Literacy Now

The International Reading Association is taking host city New Orleans’ motto “laissez les bonnes temps rouler” to heart this year with the spectacular VIP contest.  Attendees who register for the International Reading Association’s 59th Annual Conference and book an IRA-approved hotel on or before April 14, 2014 will be automatically entered. The winner will let the good times roll with $600 dollars in restaurant vouchers, a hotel upgrade, exclusive meet and greets with star speakers, and more—just for registering!

Upon arrival in New Orleans, the winner will be showered in luxury. The 2014 VIP package includes a complimentary room upgrade. Tired of waiting in lines? At the conference, the winner will receive VIP seating at all three General Sessions. This will put you up close with Captain Underpants series author Dav Pilkey on Friday, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series author Jeff Kinney on Saturday, and renowned researcher P. David Pearson and legendary educator Rafe Esquith on Monday. Additionally, the winner will receive the exclusive opportunity to attend a meet-and-greet with select speakers.

The 2014 VIP winner also gains elite access to some of New Orleans’ culinary treasures. Looking to dine at one of NOLA’s only four-star/four-diamond restaurants with one of the most impressive wine selections in the city? Look no further! The winner will receive a special chef’s tasting dinner for two at Windsor Court’s Grill Room. As if that isn’t enough, the package also includes $100 gift certificates to Antoine’s Restaurant, the country’s oldest family-owned/world-renowned restaurant; Arnaud’s Restaurant, where classic Creole Cuisine meets live Jazz; and The Pelican Club, a three dining room restaurant in a historic 19th-century townhouse all located in the heart of the French Quarter.

The VIP package also includes goodies from IRA! The winner will receive a $100 voucher towards books and merchandise at the IRA Bookstore as well as a one-year online membership to IRA. (Existing members will receive a one-year extension to their current membership.)

Register on or before the Early Bird deadline on April 14, 2014 for a chance to win this package and receive the best discounts on conference rates. Enter the code AC14VIP for the chance to win the VIP promotion.

IRA 2014 rolls into New Orleans on May 9 for Institute Day; the Conference and Exhibits runs from May 10 to 12, 2014. Visit www.iraconference.org for details.

Chelsea Simens is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

The International Reading Association (IRA) is pleased to continue the tradition of offering full-day Institutes before our Annual Conference. This year in New Orleans, Institute Day is May 9 before the IRA Conference begins on May 10. Reading Today Online asked all of the Institute Chairpersons to answer a set of questions designed to give our readers and all prospective attendees a better understanding of the insights and benefits they will gain from attending these day-long programs. A PDF fact sheet covering this Institute is available for presentation to your principal or superintendent along with your registration and travel request.

Institute 06:
Writing Moments: Tapping Opportunities to Develop Writers of Argument, Information, and Other Texts, K-12
(Session 2081)

Kathy Ganske

Chair: Kathy Ganske, Vanderbilt University

What are the professional urgencies and issues that your Institute is designed to address?

Because writing is essential for literacy, the Common Core State Standards (2010), and life, we cannot fail to develop teachers' expertise in teaching writing. Concerns about children's writing achievement and the impact of low writing achievement on their lives and ultimately society as a whole have been strongly expressed (e.g., National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2007; National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges, 2003; and the report on Writing in the 21st Century, 2009).

In its 2003 report, the National Commission on Writing asserts that "the importance of writing-for critical thinking and communication skills, for success in school and the workplace, for self-realization, and for its central place in school reform-cannot be overemphasized" (p. 29). Yet, students write very little time in schools. According to Applebee and Langer (2013), for the typical secondary student this amounts to 1.6 pages of writing per week in English and 2.1 pages for all other subjects combined. Is lack of teacher knowledge part of the problem?

The Commission's 2003 report lays bare some of the issues contributing to writing achievement concerns, such as the fact that practicing and pre-service teachers typically get very little instruction in how to teach writing. This Institute will provide multiple opportunities for literacy professionals and classroom teachers to develop their expertise in teaching writing, especially nonfiction- and informational-text writing across the disciplines.

What types of literacy professionals is your Institute designed for?

