Jenny Meadows, senior English teacher at Pike Liberal Arts School, is in Chicago this weekend speaking at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention.

The NCTE Annual Convention draws thousands of elementary and secondary teachers, college faculty, administrators and other educational professionals from around the world.

The participants hear award-winning speakers, attend idea-packed session, share best practices, participate in workshops and test the latest teaching materials.

Meadows admitted that the invitation to speak at this national gathering of English teachers is both an honor and a little nerve wracking.

“Dr. Patricia Waters at Troy University asked me to be a part of the convention,” Meadows said. “She and I will be participants in a roundtable session, ‘Embracing the Future with the Top 10 Teaching Ideas.’ I will be speaking on teaching ideas for students in the 21st century.’ I’m looking forward to being a presented and the conference will also be great learning experience for me.”

Meadows said aspiring and early career teachers from the around the United States will bring the latest ideas into conference.

Participation in three different round table discussions will allow participants to select the three ideas most relevant to their teaching, she said.

For Meadows, the conference is an opportunity to continue to learn in a formal environment.

“Teachers learn so much from each other and I know this conference will be very beneficial to me as a classroom teacher,” she said.

“As a teacher, I am able to identify my students’ weak and strong points and I’m also able to identify my own. So, I’m sure that I will learn so much from teachers in my field of teaching.”

The conference will feature several featured speakers and Meadows said that she will take every opportunity to attend those sessions.

“James Patterson will be the keynote speaker and I’m really looking forward to hearing him,” she said.

Patterson was dubbed as “the man who can’t miss” by “Time” magazine and will be the speaker at a special author session.

His books have sold an estimated 220 million copies worldwide.