In 1787, fifty-five delegates gathered in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. November 19-22, 2009, NCTE will host its convention in this historic city. As in 1787, the air will be rich with ideas and argument — point and counterpoint — and crackling with excitement. The theme of the conference, “Once and Future Classics: Reading Between the Lines,” is designed to inspire courageous conversations about traditional and contemporary literature and foster lively discussions of how we teach as well as what we teach.
We would be ambitious if we aspired to close our conference with a proclamation as far reaching as that chosen by the framers of the U.S. constitution, but I can say with certainty that our assembly of authors and experts, researchers and practitioners, poets and scholars, will have a powerful effect on how we teach. I look forward to seeing you there.
--Carol Jago, Program Chair