Literacy Now

Some educators see technology in the classroom as the bright and shiny thing that will keep students engaged. Others believe so strongly in the use of texts that they eschew the use of electronics in education.

But it doesn’t have to be one or the other, says Kristin Ziemke. This Apple Distinguished Educator believes it’s more important to balance both text and tech—it’s all in the navigation.

Join Ziemke Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. ET for the next #ILAchat on Twitter for her perspective on transferring modeling, scaffolding, and other best practices into the digital learning environment.

Ziemke is a teacher and staff developer. She is the coauthor of Amplify: Digital Teaching and Learning in the K–6 Classroom (Heinemann) and Connecting Comprehension and Technology (Heinemann).

Follow #ILAchat and @ILAtoday at 8 p.m. ET Feb. 11 to join the conversation about how to find a place for both traditional text and technology.

To engage students in writing, educators have turned to an approach that has one name but many forms: interactive writing. Interactive writing is the process of discussion and negotiation between student and teacher to better develop and encourage young writers. But diving into this process can be a bit daunting.

Enter Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell. Join these interactive writing experts Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. ET for the next #ILAchat on Twitter, where they’ll lay out the basics of interactive writing and give practical suggestions on how to use the method in the classroom.

Fountas, a professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, has been a classroom teacher, a language arts specialist, and a district consultant around the world. She publishes resources for comprehensive literacy programs that quickly become staples for literacy instruction across the United States.

Pinnell is Professor Emeritus in the School of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University. She has extensive experience in classroom teaching and field-based research, and in developing comprehensive approaches to literacy education.

Fountas and Pinnell have both individually and as a team researched in depth how students learn best and published several books, including Interactive Writing: How Language & Literacy Come Together, K–2 (Heinemann, 2000).

Follow #ILAchat and @ILAtoday at 8 p.m. ET Jan. 14 to join the conversation about how interactive writing can support and encourage emerging writers.

Maintaining students’ attention before a vacation break, and regaining it upon their return, is a challenge for teachers regardless of grade level or experience. It is often a steep downhill leading into vacation, and a steeper climb when class resumes.

Planning engaging projects, decorating your classroom, and incorporating seasonal lessons are a few teacher-endorsed suggestions to beat the pre- and post-holiday blues, but sometimes you need to think outside of the box. Don’t miss the next #ILAchat on Twitter at 8 p.m. Dec. 10 when we’ll hear from Dave Burgess, author of New York Times Best-Seller Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator, and learn his techniques for overcoming holiday obstacles in the classroom.

Teacher and professional development speaker, Burgess was awarded the 2014 BAMMY for Secondary School Teacher of the Year by the Academy of Educations Arts and Sciences.  During his time teaching in San Diego, Burgess received the Golden Apple in both 2001 and 2012, and was named Teacher of the Year in 2007/2008. Specializing in teaching hard-to-motivate students, Burgess’ techniques utilize showmanship and creativity as a means of connecting with hard-to reach students.

Burgess describes pirates as “daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success.” He urges teachers to embody this idea, going so far as to say “if you haven’t failed in the classroom lately, you aren’t pushing the envelope far enough. ‘Safe’ lessons are a recipe for mediocrity at best.” During the chat, Burgess will share some of his tried and true methods to keep student attention in the classroom regardless of what is happening outside of it.

Get ready to embrace your inner pirate with author and speaker Dave Burgess, as he shares advice on how to overcome the lack of motivation both before and after holiday breaks.  In Burgess’ own words: “it’s not supposed to be easy – it’s supposed to be worth it.”

Follow #ILAchat and @ILAtoday at 8 p.m. Dec. 10 to join the conversation.

Alexandra Baruch is ILA’s communications intern.

Inspiring the next generation is the duty of seasoned professionals, wise industry veterans who yearn to share their knowledge. The symbiotic mentor/mentee relationship is a strong one, built on a foundation of shared interest and enthusiasm. For many, the term “mentor” is not associated with a young person; a mentor is thought to be someone with a lifetime of experience. For a remarkable few, however, crossing the threshold from student to master is accomplished before the age of 30.

Join the next #ILAchat on Twitter at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 when we’ll ask some of the extraordinary people who made ILA’s inaugural 30 Under 30 list of young, yet experienced, leaders who are finding innovative ways to promote literacy. Evolving from mentee to mentor, each of these remarkable literacy leaders represents the future of our field. 

