My Trip to NCTE
All the fun I had in Denver at the NCTE conference
Who doesn’t love a good conference? This year I attended NCTE as both a presenter and as an author, and I met great people, attended some thought-provoking sessions for English teachers, and in general was on sensory overload the whole time. I STILL haven’t processed my notes from the weekend. For this, I blame my sister and her family: basically, the incentive to go to Denver was to get to stay with them, and we had such a good time the six of us that I didn’t have time to go over what I did.
This is an overview of the fun stuff I did while I was at NCTE in no particular order.
Percival Everett
On Thursday I had the opportunity to hear Percival Everett give the keynote address and interview. Obviously every one was there to hear him talk about James, which I gather is the only book by him most people have ever read. He was self-deprecating and has a dry wit; nevertheless, I believed him when he said he was sick of talking about James. But here’s this guy who has written 30 books and spent most of that time only known to a select few, and now he’s got a ton of cash and recognition in the later years of his life. All that hard work paid off. You have to give admire that.
I got my copy of Erasure signed (and in full disclosure I hadn’t read it yet; James was the only work by him I’d read up to that point). I didn’t really say anything to him. I forgot to mention we share a fondness for Blackwing pencils. I wasn’t nervous—I just wanted to hop on the bus and get back to my sister’s house.
Ester’s
You have to hand it to Ester’s—a place that not only makes great pizzas, but centers their whole concept around the band Phish. Being an avid Phish fan myself, this was perfect. My sister Amy and I split the delicious Prince Caspian pizza, while I took a bunch of pictures to show my fellow Phish fans. I even bought a shirt.
Author visit to Park Hill Elementary
People. If you don’t teach in an elementary school, 6-7 is a thing. Way more than you realized. My sister is a librarian at the local elementary school, and when she accidentally said the magic words, the third graders went bananas. I can see why many teachers and administrators are ready to ban than phrase.
This was a typical school visit. I presented to all of the third through fifth grade student by grade. I did a drawing demonstration. I had to kids read portions of my first two books out loud. I showed them a preview of my new graphic novel and, if there are any editors or publishers reading this, you have a potential hit on your hands!
Kids are kids. They seem the same no matter where I go. As a high school teacher, it’s always great to teach kids that weren’t on their phones and seemed excited about reading.
Author signings
I had a list of people that were signing that I wanted to meet in the exhibitor’s hall. First up was Vera Brogsol. I had a copy of Plain Jane and the Mermaid for her to sign and also snagged a copy of her new illustrated middle grade novel Return to Sender. I gave her a personal copy of Checkups, Shots, and Robots because she asked, and who am I to refuse? Even though she had a presentation at the same time as my signing, I ran a copy down to her.
I also tried to get an autographed copy of Stan Yan’s new middle grade graphic novel, but since he signs books so slowly likes to take time to talk to his fans, I didn’t get my copy before I had to go to MY signing. But a lovely person in front of me in line got me one, and I managed to snag a pic with Stan on my way to the Astra booth.
I wanted to get to Trung Le Ngyuen’s signing, but the line was too long so they kicked me out. But that’s ok—I saw him at an earlier session, and said hi to him later in the day.
I also met a couple of new friends who gave me with another opportunity to present next year. I’ll wait until I finalize the details to talk about it, but it will be an opportunity to go to a CON, and I’ve never been to one.
NCTE Sessions
Yes, I did make it to some sessions as well. First off, I want to say that there’s nothing quite like spending a bunch of time with other people that are just as passionate as you are about your chosen profession. If you had a drinking game where you took a shot every time a group of English teachers “mmm’d” appreciatively at a beloved book, you’d be drunk in less than an hour.
And there’s nothing like watching teachers present on topics, like a “tension paper” and ekphrastic poetry (poetry based on works of art). I came back with some great ideas, and more importantly, a renewed enthusiasm for teaching kids.
And I also taught a session on using non-fiction comics in the classroom, but I forgot to take a selfie, so you’ll just have to trust me that it was well attended. And thanks to my friend Sarah Fuller who let me use her hotspot in a moment of WiFi panic.
Interested to see more of my work? Or check out some other teaching ideas that I didn’t present? Head on over to davidrickert.com and Take a look!
Looks like a great conference! I met Everett in 2003 or so when he visited my PhD program. I wrote multiple papers on Erasure! 😂
Aww I got a shout out. (No H!)