I started my International Literacy Association (ILA) Board of Directors term assuming I would sit quietly and soak in the knowledge of all the important authors and researchers seated on the Board. Though I had served as a state council president, I didn’t expect anyone in the boardroom of ILA headquarters would know—or care—who I was. I hadn’t written a book, all my studies had been done as part of action research in my classroom, in my school, in my own district.
After many years of attending ILA conferences (including when the organization was known as the International Reading Association), watching the pomp and circumstance of the general sessions, I was in awe of these people whose names I knew from my tattered book jackets. I assumed I would have very little to offer.
I assumed that, as Board members, we would debate important literacy topics such as the proper order letter sounds should be taught in the primary grades, the amount of time students should spend each day reading above or below their determined Lexile level, or the ways to combat testing fatigue. The gavel would hit the table, a conclusive pronouncement would be made, and we would share our expertise with the literacy world.
All my assumptions were wrong.
In reality, I can count on one hand the number of times our boardroom work had anything to do with literacy practices. There were few pronouncements.
We devoted hours to examining bylaws and we spent far more time looking at charts and discussing fiduciary responsibility than I ever imagined possible outside of an accounting office.
I found a group of dedicated and enthusiastic people who genuinely wanted to hear my perspectives from the classrooms in Minnesota.
I found that Board members who I was drawn to earned my respect through their selflessness about “the work,” not through their publications. They inspired everyone around them through their laser-like focus on sustaining the organization. They carried on, even when the decisions made weren’t well understood outside of the boardroom. These leaders were thoughtful and cautious but decisive, even when it meant their own reputation was vulnerable. They did remarkable work with limited resources.
Over my three years on the ILA Board, I was constantly reminded that leadership is not about a podium and a gavel or authority and favors. It isn’t about time spent in the limelight. Leadership couldn’t be about bringing greetings around the world from the organization, it had to be about the mission.
It’s about service.
ILA needs leaders who have a passion for service to the organization.
ILA needs leaders who can look ahead and grow the organization both nationally and internationally.
ILA needs leaders who can inspire with their expertise, of course, but ILA also needs leaders to inspire through selflessness and dedication.
ILA needs leaders who can network not for self-promotion but to find ways to encourage others to join the organization’s mission, “to empower educators, inspire students, and encourage leaders with the resources they need to make literacy accessible for all.”
ILA needs leaders who can step out of their classrooms and university campuses, contact their state councils, and ask how they can share their passion, their expertise, and their literacy stories.
Look around. ILA needs you.
Do you know someone who would be an inspiring and dedicated member of the ILA Board of Directors? Learn more about Board service.
Julie Scullen is a former member of the ILA Board of Directors and has also served as president of the Minnesota Reading Association and Minnesota Secondary Reading Interest Council. She taught most of her career in secondary reading intervention classrooms and now serves as Teaching and Learning Specialist for Secondary Reading in Anoka-Hennepin schools in Minnesota, working with teachers of all content areas to foster literacy achievement. She teaches graduate courses at Hamline University in St. Paul in literacy leadership and coaching, disciplinary literacy, critical literacy, and reading assessment and evaluation.