The International Reading Association will host a program to celebrate International Literacy Day on Thursday, September 8, 2011. Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at 444 N Capitol St NW, Washington, DC (Room 283/285) to discuss the theme “Teachers Matter! Effective Teaching: What does it take?” 

The day’s events include coffee at 9:30 a.m., followed by an introduction by Vicki Risko, President of the International Reading Association’s Board of Directors. She will speak about the “Elements of a Good Teacher.” Then, Peggy McCardle (NICHD, Branch Chief), Karen Douglas (Institute of Education Sciences, US Dept. of Education), Matthew Tosiello (Agnes Meyer Teacher of the Year), and Carole Lockwood (Lead Teacher for Reading/Language Arts, Randolph Elementary) will present “What It Takes to Make Good Teachers and How Teachers Reach Hard-to-Reach Students.” 

Lisa Dieker follows with a teaching demonstration with the University of Central Florida (UCF) TeachME Lab Avatar Presentation. This program teaches pre-service teachers how to teach a class of diverse students. (The computer-generated students are acted in real time by a professional actor with education and psychology experience.) This allows pre-service teachers to experiment—and make mistakes—before being responsible for an actual child’s learning. As part of this demo, the audience may teach this real time virtual class. 

Finally, Richard Long, the International Reading Association’s Director of Goverment Relations, presents “Changing from a Defacto Policy of Blaming the Teacher to a Reality That Works.” 

RSVP to irawash@/. Click here for more information about International Literacy Day 2011.