Testimonials
If you want to get a better picture of what attending the NCTE Convention might be like, the best place to learn is from teachers who have gone before. Several of the quotes below come from blog posts they wrote after attending the Convention in 2016. Click the links to get the full picture!
“[This is] the annual Mecca of English teachers, where we get to speak, listen, read, and write all about what we’re passionate about: students and learning.”
– Shana Karnes, Adjunct Instructor College of Education at West Virginia University
“We love going to NCTE each year. It is always a time to listen and be inspired by new ideas; to listen to mentors who ground us as we grow; to listen to friends who know us and help us challenge our thinking; to listen to our hearts and remember the power of being a teacher.”
– Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan, staff developers at Teachers for Teachers
“Every writer and teacher inspired me in some way, during talks or in corridors or at tables.”
“More than anything from last week, I was given hope—hope that the future of this profession was on very steady ground. Teachers are incredible people.”
“This is four days of workshops; mingling with educators, writers, and publishers; and attending book signings. And if you partake in the book signings, you not only get to meet your favorite authors, but they give you the books for free.”
“NCTE is a powerful, inspirational gathering of gentle, generous, kind, and brave teachers and authors. We know that words matter, but hearing the message in this atmosphere ingrains it into our hearts, and we are empowered to move forward.”
“This once-a-year gathering of friends, colleagues, edu-luminaries, beloved writers and illustrators, just seems to go by much too fast. It’s the event I begin looking forward to once again as soon as the last session ends; even as I pack up my piles of new books and prepare to fly back to New Jersey, I am thinking of next year.
Why? Because teachers need NCTE, we need forums in which to collect together, share our challenges, learn new ideas, form and strengthen bonds of friendship and professional admiration. We need to know that in this ever shifting landscape of education, there are core ideas and ideals that we can articulate and find ways to hold tightly on to. We need the collective spirit of being together in one place to coalesce into a renewed sense of joyful purpose.”
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend time with great thinkers and activists who are changing the world. I’m humbled in their presence. I’m changed because of my time spent at NCTE.”
“I’ve finally reached the point in my teaching career that I feel ‘somewhat’ familiar in my teaching skin. I need constant ways to push my practice, though. For that, I come to the NCTE Annual Convention. I know I’ll learn something new, reunite with friends who have become my family, and replenish my teaching soul—every single time!”
– Kimberly Parker, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Massachusetts
“More than ever before, we as a profession dare not linger in the perceived comfort or malaise of reacting to change. Rather, by attending the NCTE Convention, today’s ELA teachers can position ourselves to be proactive—instructionally, professionally, and yes, politically.”
– Jocelyn A. Chadwick, Harvard Graduate School of Education, NCTE President-Elect
“Often, as teachers in rural areas, it can seem like you are alone on an island. It is so refreshing to go to an event where you meet people who are passionate, knowledgeable, and excited about teaching English. The Convention rejuvenates and refreshes my curriculum in ways that are contemporary and exciting for my students. Getting to meet and attend sessions with authors that my students read in class really helps them understand that the work is bigger (and sometimes smaller) than they realize.”
– Jason Kurtz, high school teacher, South Dakota Council of Teachers of English, Founder/Organizer South Dakota Writes
“Attending the NCTE Convention is always a priority for me. No matter what else is going on, professionally or personally, I always leave the Convention ‘re-charged’ and ready to take on all aspects of my world at home.”
– Claire Lamonica, Illinois State University