My first
years of teaching were about survival. Any professional development I attended
was something recommended by someone within my district. It was only around
year eight that I even heard of IRA and went to my first conference – it was in
Chicago. While there I spoke to many attendees and heard over and over again of
the organization NCTE. Upon arriving home I did my research on NCTE and imagine
my surprise to find that they were based in Urbana, Illinois – only thirty
miles down the road from me.
Since that time I’ve made up for the years I have lost. I have read professional development books and attended conferences as much as humanly possible. I have always had a desire to grow as a teacher - the NCTE organization, the conference they run, and the colleagues I’ve met as a result have all contributed to my growth.
One of the things I love about NCTE is their focus on writing, which often gets so much less attention when compared to reading. For the last five years they have celebrated the National Day on Writing in October. This year’s theme is write2connect. (Read more about it HERE.)
How will
you celebrate the National Day on Writing? Here’s a few suggestions:
Join
Penny Kittle and myself on October 20th at 8pm EST on Twitter to participate
in a Twitter chat using the hashtag #NCTEChat. It will be a fast paced hour
with great discussion centered around writing.
Tweet out
on October 21st using the hashtag #write2connect sharing the ways
you use writing to foster connections.
Write a blog post about how you use your own writing to connect – whether it is connecting your own life to your classroom, yourself to your students, or another way entirely. Please stop back here to Read, Write, Reflect next Monday and leave your link in the comments and we can all share our ideas.
Have a
terrific week! I can’t wait to talk writing with you all soon.
