community college level. This reliance on committee organization proved to be extremely useful, for it permitted interested groups to concentrate their focus on particular issues or trends. Membership grew dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century, and over the years new committees were formed, leading to the five-conference structure in place at the beginning of the twenty-first century. A notable past president was Lou L. LaBrant in 1954 who lived to be 103 and taught for 70 years. Structure NCTE offers its members opportunities to grow professionally by interacting with colleagues in all sides of English teaching. Individuals belong to any of four broad Sections of membership – Elementary, Middle, Secondary or College. They may also join other groups centered on various teaching specialties within English, each with its own journal, meetings, and projects. Major interest groups, called Conferences, serve teachers of college writing and rhetoric; teacher educators in higher education and in-service posts; teachers with an interest in whole language; and English department chairs, K-12 supervisors, and other English instruction leaders. Assemblies are informal special interest groups, ranging in focus from computers in English to research, which meet at NCTE conventions. A notable example of this last sort of group is the Children's Literature Assembly, which publishes the Journal of Children's Literature. Commissions monitor and report on trends and issues in the teaching of language, composition, literature, reading, and media. Nearly 50 committees and task forces carry out projects on issues and topics in the teaching of English, among them testing and evaluation, censorship, instructional technology, response to literature, teacher preparation and certification, and English in urban schools. In addition to commissions, standing committees are charged with focusing on issues and/or areas of continued concern that affect the English language area of study. There are three standing committees; the committee against censorship, the committee on diversity and inclusivity, and the committee on global citizenship. The Committee Against Censorship The committee against censorship's charge is "to solicit and receive reports of censorship incidents from NCTE members, constituent groups, and sources outside the Council; to serve as a resource on current patterns of censorship; to continue to raise awareness of censorship issues; to serve as an advisory committee to NCTE Headquarters considering the kinds of support and services that an Intellectual Freedom/Anti-Censorship Center could provide; to promote policies for literature adoption that allay the possibility of censorship; to help