• Beginning Teachers
• Classroom Teachers
• Librarians/Media Specialists
• Reading Teachers/Specialists/Coaches
• School or District Administrators
• Special Education Teachers
• Teacher Educators
• Title I Teachers (US Only)
• Undergraduate or graduate students

How will your Institute benefit those professionals, and what will their takeaways be?

Teachers and educational leaders who attend this Institute will learn effective responses to the following challenges:

• What is disciplinary literacy and how does it differ from content-area literacy?
• What research-based strategies and techniques are most effective for developing learners' abilities to write engaging nonfiction texts of various genres and to respond to texts in critical, evaluative, and reflective ways?
• What types of environments and materials (digital and print) further students' confidence, engagement and proficiency in using writing as a tool to express and learn?
  

Are any post-conference follow up activities planned for attendees of your Institute?

Contact information will be provided so that attendees may submit follow up questions or contact presenters for additional PD.

How will your Institute be presented, what is the sequence of topics and speakers?

This institute has a stellar line-up of four keynote addresses focusing on:

• disciplinary literacy: what it is and why it matters
• practical research-based suggestions for tapping teachable writing moments in the disciplines
• writing nonfiction poetry
• the sharing of personal nonfiction writing techniques by a notable author

Three breakout sessions are also planned, each offering options across the K-12 band, so participants can choose sessions that match their interests and needs. Sessions afford in-depth exploration of genres, mentor texts, techniques, and technology and attend to the needs of diverse learners.

Keynote 1
Disciplinary Reading and Writing in the Classroom
Timothy Shanahan

Breakout Series I (participants choose one)

• Strand A (Grades K–2)
  Guiding Young Learners to Higher Levels of Achievement in Writing Informational Text
  Tony Stead

• Strand B: (Grades 3–6)
  Responses, Persuasions, and More: Linking Writing and Reading throughout the Day
  Kathy Ganske

• Strand C (Grades 8–12)
  Integrated Literacy: Writing Our Way into the Core of Our Discipline
  Jim Burke

Keynote 2
Discipline-based Writing: A Practice Whose Time Has Come
Carol Jago

LUNCH BREAK (on your own)

Breakout Series II (participants choose one)

• Strand A (Grades K–2)
  Writing in the Disciplines Using Digital Tools in K–2
  Carole C. Phillips and Karen Pelekis

• Strand B (Grades 3–7)
  Using Tech Tools to Read, Write, and Respond to Disciplinary Texts in the Middle Grades
  Robin Jocius

• Strand C: (Grades 8–12)
  Writing from Sources in the Disciplines: Tips for Engagement and Digital Tools, Too
  Thomas DeVere Wolsey

Keynote 3
Finding the Heart of Nonfiction through Mentor Texts
Georgia Heard

Breakout Series III (participants choose one)

• Strand A (Grades K–4)
  Writing Across the Day with Mentor Texts
  Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli

• Strand B (Grades 4–8)
  Writing to Explain and Inform
  Laura Robb

• Strand C (Grades 8–12)
  Scaffolding Evidence-Based Responses to Literature
  Sam Patterson

Keynote 4
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night? Reading and Writing Dynamic Nonfiction
Seymour Simon

What modes of presentation will be used?

PowerPoint presentations will be used to show connections to research, highlight examples and artifacts, and describe strategies and techniques. Classroom and student artifacts and examples will be reviewed. Teaching strategies will be demonstrated and modeled. Video- and internet-clip examples will be incorporated, and there will be simulation with active participant involvement.  Case study will also be utilized.

What types of audience interaction are planned?

There will be Q & A and turn-and-talk time during the breakouts.

What handouts will be provided and in what form?

Participants will receive a program booklet that includes the day’s schedule, blurbs on each session and keynote, and presenter bios. In addition, breakout sessions will provide handouts in hard copy or make them available or digital transmission.

Does your Institute lend itself to team attendance by teachers and administrators from the same school or district? If so, what how will the various attendee perspectives be addressed?

Teams across the K–12 grade range will find that the structure of the breakouts will allow a team of three to gain access to all aspects of the Institute.

