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The National Council of Teachers of English is hosting its annual convention at the Gaylord National Resort in Washington, DC from Nov. 20–23, and we're excited to announce that BookPal is going to be exhibiting this year! NCTE is an enormously valuable resource for teachers. Attendees will hear the latest news on education and discover new and interesting teaching techniques. Here are six sessions you don't want to miss:

1. "Telling a Story, Taking a Stance, Creating a World!"

Get inspired by seven educators from Zaharis Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona as they share their own stories that move learners beyond passive acceptance toward agency and action. This opening session discusses the essential role of story in the development of a school culture where learners experience an illumination of life, struggle for justice and create meaningful adventures. The speakers will focus on "Story as a Pathway for Teaching for Justice and Care," "Story as a Pathway to History and an Understanding of the Present," "Story as a Pathway to Agency" and "Story as a Pathway to Critical Thinking."

2. "Creating Lifetime Readers: Building Skill While Nurturing Will"

This hands-on session focuses on the two critical components of creating critical readers: skill and will. Learn how to connect your most reluctant readers to books while learning strategies that help all kinds of readers with close reading of complex texts. The session will feature three speakers: educational consultant Kylene Beers on "Close Reading: What This Means for Struggling Readers," Donalyn Miller of O.A. Peterson Elementary School on "Reading Workshop: How and Why It Works," Dr. Teri Lesesne of Sam Houston State University on "Read All About It: The New Books You Have to Know!" and professor emeritus at Georgia State University Robert Probst on "Why Reading Matters."

3. "The Perfect Pairings: Connecting YA Literature to More Traditional Readings (Classics, Memoirs and Informational Texts"

Speakers from Iowa State University, Waco Community School and Charles City High School share how pairing young adult books with classics, memoirs and other informational texts can benefit the reading experience. The presenters will also offer recommended book pairings and ideas on how these pairings can be implemented in the classroom.

4. "Hacking, Remixing, and Fixing Narrative Bugs in the Web"

In a crossover between technology and literature disciplines, this session will focus the critical and rhetorical aspects of the web, while covering the basic concepts of HTML, CSS and the Open Web through the X-Ray Goggles interface. Speakers from James Madison University, East Carolina University, Wendell Middle School, Hertford County Early College, J.H. Rose High School and East Carolina University will use Leah Ann Bell's storytelling for social justice framework to show how stories position us in terms of privilege and power, using WebKlipper and Popcorn to analyze and annotate those stories.

5. "Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: A Cross-Curricular Approach"

Educators from Crestview Local Schools explain how to take this topic of high interest (the zombie apocalypse) and turn it into a collaborative and highly engaging academic project. This session will discuss the challenges and benefits of the project and how to increase student motivation by creating more cross-curricular units.

6. "Stop Bullying Now"

The Director of the Office of Safe Schools and Healthy Students form the U.S. Department of Education will be the keynote speaker of this session featuring resources and literature-based lessons for ELA teachers to work with adolescents, children, community members and parents in roles as more than bystanders. There will also be a series of roundtable discussions: "Rising UP: Young Adult Literature and Short Readings to Combat Bullying," "Act It Out: Overcoming Bullying through Drama and Role Play," "A Digital Revolution: Using Multimodal Texts to Foster Conversations and Speak Out against Bullying" and "Literature as a Work of Heart: Promoting Reflection, Empathy and Acceptance in the ELA Classroom."

See the official NCTE Program here.

Be sure to come visit BookPal at booth #138 between sessions and enter for a chance to win $500 in store credit! We can't wait to see you there!!

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