NCTE CONFERENCE REPORT

NCTE Conference Report

Chadalee L. Ritonya

University of Nebraska at Kearney

TE 875

Dr. Judy Henning

4 December 2022
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NCTE Conference Report

I am in the graduate program for University of Nebraska at Kearney to become a school

librarian. For now, I am working as a freshman English teacher. I have been teaching for the last

nine years. Throughout the last nine years, I have followed a curriculum that I did not get to

write, but this year I was invited to be on the curriculum committee. This led to the opportunity

to attend the National Council of Teachers of English conference that was held in Anaheim,

California. Our district paid for the entire conference and trip and it was the most amazing

investment in the English teachers that attended. There I attended multiple sessions setup by the

most amazing English teachers and English teacher icons.

First Session Summary

The first session was titled Holding Our Own: How Teachers, Authors & Librarians Can

Fight Book Bans and Protect Inclusive Curricula. It was a panel discussion led by the District

Library Coordinator in Texas, Becky Calzada, with authors that included George M. Johnson,

Kyle Lukoff, Dashka Slater, and Kelly Yang. Calzada went through a slideshow discussing the

history of book banning - all the way back in the 1850s with people wanting to ban Uncle Tom’s

Cabin. Calzada also went through how the percentage of people who want to ban books is

actually quite small, but they seem to have the loudest voices. She discussed how after Covid-19,

their ISD school brought in inclusive books and how parents wanted to ban informational texts

because they felt it inappropriate for their children to read. She brought up defunding the

libraries and how many librarians have been harassed that they end up quitting the job.

The authors had a chance to discuss why they write the books that they do and at what

stakes they write them. George M. Johnson stated, “I grew up as a black queer teen and I had a

hatred of the books I was forced to read. Other people lived this life, but I didn’t” and that is why
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he started writing the books that have been challenged and/or banned. Author Kelly Yang said, “I

never saw myself represented [in books]. Every child has a right to a great education” on why

she writes the books she does. Author of The 57 Bus Dashka Slater stated that she wants all

children to “have amazing conversations after reading the book and that democracy is at stake”

and people email to tell her that they do.

At the end of the day, we are going to keep fighting this battle of parents not wanting

their students to read certain texts. As a future librarian and as a current English teacher, this is

the battle that I will continue to fight. It will be hard, but knowing that I will have support from

my district and administration is helpful. I have already been challenged in my classroom for

having my students read something from my curriculum - Enrique’s Journey - a nonfiction book,

but my administration fought the parents and I got to continue my lessons. I think it will be very

different as a librarian, and have heard our librarian discuss these issues with other teachers, but I

think it will be doable.

Second Session Summary

The next session that really resonated with me was presented by Penny Kittle and Kelly

Gallagher - two ICONS in the English teaching realm. Their session was titled Daily Joy -

practices that light up our thinking, writing, and teaching. They first went through the statistics of

just how much our students are learning digitally. Not even just learning, but being present

digitally. They are reading digitally, playing video games, on social media, video chatting,

e-reading, etc. If that is the case, then we should be teaching them to create more through digital

media. “Students need four types of digital engagement: critical digital consumption, production,

distribution, and invention” (Gallagher & Kittle, 2022). They showed us how they have used one

minute movies to get the students thinking. Kittle is a professor in New Hampshire for first year
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writers. Gallagher is a former ELA teacher who still goes around and spends time teaching and

helping students. This one minute movie turns into more than a minute, but they are using the

same tools of writing as they are to create these movies. They have questions that need answers

about transitions from one photo to another, what photos they are using and where they are being

placed, the music, the ending, etc. The projects we saw were absolutely amazing. Students know

what they are doing digitally, so we should let them show us.

I attended this session with my department chair and we came up with some ideas from

this to implement in our classes. We want to use it with a book, but could also use it as some sort

of research. Just like Kittle and Gallagher did, we could have them come up with their own topic

for research and they will use photos and videos to digitally compose their project. They will

share their drafts with their peers and get feedback from them. I like it as an option for those

students who might be struggling with writing, but can still go through the same skills and

process as writing an essay. They can create researched arguments as documentaries or digital

texts.

Third Session Summary

The third session was titled, Daring to Dig out of Darkness: Choosing to Collectively

Pursue Anti-Racist and Equitable Teaching in a High School ELA Department. This was another

panel discussion from some of the ELA department from Okemos High School. They discussed

how important it is to include books from everywhere in the curriculum. They relied on Dr.

Goldy Muhammad’s quotes to help persuade. “Students need texts that restore their humanity

and the true and diverse histories of the world. They need texts that teach them about themselves

and equip them to face harsh realities of the world. Texts should innate new language, learning,

and ways of thinking of the content” (Muhammad, 2020, p. 152). They discussed how it was
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critical to revamp their curriculum to better serve their students, but that it was hard when all

teachers of the department are on different pages. As with any staff and department, not

everybody gets along or has the same goal, but it can be done as long as we all have the same

idea in mind: do it for the students. They talked about how their department had to have

discussions and let it all out for them to be on the same page.

Again I attended this session with my department leader. I told her that we need to do the

same because our department is so disconnected. Not all of us get along, and not all of us want to

change. We need to have a get together and let everything out in the open to start the healing

process and start planning for the future of our students. We need to change our curriculum to

better serve our students and not for us. It is hard for teachers who have been teaching so long

because that is more work for them. But at the end of the day, we have to make sure that we are

meeting the needs of our students. If we don’t want to have the learning, reading, and creativity

die, we need to change what we are doing and it starts with the department, the school, the

curriculum.

Honestly, I could write more about the sessions that I attended. They were all amazing

and led by some pretty great people. I went to another with author Nic Stone who presented with

Georgia Parker. I learned so much from all of the people in the sessions that I attended. I sat at

tables with people from all over the country and we discussed the same problems that we are

seeing nationally. It was one of the most intense professional experiences that I have ever gone

to. I am so appreciative that I not only got to do this for my career, but also for my classes. I will

absolutely fight to continue to go to these kinds of conferences as they are so beneficial for my

own learning, but to network and foster ideas for my students.