Join us Aug. 14 for the next IRA Twitter chat focusing on starting the school year “literacy strong.”
With two experts on board, we will be discussing what it means to be strong in literacy and what educators can do to lay a solid foundation as the new year begins. Log on to join the discussion and gain tips for the classroom. Our cohosts this month are Pam Allyn and Melissa Edwards.
Allyn is the founding director of LitWorld, a global literacy initiative serving children across the United States and in more than 60 countries, and LitLife, a cutting-edge consulting group working with schools to enrich best practice teaching methods and building curriculum for reading and writing. She has written more than 20 books, including Your Child’s Writing Life, What To Read When, Best Books for Boys, and Core Ready, and is a spokeswoman for BIC Kids, championing BIC’s 2014 "Fight For Your Write" campaign.
She received the 2013 Scholastic Literacy Champion Award for her work both nationally and globally bringing literacy to underserved communities and was chosen as a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow in April 2014, focusing on racial healing and equity. Allyn recently appeared on NBC News, CNN and Al Jazeera as a thought leader on equity, standards, and literacy in public education.
“Literacy strong is the child who breathes words in and writes them out into the world, the teacher who mentors and models best practice, the school and family community that inspires the child to become a lifelong reader, writer, speaker and listener,” Allyn said.
“Literacy strong is reading the world and writing in your own voice.
“Literacy strong is building muscles for stamina, discovery, joy and independence through the power of words and images.”
You can learn more about Allyn on her website.
Edwards works in Instruction Technology, helping teachers utilize resources and tools to impact student learning.
She began her career as a fourth-grade reading and writing teacher who looked forward to “read-aloud” time each day. She then taught gifted students and struggling readers and, after seeing the unique needs of both groups, she dove into Problem-Based Learning and giving students a variety of outlets of expression. She uses blogs, websites, and other technology with both students and to help teachers find resources for the classroom.
Edwards said, as an artist at heart, she wants to tap into the creativity she believes to be inside of everyone. She said she’s seen firsthand the ways creative thinking skills can be utilized to make connections and bring together all the pieces of learning.
“I enjoy working with teachers to tap into that creativity and help students think critically, create, collaborate, and take advantage of the learning opportunities all around,” Edwards said.
Being literacy strong “involves exhibiting strength in so many areas,” she added. “Literacy includes not only reading and writing, but also the skills involved in thinking, problem solving, asking questions, analyzing, collaborating, and creating, which lays a good foundation for the effective expression of ideas in a wide range of areas.”
Learn more about Edwards at her blog, Figuring Out How the Pieces Fit….
To get a feel of what IRA chats are all about, here are a few links to summaries of previous chats:
Using Mentor Texts to Teach Writing
Reflections on #IRA14
EdCamp Literacy: An “Unconference” Opportunity
How to chat
To join the conversation, you can simply search for the #IRAchat hashtag in Twitter. If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter, read Fly to Twitter for Online PD for some tips.
We look forward to chatting with you Aug. 14. Please feel free to tweet us with any questions you may have. Just use the #IRAchat hashtag in your tweet and we will do our best to help you with any advice or Twitter troubleshooting.
April Hall is editor of Reading Today Online. You can reach her through e-mail (ahall@/) or Twitter (@mediaapril).