I Just Own The Best Umbrella! @NCTE @WritingProject

There's a quote,

I didn't invent the rain; I just own the best umbrella,

that I was thinking about all day yesterday. In fact, I knew they were calling for 48 hours of rain, so I stopped at the store to purchase cocktail umbrellas for my graduate students (so they would remember to protect themselves at this time of the semester when we're all ready to be washed down the drain). We're simply drenched from the semester. Northeast issues after the snow melted away.

Then, while the one-and-only Michael LoMonico (of NCTE and Folger's Library fame) was presenting a once-in-a-lifetime workshop on developmental readings on Shakespeare, an alert came over my computer.  I glanced at the laptop and saw, Congratulations! Several workshops that colleagues and CWP-Fairfield teacher leaders were proposed were accepted for the 2017 National Council of Teachers of English Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

I wasn't expecting decisions until late May or June!

This is phenomenal news for the CWP-Fairfield family. Many have collaborated to make tremendous literacy contributions in Connecticut and now their hard work will be shared at the national level. I'm proud to be part of these teaching teams and will be involved with the following presentations as I celebrate, applaud, share, and learn with teachers across the nation.

• Of Wishes and Walls - Reclaiming Voices of Refugee and Immigrant Youth
• Urban Literacies in Middle School: Giving Students Voice and Agency Inside and Outside of School
• The Little Lab for Big Imaginations: A 3rd - 6th Grade Summer Writing Institute
• NWP Promising Practices in Urban Spaces: Learning Together While Teaching, Engaging, and Involving Student Voices in the World,
• "You Gotta Write! Aright?" - Young Adult Literacy Labs at Fairfield University
• The Intersection of Literacy, Sport, Culture, and Society

I'm also excited that a couple of book projects were accepted for the conference and that teachers, who have chapters in these texts, will be part of the program, as well. 

The most amazing part, however, is that these presentations represent the community of writers CWP-Fairfield has set out to building: youth workers, educators, advocates, and change-agents embracing the diversity of Connecticut to provide equitable, creative, and innovating programs. 

It may be pouring rain outside and somewhat miserable right now, but I'm feeling dry with the good ol' cocktail umbrella. I am thinking of a 4-year old's wisdom, too, "You can't hate rain. Rain brings flowers." (His dad will be one of the presenters!)

Yesterday, everything bloomed all at the same time! Looking forward to #NCTE2017 and @NWPAM17. The CWP-Fairfield entourage is coming!