I attended my first NCTE conference in Denver last weekend, November 21st - 22nd, and I wanted to reflect on what I learned as a newbie attender.
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| Denver Convention Center |
NCTE stands for National Council of Teachers of English. Since I'm also a teacher, I've seen NCTE on many research articles, but I had never been a member. That is until...
I had been invited by author friends to present at the conference. Why would authors and illustrators want to present to teachers? Well, for one, these are English language arts teachers who sit in sessions for several days and take back to their districts all the great products and books and wisdom to share with the gatekeepers (A.K.A. principals, educational coaches, etc...) And if your book fits into English language arts standards and curriculum, why not share it?
The only problem--writing a creative proposal for a presentation that fits into the conference theme set by NCTE. The Denver theme was Dream Boldly. Debra Shumaker headed my group--Nancy Churnin, Amy S. Hansen, Linda Katzenberger, and me. Our presentation was titled "Using Historical & Informational Picture Books to Spark Dreams." We found what we had in common with our books and each of us wrote part of the proposal. We met several times on Zoom to plan and even had a run-through of our presentation on Zoom. So by the time we all arrived, we were ready!
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| Debra, Amy, Linda, Tina, Nancy |
Next year's conference is in Philadelphia, Nov. 19-22. The theme is "Imagine. Innovate. Inspire. Ideas That Illuminate." The proposal window has already opened and closes January 27th, 9:00am, EST. Here are the rules. If you want to present, find a group of authors/illustrators with books/themes you have in common as well as something meaningful and helpful for teachers to share in the classroom. You'll also probably make a handout. And oh, one more very important thing--you need a teacher on your team. 😁 Um, this is a conference for teachers!
Something else to consider is price. This conference is costly. Ask your publishers if they will be attending and if you can sign or if they will help pay your way. Some do. Some don't. You also need to add in the price of travel, hotel, meals, transportation from the airport, etc... Save your receipts if you will be writing this off your taxes. One thing I learned--how to use Uber for the first time! I "ubered" from the airport to the hotel and then used my phone Maps to walk to the convention center.
My "aha" moments and tips:
1. Take running shoes. Yep! You'll do a lot of walking in the convention center. Also, there's an exhibit hall and newly published books are given away. However, there's a catch that no one told me--there are only a certain amount of each free book that publishers give out. For some (the well-known authors), you need a ticket. And worse, the giveaways are mostly held at the same time. So you need to plan strategically which author/illustrator you're willing to stand in line for.
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| I planned on standing in Andrea Wang's line! |
2. Leave extra room in your luggage for the books you might acquire. *see #1
3. Dress nicely and have your phone/camera ready. You never know who you'll see! I was a fangirl to so many authors I had known for years but had never met in person!
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| me and Jyoti Gopal |
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| me and Dow Phumiruk |
4. Take your updated business cards or bookmarks--something has that your website, email, social media handles. Give these to interested educators, other creatives, and even publishers.
5. Connect with others! This is a time to meet up with author and illustrator friends, perhaps your editor is there, or publisher. Get to know teachers in your sessions. I got to meet one of my editors, Joanna Cárdenas, from Penguin Random House Kokila. We met up at a coffee house. I also sat in a session and discovered editor Nancy Paulsen was sitting next to me! I introduced myself and told her it was an honor to meet her. I love that editors support their authors and illustrators! And I met many more kidlit friends. See my Instagram reel.
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| me and editor Joanna C. |
6. Share lodging or stay in the same hotel. I met my critique partner of 13 years for the very first time--Vivian Kirkfield. I roomed with her. (I only stayed for one night at the convention b/c I'm a teacher, it's very hard for me to have a sub...)
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| me and Vivian Kirkfield, one of my critique partners |
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| Lisa Rogers, me, Vivian--breakfast at the hotel |
7. Visit your publishers' booths. I found my graphic novel that came out Nov. 24. And I saw my forthcoming picture book, THE PRINCESS & THE GRAIN OF RICE, at the Macmillan booth for the very first time as a hardcover book! I ooed and awed and took pictures. They even had me sign it for their giveaway. (I wanted it!!)
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| Macmillan |
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| Harper Collins |
8. Visit any organizations' booths in which you are affiliated. NCTAsia (National Consortium for Teaching about Asia) gave the Freeman Honor Award to my books The Other Side of Tomorrow and The Ocean Calls. So I stopped by their exhibit and discovered my graphic novel on display with the sticker award. They gave me some stickers for my books. And they took pictures, and one representative came to my session!
I also visited the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) exhibit because they used my book The Ocean Calls in their reading curriculum. So I stopped by to say thank you, and the founder, Lucy Calkins happened to be there. So I met her & took a photo. My district uses her curriculum.
9. Attend sessions that interest you or support your friends! Of course, I attended my critique partner's session and as many author friends' sessions that I could. Another one of my school's reading curriculum publishers was there teaching a session, so I sat in their session as a teacher gathering wisdom to share with my kindergarten team.
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| Vivian Kirkfield, Jolenne Gutierrez, Nyasha Williams |
10. Attend the keynotes to be inspired. The new face of Reading Rainbow, Mychal Threets, gave a powerful keynote. Authors and illustrators need their emotional buckets filled, too!
11. Get a souvenir.
I love the message on this shirt and will be a reminder of my 1st awesome NCTE conference! I enjoyed sharing my highlights with you and with my teacher team and students!
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| back in my kindergarten classroom sporting my NCTE shirt |
So, if you'd like to learn more about NCTE or write a proposal to present, click the links in this post! If you have any questions or tips, leave them in the comments!
Tina Cho is the award-winning author of six picture books--RICE FROM HEAVEN: THE SECRET MISSION TO FEED NORTH KOREANS, KOREAN CELEBRATIONS, MY BREAKFAST WITH JESUS, THE OCEAN CALLS: A HAENYEO MERMAID STORY (4 starred reviews, JLG, Freeman Honor Award), GOD’S LITTLE ASTRONOMER, GOD’S LITTLE OCEANOGRAPHER, and the forthcoming THE PRINCESS AND THE GRAIN OF RICE (Feb. 2026), THE KIMCHI FRIDGE (Oct. 2026), GOD’S LITTLE ZOOLOGIST (2027), & GOD’S LITTLE BOTANIST (2029). Her lyrical middle grade graphic novel, THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW received five starred reviews (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School Library Journal, The Horn Book), an SCBWI Golden Kite Award, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, SLJ Best Graphic Novels List 2024, Kirkus Best Middle Grade 2024, & Booklist Editors’ Choice 2024 & the Freeman Book Honor Award/NCTAsia). She’s a kindergarten teacher by day and an author by night. You can visit her website at www.tinamcho.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.