Registration Information: This preconference Institute will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 9, 2014, before the International Reading Association 59th Annual Conference begins on Saturday, May 10, 2014 (and runs through Monday, May 12, 2014). Register online at www.iraconference.org for this or another Institute and/or to register for the annual conference. Call 888-294-9167 or 415-979-2278 to find out how to register by phone, fax, or mail. To learn more about conference events in New Orleans, visit the annual conference website and the online itinerary planner (iPlanner).

 

Congratulations to Carolyn Johnson, winner of the International Reading Association 59th Annual Conference “registration refund” contest!

IRA members who registered for the conference prior to January 31, 2014 were given the chance to get up to $319 of registration fees refunded by IRA.

Johnson is a fourth grade teacher at Royal Palm Elementary in Lauderhill, Florida. This is her first year as an IRA member, and she’s looking forward to attending the IRA Conference in May (another first!). One of her favorite quotes comes from Frederick Douglass: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

She is interested in many sessions at the IRA Conference in New Orleans, including Complex Texts vs. Complex Tasks, The Lit-Hit List: Top Ten Ways to Integrate Technology in the Literacy Classroom, Closer Reading in the Content Areas: Giving Students Engaging Reasons to Reread, Rethink, Discuss, and Debate, and Reading to Write, Writing to Read: Strategies to Support the Common Core State Standards.

Haven’t registered for IRA 2014? Attendees who sign up before Early Bird Registration ends on April 14, 2014 and book a conference hotel will be entered to win our VIP prize pack. Unlike the refund promotion, this one is open to everyone (and not just IRA members).

Look for Carolyn Johnson at the IRA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, from May 9-12, 2014. Visit www.iraconference.org to register or to read more about the event.

Sara Long is an editor/content manager at the International Reading Association. 

Register soon for the International Reading Association 59th Annual Conference to experience professional learning at its best. IRA 2014 offers a multitalented expert lineup of speakers, researchers and authors, that are sure to engage attendees and transform lives.

Richard Allington

An annual favorite speaker, Allington has obtained recognition for his contributions to understanding reading and learning disabilities. He is a professor at the University of Tennessee and a past president of the International Reading Association and the Literacy Research Association. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Reading Research Quarterly, the Journal of Educational Psychology, Remedial and Special Education, and the Elementary School Journal. Allington has received the IRA William S. Gray Citation of Merit for his contributions and has been named to the Reading Hall of Fame. He also wrote and edited many books, including Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap co-edited by Anne McGill-Franzen.

Gail Boushey & Joan Moser (The 2 Sisters)

Combining their knowledge, these sisters have experience in grades K–6, Special Education, and Literacy Coaching. Their books, The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades and The Café Book–Engaging all Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction, are renown to teachers around the world. In addition, they participate in conferences around the nation, and provide timely professional development through their DVDs and extensive website www.thedailycafe.com.

Timothy Rasinski

Rasinski’s expertise includes reading fluency and word study, reading in elementary and middle grades, struggling readers, and parental involvement. He is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University, and in 2010 Rasinski was elected to the International Reading Hall of Fame. He has served on the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association, and his research on reading has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Rasinski has also served as co-editor of The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Literacy Research.

Doug Buehl

Buehl is a teacher, professional development leader, and adolescent literacy consultant. He spent 33 years in the Madison Metropolitan School District and presents literacy workshops, collaborates with teachers as a school literacy coach, teaches struggling readers, coordinates a school wide content area tutoring program, teaches college-preparatory advanced reading, and teaches night school students returning for their high school diploma. In addition, he was a founding member of IRA’s Commission on Adolescent Literacy and was a part of the interdisciplinary task force that drafted the national Standards for Middle and High School Literacy Coaches (2006), a joint collaboration between IRA, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Council for the Social Studies. He is the author of many books, including Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines and Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, Fourth Edition.

Jana Echevarria & MaryEllen Vogt

Both Echevarria and Vogt are co-developers with Deborah Short of the Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol (SIOP) Model of Instruction. Echevarria’s experience includes elementary and secondary teaching in general education, special education, English as a Second Language (ESL), and bilingual programs. Her research focuses on effective instruction for English Learners, including those with learning disabilities. She has published over 50 books, book chapters, and journal articles.

