Keep Austin Weird

Shamefully staring at bags yet to be unpacked, Lori

We had a blast in the capitol of our great Lone Star State! TCTELA this year did not disappoint. Here are some of the highlights of our trip.

We arrived on Friday and were able to see two of our favorite people, Bob Probst and Kylene Beers. Bob and Kylene were sharing their nonfiction sign-posts with a large group of faithful Texas teachers. My favorite part of the message was Kylene's move to equate literacy to Power and Privilege. Her point is that we have always used literacy as a way to divide social, economic, and racial classes. As educators, it is our job to create empowered learners who ask their own questions and think with conviction. I left that room feeling ready to save the world! 

Lady Bird Lake:
I actually took this while running. Be impressed.

On Saturday morning, I snuck away to the very scenic Lady Bird Lake at a very early hour of the morning to get in a good, long run. Look how pretty! 

Then, we were able to catch some great sessions on writing notebooks. Curly friends know how much we love a good interactive notebook! Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the luncheon with Jacqueline Woodson, which I think is quite possibly the greatest tragedy of the weekend. I did, however, see her while we were on our way down to begin our session, and I'm 100% positive that I got all weird and probably gave her a big ol' Forest Gump style wave like she and I were long-lost besties or something. Way to keep your cool, Lori.

Our session, Revision Meets the Road, could not have gone any better. I love presenting with my actual bestie--Suzanne. The participants who came were so awesome, and it truly felt like a great little community of learners. We wrote, we revised, we laughed, and we definitely learned! Thanks to all of our Curly friends who came out! 

YOU were the best part of TCTELA!

The second best part was when we went to a restaurant called Moonshine and I ate fried chicken and waffles. It was so good I almost cried. Any actual benefit from that aforementioned gorgeous long run was completely negated. It's ok. I own my choices.