From December 3rd to December 5th, 2026, Mr. Berry and Dr. Degen attended the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented where they presented activities from their recent book “The English Coach’s Instructional Playbook.” Then, on January 8th, 2026, Mr. Berry and Dr. Degen were guests on a webinar sponsored by the Bridges 2E Center, an organization that provides research in serving the gifted and talented populations, based in California.
Why It Happened
On top of teaching courses from Honors English 1 to AP Lang, Mr. Berry also works with Dr. Degen to give presentations centered around the strategies and concepts outlined in their book, The English Teacher’s Instructional Playbook: Classroom Strategies Informed by Neuroscience. One of these conferences Mr. Berry and Dr. Degen had been aware of was the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented, which Mr. Berry thought aligned with the teaching values that they believe in. After applying to present at the conference, they received word last spring that they would be able to give a presentation.
Previously, Mr. Berry and Dr. Degen gave a presentation in Braga, Portugal for the World Counsel of Gifted and Talented Children Conference in July. It was here that Mr. Berry met Mark Long and Stacey Hillborne from Bridges 2e Center who eventually invited, after getting to know them better, Mr. Berry and Dr. Degen to speak on a panel on Zoom during the fall.
“Being open to growth and actively seeking out community…are two things that I was…reminded of through these experiences.” – Mr. Berry
The Experience
Mr. Berry and Dr. Degen’s presentation for the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented entailed a mock lesson of a similar kind of instruction of the reading and writing instruction given at Jesuit in front if a group of about 50 people, ranging from teachers to school administrators. They demonstrated many of the techniques taught at Jesuit including the levels of the voice chart (L1, L2, L3, etc.), how to structure arguments via a t-chart, as well as the concept of a gallery walk (various lines of a piece of literature posted around the room for observers to come up to and analyze), using one of Mr. Berry’s favorite Sonnets by Shakespeare, “Sonnet 29,” as an example.
Mr. Berry felt they executed the event as well as they reasonably could, receiving compliments on the helpfulness of what they discussed. The only thing Mr. Berry felt that could have gone better was how they failed to bring copies of their book.
During the Zoom discussion, Mr. Berry and Dr. Degen answered questions alongside another Mrs. Mary McInerney, writer of Creative Writing with Miss Mary Mac., about how they foster their students’ writing skills to a crowd of around a hundred people, including parents to teachers. Mr. Berry enjoyed speaking in a space where his insights were valued. On top of this, in speaking with someone who specializes in creative writing, he found that they shared many of the same beliefs when it comes to instructing writing, despite the differences in the forms of writing they teach.
Final Thoughts
For Mr. Berry, events such as these ones carry immense importance as they act as a way for people to both share what they have found success and failure in, and to learn from these findings. These kinds of experiences act as a way to build community for Mr. Berry and exemplify how important it is to do so.
“Whatever you’re trying to build…you want it to benefit [others] and have value.” – Mr. Berry
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Thanks to Mr. Berry, Dr. Degen, and Eugenio Murcio for their help in the making of this article!
