There comes a tiredness with having attended a big conference, a sense of exhilarated exhaustion that inevitably catches up to almost all attendees that do not live in the host city.

However, it’s the good kind of “spent”, the kind that comes with having tapped into a host of personal reserves.

For me, the draining derives as a result of a few different things.

1. All the energy inside the conference itself. You can just feel the buzz on Day 1. By Sunday, a great many tanks have been tapped.
2. Trying to attend as many sessions and listen to as many speakers as possible. NCTE starts early (well, not as early as school, but early), ends late (school doesn’t end til holiday/summer breaks – that works knows no boundaries like weekends, night and so on) and is pretty much wall-to-wall. There’s always more stuff to do and see and hear than there are hours in the day and taking advantage of all the goodies is something I always strive to do.
3. All the interactions with people. There are so many keen minds, great spirits, wonderfully generous and thoughtful and dedicated people inside the conference hall that it feels as if you are on non-stop communication bender from the moment your feet touch the ground.
4. The deep thinking. Every part of my thought process abut teaching gets challenged the more immersed I am as a teacher at NCTE. The things I think I believe have their mettle tested, the things I am seeking to learn get pumped full of juice and the things I didn’t even know I needed to know get introduced and expounded upon in a way that makes my brain feel as if it has just spent a heck of a long time at a delicious restaurant… and when I rise from the table, I recognize that, “Wow, I am really full.”

Additionally, for me, as a presenter at these big conferences, I give a lot of energy to my sessions, both in the preparation as well as in the delivery.

I also try and give a lotta love to all my book signings. Plus, I will stay in that chair and sign and sign and sign until every last person has had their book autographed. I mean I can’t tell you how long it’s been a dream of mine to become a professional author and the truth is, I still can’t believe people will wait in line to get my signature in a book so hey, if you are gonna wait, I will, too. (But really, seeing lines snake around the corner all patiently waiting to get a signature or grab a photo with lil’ ol’ me, well… it never gets old, I tell ya that.” And then to learn that Homeboyz sold out all across the conference on Day 1 in the first three hours, well… stuff like that just blows me away. I mean I have no control over how many copies of my books the publishers and sales people will bring to any event but this is now the third year in a row that Homeboyz has been flying off the shelves and I gotta say, it’s deeply gratifying – so if other folks are gonna wait in line, I am gonna sit and sign til midnight if I have to.

At the end of the day, there’s a tiredness that attends to almost any experience in life into which you deeply throw yourself. At NCTE, you work hard, you laugh hard, you play hard, you think hard (often about the people that seem to be hardly thinking when they make educational policy and top-down management decisions) and you push the pedal to the metal.

It creates deep yawns in so many, many people… but they are the satisfying kind that comes from the spirit of honest, hard, genuine, rewarding, meaningful work.

Orlando 2010. NCTE will be 100 years old. Can you say “Off the hook?”

(A special thanks to Carol Jago – though thousands busted their tails to make NCTE 2009 the magical event that it was, did anyone else work harder? You rock, Carol… and you are a gift to all of us!)

So a really special opportunity has come up for me to offer 50 free tickets to a private literacy bash that is going to be off the chains at NCTE 2009 on Saturday night.

What we are gonna do is celebrate literacy, words, and books the way it oughtta be celebrated.

I wanted to open it up to everyone who wanted to come — all my ning friends — but since the food is free and the drinks will be flowing, my book publishers decided that the cap for my ability to invite my web homies would be set at 50 and they are gonna go the lottery route instead of first come first serve (cause that’s always BS anyway.)

So here’s how to put your name in for some free tix:

Email the ever gracious Beth at beaton@recordedbooks.com and let her know that you are gonna be in Philly and would love to come rock the house with us til the wee hours. (The flier says it ends at 10:00 pm but let’s be honest, when you get this many high energy teachers, writers, book lovers, spoken word artists and the such together, 10:00 is more like a start time. LOL!)

Beth has requested that you please include your name, job title, school, state, and email address — and please make sure to put ‘BookJam Bash’ in the subject line. thx.

Here’s what’s up… wish I could invite everyone. (Maybe next year in Orlando).