We look forward to reconnecting with these inspiring individuals to discuss how they were able to follow their passion for education. Young literacy leaders themselves, our featured contributors will open up about the mentors who support them, challenges that discourage them, and why they chose to pursue a role in literacy.

Don’t miss our upcoming #ILAchat on Nov. 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST featuring these young literacy leaders:

• Louise Baigelman is the executive director and cofounder of Story Share, a nonprofit that encourages authors to create content for teens and young adults who read below their grade level. At 28, her résumé includes Teach for America, Boston, English teacher at KIPP Academy in Massachusetts, and literacy coach in New York.

• Kevin English, 25, was first elected to the school board of Van Buren Public Schools in Michigan at age 19. As an English teacher at Wayne Memorial High School, he is a member of the literacy initiative team, a leader of the staff professional book study group, and a teacher leader for Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education (RAISE) teachers.

• Ana Dodson was only 11 years old when she founded Peruvian Hearts, a nonprofit working to eradicate poverty and gender inequality by educating young women in Peru. More than a decade later, the now 23-year-old Dodson, and Peruvian Hearts, continue to provide food, clothes, and medical care to hundreds of girls. 

• Jon Wargo is 29 and a PhD student at Michigan State University. He is currently working on his dissertation, “Connective Compositions and Sitings of Selves.” He was awarded the Conference on College Composition and Communication Gloria Anzaldua Rhetorician Award in 2015 for his research exploring the language and literacy tendencies of the LGBTQ community in Michigan.

Other 30 Under 30 honorees are expected to join the conversation using #ILAchat. Follow the hashtag and @ILAtoday at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 to keep the conversation going.

Alexandra Baruch is ILA's communications intern.

In our upcoming Google Hangout on Air, we are joined by authors and advocates who want to get diverse books into the hands of students around the world.

It began with a Twitter exchange and has since evolved into a full-fledged movement: The #WeNeedDiverseBooks (WNDB) campaign seeks to increase the number of diverse books on classroom shelves and spread awareness about the lack of multicultural representation in literature. According to their mission statement, WNDB is a “grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential change in the publishing industry” and recognizes all diverse experiences, including LGBT gender diversity, individuals with disabilities, and cultural, ethnic, and religious minorities.

Join us at 8:00 p.m. EST Oct. 27 for the Hangout on Air featuring these distinguished guests:

Shane Evans is known for his work as a picture book illustrator, but he has also delved into graphic and web design for clients including Nike, and the Kansas City International Jazz Festival. Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding nonfiction for Children, Evans’s work is often influenced by his travels to Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Most recently, Evans illustrated Taye Diggs’s Mixed Me! and Chocolate Me! Mixed Me! was released Oct. 6.

I.W. Gregorio identifies as a “practicing surgeon by day, masked avenging YA writer by night.” A founding member of WNDB, she currently serves as the organization’s vice president of development. Gregorio’s writing has appeared in The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Journal of General Internal Medicine. Her debut novel, None of the Above, was inspired by an intersex patient that she met during her residency. 

Miranda Paul is a children’s author and executive vice president of outreach for WNDB. Her books One Plastic Bag and Water Is Water were named Junior Library Guild selections, and she was a guest presenter at the Library of Congress Young Readers Center. In addition to writing children’s books, Paul is the administrator of Rate Your Story, a website that encourages aspiring writers.

Angie Manfredi is the innovative head of youth services for Los Alamos County Library System in New Mexico. She replaced her library’s reference section with graphic novels and manga—boosting circulation and the library’s reader base. She thinks outside the box of what must be to what could be. Manfredi does not believe in gendering books, and she served as the moderator for a session titled “Girls Like Fart Jokes and Boys Have Feelings.” In her own words, “Miss Angie doesn’t believe there are books for boys or girls, there are just books.” She was named the Association for Library Service to Children Member of the Month in February 2014.

From what makes a book diverse in the first place to why those books are necessary for majority and minority students alike, ILA’s Google Hangout on Air will address more about the benefit and need for diverse books.

The Hangout on Air will be live-tweeted. To join the conversation on Twitter, use #ILAHangout.

Alexandra Baruch is ILA's communications intern.