I will be the first person to admit how lucky I am.  I will be one of the fortunate educators from across this country who will be heading to Minneapolis for the National Council of Teachers of English 2015 Conference. Being able to connect and network with such a group of passionate teachers, authors, librarians, and researchers is a real privilege.

This year I was able to bring one of the teachers from my district with me. We will presenting some of the work we have done together as I wrote my book Close Writing.  Andrea and I will be joined by Kate Messner, Selene Castrovilla, Linda Urban, Sarah Albee, and Lester Laminack on a panel that I consider a real dream team.

It has certainly required a lot of work and planning, but I think it will be incredibly rewarding to share our work with other educators and learn along with this brilliant panel of authors.

I’ll be tweeting out from the conference #NCTE15 and will share some of my highlights in the coming weeks.  For those teachers in my district who were not able to join us, I am committed to bringing back the latest thinking, the best practices, the hottest new books, and an energized literacy coach!

Here’s to another leg on my journey of learning! It has been an amazing ride so far! I am ever mindful of the quote, “To those whom much is given, much is expected”. I will use these opportunities that have been given to me to be the best teacher, coach, and colleague to others.