Williams, chair of the Greenhills English department, and Ward, director of the Learning Center, collaborated on the panel presentation “The Commonplace Book Tradition as Innovative Analytical Writing,” which ran from 11 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. Most Upper School students are familiar with the commonplace book assessment from 9th grade English and other classes such as Art & Architecture.

The use of commonplace books provides students with a consistent, long-term engagement with writing and thinking; students choose their own topics, synthesize information from a variety of sources, and push themselves to develop fresh insights. Williams brought the commonplace book format to Greenhills when she arrived in 2007. Commonplace books have since become a unique part of the writing experience at Greenhills. The conference presentation is an exploration of how commonplace books promote critical thinking, analytical writing, and ongoing reflection for students.

The National Council of Teachers of English, with 35,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. NCTE convention attendees hear presentations from award-winning speakers, attend thought-provoking sessions, share best practices, and test the latest teaching materials.