Vogt has been a classroom teacher, reading specialist, special education specialist, curriculum coordinator, and teacher educator. She was invited to serve as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cologne in Germany. Vogt was the President of the International Reading Association, inducted into the California Reading Hall of Fame, and received her university’s Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award.

Phyllis C. Hunter

Hunter had the esteemed experience of being an advisor to the President of the United States and the Secretary of Education. As a reading manager of the Houston ISD, she led the reading initiative that ultimately shaped the nation’s reading policy. She serves on the advisory board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education, the Consortium for Reading Excellence (CORE), the Neuhaus Education Center, and the National Center for Family Literacy. She was also named the Marcus Garvey Educator of the Year in 2002 by the National Alliance of Black School Educators. And in 2009, Scholastic Inc. presented her with its inaugural Heroes Award for her contributions to the field of children’s literacy. In addition, Hunter is the author of the Phyllis C. Hunter Classroom Libraries and It’s Not Complicated: What I Know for Sure About Helping Our Students of Color Become Successful Readers.

Michelle Kelley & Nicki Clausen-Grace

Michelle J. Kelley focuses on comprehension and the role of independent reading in terms of engagement, motivation, self-efficacy, and metacognition. She is an associate professor in reading at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where she teaches pre-service teachers and graduate students in the Teaching and Learning Principles Department. She recently became a Professor in Residence at Carillon Elementary School in Oviedo, Florida. Kelly has authored several children’s books, been recognized with several Disney Teacherrific awards, and received numerous grants to facilitate literacy. Currently, she’s a co-editor of Literacy Research and Instruction, a journal published by the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers.

Nicki Clausen-Grace is a teacher, author, consultant, and staff developer. As a consultant, she speaks about reading engagement, content area reading, literature/text circles, word study, and comprehension strategies. Clausen-Grace teaches fourth grade at Carillon Elementary School in Oviedo, Florida. She has won numerous Disney Innovative Teaching Practices and Teacherrific awards, and she attained National Board Certification as a Middle Childhood Generalist in 1999. As a columnist for Central Florida Family, she has authored more than 50 articles on local schools and other education topics. Clausen-Grace and Kelly have recently released Comprehension Shouldn’t Be Silent: From Strategy Instruction to Student Independence, Second Edition.

Jennifer Altieri

Altieri has conducted workshops at the elementary and middle school levels on various literacy topics, and served as a reading consultant for elementary and middle schools in the St. Louis Public and University City school districts in St. Louis, Missouri, and at Port Royal Elementary in Beaufort, South Carolina. She is a professor at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, and author of Powerful Content Connections: Nurturing Readers, Writers and Thinkers in Grades K-3; Content Counts! Developing Disciplinary Literacy Skills, K–6; and Literacy + Math = Creative Connections in the Elementary Classroom. Altieri has published articles in Teaching Children Mathematics, Teaching Exceptional Children, Reading Psychology, Reading Research and Instruction, among other professional journals. In addition, she served on IRA’s 2010 Standards Committee and Charleston Mayor Riley’s Literacy Task Force.

The IRA 2014 Conference is in New Orleans from May 10–12, 2014, and Institute Day is May 9. Register online, by phone, by fax, or by mail. See www.iraconference.org for details. We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans!

Chelsea Miller is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

The International Reading Association (IRA) is pleased to continue the tradition of offering full-day Institutes before our Annual Conference. This year in New Orleans, Institute Day is May 9 before the IRA Conference begins on May 10. Reading Today Online asked all of the Institute Chairpersons to answer a set of questions designed to give our readers and all prospective attendees a better understanding of the insights and benefits they will gain from attending these day-long programs. A PDF fact sheet covering this Institute is available for presentation to your principal or superintendent along with your registration and travel request.

Institute 08
In Common: An Introduction to Using an Annotated Collection of K–12 Student Writing Samples Aligned with the Common Core
(Session 1620)

Co-Chairs: Diana Leddy and Joanna Hawkins from the Vermont Writing Collaborative

Diana Leddy  


Joanna Hawkins

What are the professional urgencies and issues that your Institute is designed to address?