So the fine folks of Pensacola absolutely implored me to come visit their school district because my book Homeboyz (so they swore) is absolutely beloved. (And if I was going to be in Orlando, I just could not leave the state of Florida without speaking to their students — and their teachers who were looking for innovative, exciting, refreshing and effective ways to reach their struggling students)

It was MAGICAL! I spoke to hundreds of kids who had read my books. (They couldn’t believe I was white.) I met hundreds of teachers who had taught or who were about to teach my books. (They were SO incredibly eager, excited and generous — Pensacola was IN THE HOUSE!!!) I signed so many books my hand is freakin’ killing me, I spoke so many words my voice is absolutely wrecked, I shared gobs of lessons, strategies and insights that instead of being drained I felt energized (caffeine helps), I’ve switched into 3 different times zones in 4 days and slept in different hotel beds with different pillows and had different levels of water pressure in the shower so that physically, emotionally and mentally I am just absolutely flying and absolutely drained all at the same time.

But I also feel America’s classroom are changing. It’s happening out there. People are sick of the textbooks. People are tired of the buffoonery that runs hand in hand with one size (supposedly) fits all material. People are eager to use real books that kids love to cultivate authentic literacy and reach real kids in ways that are true to their souls.

It’s absolutely incredible to see. I have a front row seat to a grass roots movement and while it’s personally quite taxing, I feel as if I am doing public service by visiting, chatting up and inspiring our nations kids and teachers. (BTW, The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez is catching fire… multicultual kids, especially girls, are falling in love with the book.)

It might take all the strength I’ve got, but today was a day that proves there are things that are really working in America’s classrooms which the mainstream media does not cover. Things like Raven, who came up and told me that Homeboyz was the first real book she’s ever read in her life (and she’s a junior in high school) and now she is excited to read something new. Things like Ms. Boles doing Book Chats with kids who have been labelled dis-fluent by the state of Florida. (Dis-fluent? What the hell is that? You can’t make this stuff up!) Things like Esther posting that she’s bummed I am gone but thrilled that a rock solid sub, Mrs. Sampson, is taking my classroom in great directions while I am gone.

And now it’s time for a 9:30 p.m. dinner by myself. After, I am going to grade some student outlines I brought with me to Florida to make sure the expository essays we are working on at Lynwood are spot on.

If it sounds bonkers, it is.

But I did buy my daughter a cool gift and when I get home there’s a heck of a lot of daddy time coming. A b-day party for cousin Talia this weekend, maybe a walk down the beach with my wife and a BBQ in the Southern California weather.

Mix in a little sleep and then I’ll be good to go to help our nation once again next week. But up next, family. If I screw that up while I am out trying to change the world I am a bigger idiot than anyone else on the internet. There’s a fine line between work and work-a-holic and if I sacrifice the people most important to me to help be of service to something that is a vacuum with and endless suck (i.e. the needs of our country’s public schools) I am a fool.

Goodness, when they say teachers don’t work hard, I am not sure who the heck they are talking about. I meet hard working educators all the time. It’s our badge of honor.

And in Florida, I just met scores of them.

Keep it up folks — you rock!!

I am jumping on a plane home after a ROCKIN’ time at ASCD in Orlando where we hosted our very first Sitomer Summit.

The Sitomer Summit was an educational event unlike any other I have ever attended. (Much less hosted.) If you were there, you know what I mean. 4 state Teacher of the Year Award Winners spoke, we saw student work on the big screen that authentically illuminated evidence that 21rst education is not only here but is already being taught in certain classrooms across the country (and we saw how it can easily be taught in so many more classrooms as well if people are in possession of the right tools), we heard from 33 year veterans at the top of the educational food chain about how they rediscovered the passion as to why they got into education in the first place, witnessed the power of real books (not textbooks, not scripted curriculum,… REAL BOOKS!) to heal lives through the the make-me-weep-words of Dr. Joan Kaywell and did it all while being served filet mignon (literally, we ate filet mignon) at Ruth Chris Steak house.

We gathered, we thoughtfully engaged and we each left with a more clear vision on what our next steps ought to be to better the state of public education in America.

We literally participated in national movement. It reminds me of the famous quote from a few decades ago, “The revolution will not be televised,” Well I believe we have evolved.

The movement will be broadcast… but first we must BE THE MOVEMENT.

Like I said, if you were there, it was an event unlike any other. And if you were not there, think about joining us next time. It stirred my soul unlike almost nothing else.