Have you ever heard of the NCTE Commission on Dreams?
It never existed---but it was actually proposed in 1977 by NCTE Executive Director J.N. Hook, who urged the Council to consider the challenges of the future.
Did you know that NCTE once sponsored a committee to compile an "annotated list of literary shrines" so that members taking car trips could locate and visit famous writers' homes? The American Literary Landmarks Committee was formed in 1965 and for years gathered and compiled what was described as a "prodigious" amount of material. The literary shrines list, however, was never published: despite the committee members' work, the cochair had the only copy of the material and would not release it. After years of requests, letters, and phone calls, none of which he answered, the project was abandoned and the committee disbanded in 1975.
Did you know that NCTE sponsored a project to record and capture variations in young children's speech?
The Project on Dialect Recordings extended from 1965 to 1969 and focused on children's language all over the United States. While enthusiasm for the project was initially strong, committee members were not able to define and limit the task, and after some years they disbanded with little to show for their effort.
Consider volunteering for one of these existing NCTE Commissions or Committees:
Commission on Composition
Commission on Language
Commission on Literature
Commission on Media
Commission on Reading
Standing Committee on Affiliates
Standing Committee Against Censorship
Standing Committee on International Concerns
Standing Committee on Research
NCTE/SLATE Steering Committee on Social and Political Concerns