled to open the convention on Thursday evening, but he got stranded in an airport en route and was forced to talk to a disappointed audience via cell phone. One particular highlight for me was hearing renowned non-fiction author Susan Campbell Bartoletti speak to a room full of middle school English teachers about her experiences as a student, eighth-grade English teacher, and later, writer. She was witty and inspiring.