Teachers have long believed that learning to write well in response to reading, and to clearly express an understanding of complex information and ideas in writing, is fundamentally important work for students. However, what this “effective work” can actually look like in the classroom, especially for struggling students, has often eluded us. In the era of Common Core writing standards, developing a shared understanding of some of the ways that strong and effective, content-based writing can look is essential for teachers at all grade levels.

Jointly created by the Vermont Writing Collaborative and Student Achievement Partners, “In Common: Effective Writing for All Students” is a collection of student writing samples, grades K–12, drawn from over 1,600 submissions from 11 Common Core adopting states. The collection includes on-demand writing to unified text based prompts, as well as samples of classroom work in each of the three Common Core writing types. Pieces from across the country were selected and annotated by teams of experienced classroom teachers and literacy leaders in collaboration with lead authors of the Common Core ELA Standards.

In Common is not a set of rubrics and benchmarks, nor is it a prescription for the only way effective, content-based writing can look. Rather, In Common is a collection that was designed to help teachers and students develop a deep and nuanced understanding of the Common Core writing standards and the instructional shifts they require. By using some new protocols, we will look at that student work, not through the lens of scoring, but through the lens of learning about the writing standards and how those standards can relate to content understanding – for students.

What types of literacy professionals is your Institute designed for?

Professional Development Providers, Teacher Educators, Undergraduate or Graduate Students, Classroom Teachers, Administrators, and Curriculum Coordinators.

How will your Institute benefit those professionals, and what will their takeaways be?

In Common, we believe, can be an important first step in the all-important work that schools need to do in generating strong, content-based, Common Core Standards-based student work, across all content areas. The Common Ground protocols provide a useful structure for collaboratively looking at that work to improve instruction.

Participants will leave with a set of protocols and access to a collection of student work samples designed to provide a foundation for analysis and discussions that lead to a deep and nuanced understanding of the Common Core writing standards. Teachers have overwhelmingly found working with In Common useful and even illuminating in terms of understanding both the Common Core writing standards themselves and in generating ideas for instruction.

Are any post-conference follow up activities planned for attendees of your Institute?

Participants will be invited to join an ongoing online discussion about using student samples to improve writing instruction.

What is the sequence of topics and speakers?

The presentation will begin with a short introduction to In Common: Effective Writing for All Students, a Common Core implementation resource for writing instruction. The introduction will include an explanation of how the student writing samples were generated, collected, reviewed and annotated, as well as directions for accessing this free, online resource. Break-out sessions will allow participants to focus on either the elementary or middle/high school pieces. Participants will then explore In Common in small groups, using activities easily transferable to a variety of professional development, classroom, or instructional support settings.

What modes of presentation will be used and what types of audience interaction are planned?

Most of the session will be spent actively analyzing and discussing student work samples with colleagues in small groups. In addition to helping participants to better understand the Common Core Writing samples, all activities will serve as active and engaging models of how to use In Common with adults, older students and younger students. Activities include:

• arranging student pieces which were written to a unified prompt in ascending order and analyzing the differences in order to examine grade level progressions in the standards
• matching Common Core based annotations to specific parts of student pieces
•  identifying evidence of close reading and the mastery of content and concepts in the written pieces
• color-coding pieces to analyze the relationship between the ideas expressed in an informative or argumentative piece

What handouts will be provided and in what form (e.g., hard copy or digital transmission)?

Sample packets of student work (in hard copy) will be used during the institute. In addition, participants will be shown how to access the full collection of student work (K–12) and protocols for professional development digitally.

Does your Institute lend itself to team attendance by teachers and administrators from the same school or district? If so, what how will the various attendee perspectives be addressed?

The Institute will provide teams of teachers and administrators from the same district the opportunity to develop a shared understanding of the Common Core Writing Standards as well as a model and materials for leading school or district wide professional development activities.

Registration Information: This preconference Institute will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 9, 2014, before the International Reading Association 59th Annual Conference begins on Saturday, May 10, 2014 (and runs through Monday, May 12, 2014). Register online at www.iraconference.org for this or another Institute and/or to register for the annual conference. Call 888-294-9167 or 415-979-2278 to find out how to register by phone, fax, or mail. To learn more about conference events in New Orleans, visit the annual conference website and the online itinerary planner (iPlanner).