Gearing Up for NCTE2022 & Winter Hiatus

by Xenia Hadjioannou, Lauren Liang, Liz Thackeray Nelson (Editors of the CLA Blog)

During the Closing Session of the 2021 NCTE Convention,  María E. Fránquiz, Program Chair for the 2022 conference, announced the theme of the 2022 Annual NCTE Convention: ¡Sueños! Pursuing the Light. With this call for proposals, María is inviting us "to think of ways that we can pursue and bring light to each other, to our profession, and our organization." The full clip of her announcement is provided below.

Clip from the Closing Session at NCTE 2021: María Fránquiz announcing the theme for NCTE 2022
Published with permission | Transcript

Out of the Darkness Grows the Light

In her announcement, María Fránquiz discussed drawing inspiration from the work of Sister Mary Corita Kent, "a social justice advocate, artist educator, designer and poet" and shared Kent's poem from the 1977 serigraph titled out of the darkness.

María also referenced a recently published children's biography of Corita Kent written by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Kara Kramer: Make Meatballs Sing: The Life and Art of Corita Kent. The biography, which was composed in close collaboration with the Corita Center and includes reproductions of her work, was recently selected as one of the 2022 Orbis Pictus recommended books.

out of the darkness
Corita Kent, 1977

out of the darkness
of one moment
grows the light
of another moment
perhaps in some distant time
if not in the next moment
love the darkness

An image of the out of darkness cerigraph as well as comprehensive collection of Corita Kent’s artwork can be found on the website of The Corita Art Center.

Golden Line Strategy

Another children's title María Fránquiz connected to the 2022 NCTE Conference theme of ¡Sueños! Pursuing the Light is a picturebook by Yuyi Morales published as Bright Star in English and Lucero in Spanish. In this book, a young fawn explores a border territory, gently guided and encouraged by a maternal voice.

Using the golden line strategy, María pulled out the line:

"No matter where you are, you are a bright star inside our hearts."

"Dondequiera que estés, eres un lucero en nuestros corazones."

In reflecting on the excerpt, María commented, "For me, this line embodies, the belief of light within each person, child or adult. It is repeated in different forms in the story. The message offers protection to children because it presents the possibility of a caring person or community somewhere. This line radiates hope and love. I think that line also ties nicely with the lighthouse logo that incorporates our theme for the 2022 Convention. With the moon, and the stars brightly shining and the constellation beyond the lighthouses of our different parts of the world."

If you are interested in learning more about the golden line strategy, check out our post From the 2020 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts in which Jeanne Fain, the 2020 Notables Committee Chair, describes the strategy and offers ideas and recommendations for practice.

Submitting Proposals for NCTE 2022

• Call for Proposals
  
• Proposal submission online form for NCTE 2022.
  
• Proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. ET, Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
  

• For any questions, please email NCTEevents@ncte.org.
  

Xenia Hadjioannou is Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg Campus of Penn State. She is Vice President of CLA and co-editor of the CLA Blog.

Lauren Aimonette Liang is Associate Professor at the Deparment of Educational Psychology of the University of Utah. She is Past President of CLA and co-editor of the CLA Blog.

Liz Thackeray Nelson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Utah. She is co-chair of CLA's membership committee and co-editor of the CLA Blog.