Literacy Now

Teachers attending the Delaware Department of Education’s Common Ground for Common Core professional development program this fall will hear presentations from three distinguished authors and educators—Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, Linda Kucan, and Doug Buehl—whose appearance was arranged in partnership with the International Reading Association (IRA).

“We are pleased to be partnering with the Delaware Department of Education on this project,” explained Stephen Sye, IRA’s Associate Executive Director. “IRA is helping teachers across the country get the information and strategies they need to transition successfully to the Common Core, insuring that their students acquire college and career ready skills by the time they finish high school.”

Common Ground for Professional Development is a comprehensive program that involves meetings, clinics, convenings, feedback, and follow up sessions, as well as a series of webinars. Locations vary by district. Sessions for teachers from Kent and Sussex counties will be held in Dover, the remainder in New Castle County.

Annemarie
Sullivan Palincsar


Linda Kucan

Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar holds the Jean and Charles Walgreen, Jr. Chair of Reading and Literacy at the University of Michigan, and Linda Kucan is an associate professor in the Department of instruction and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education. Co-authors of the new IRA title Comprehension Instruction through Text Based Discussion, they will lead a session on close reading from informational texts, a critical student skill under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts, which Delaware has adopted and is now in the process of implementing.

Palincsar and Kucan will impart a set of discussion strategies designed to support student interaction with texts for the purpose of comprehending text ideas, as well as identifying and synthesizing evidence in support of discipline specific claims. Their presentations will take place on October 15 and 16, 2013 in the Elementary and English Language Arts Strand.

Doug Buehl

Doug Buehl, a teacher, professional development leader, and adolescent literacy consultant with 33 years of experience in the Madison Metropolitan School District, Madison, WI, is the author of the IRA titles Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines and Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, Fourth Edition, the newly released version of the Association’s top selling title. Buehl will offer reflections and strategic advice on the use of self-questioning as a foundational strategy for the “close reading” of texts called for under the CCSS. Participants in his workshops will engage in model lessons that demonstrate scaffolded instruction for mentoring the successful reading of complex information texts. The workshops will take place on October 15 and 16, 2013 as part of the Secondary English Language Arts Strand, as well as on October 17, 2013 as part of the Content Areas strand.

For detailed information visit www.doe.k12.de.us/commoncore or call 302-735-4180.

 

The International Reading Association (IRA) is excited to announce that popular children’s book authors Jeff Kinney, Dav Pilkey, Megan McDonald, Matt de la Peña, and Mary Pope Osborne and renowned educators P. David Pearson and Rafe Esquith will speak at the IRA 59th Annual Conference in New Orleans on May 9-12, 2014.

Jeff Kinney


Megan McDonald


Dav Pilkey


Matt de la Peña


P. David Pearson


Rafe Esquith


Mary Pope Osborne

Diary of a Wimpy Kid series author Jeff Kinney kicks off the conference at the Opening General Session on the morning of Saturday, May 10, 2014. Kinney was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World and was twice voted Author of the Year at the Children's Choice Book Awards. The Wimpy Kid series won Favorite Book at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards three times.

Later on May 10, Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody and Stink series, will speak at the Primary Literature Author Luncheon. McDonald has penned over 60 books for children and young readers. Her hilarious Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children's Choice to the first-ever Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award. McDonald also created a series featuring Judy’s brother, Stink, and The Sisters Club trilogy.

The General Session on Sunday, May 11, 2014 features Dav Pilkey, creator of the Captain Underpants series, which is now published in 22 languages. Pilkey also wrote the children’s favorites Dog Breath, winner of the California Young Reader Medal; The Paperboy, a Caldecott Honor Book; The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list; and the Dumb Bunnies series.

Sunday’s Young Adult Literature Author Luncheon speaker is young adult novelist Matt de la Peña, author of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning books Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here, and I Will Save You. He is expanding into younger children’s literature as well, with the release of the picture book A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis (illustrated by Kadir Nelson) and his middle grade contribution to the upcoming Guys Read: Thriller anthology.

The Closing General Session on Monday, May 12, 2014 will feature two additional luminaries. P. David Pearson, former dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, the nation’s foremost literacy researcher and chair of the IRA Literacy Research Panel, will offer research based perspectives on critical issues of literacy education. Rafe Esquith, author of the New York Times bestseller Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire, the only teacher to have been awarded the president’s National Medal of the Arts, will offer insights on dynamic classroom pedagogy. Esquith has thirty-plus years of experience as a classroom teacher and has been given the American Teacher Award, the Compassion in Action Award from the Dalai Lama, Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award, Parents magazine’s As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life AwardTM, and People magazine’s Heroes Among Us Award.

The special guest for the Book and Author Luncheon on Monday is Mary Pope Osborne, author of the New York Times number one bestselling Magic Tree House series and co-author of The Magic Tree House Fact Tracker series, along with her husband, Will, and her sister Natalie Pope Boyce.

“The 2014 IRA Conference will offer literacy educators unparalleled opportunities to gain valuable new insights on literacy instruction, including the latest in research-based instruction, classroom-ready teaching ideas, and practical, ready to use ways to implement the Common Core State Standards in K-12 classrooms,” explains IRA President Maureen McLaughlin.

“We’re thrilled that so many literacy educators consider our conference their number one event for professional development and networking,” adds IRA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post. “We work to improve it each year, whether it’s including more or better programs on the latest hot topics or streamlining registration and services. We’ve been listening to attendees to determine what they want and need to improve their skills as many states transition to Common Core State Standards implementation. This year is guaranteed to be the best conference yet.” 

The IRA 59th Annual Conference will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, from Saturday, May 10 through Monday, May 12, 2014, with an Institute Day on Friday, May 9. Registration will open in December 2013. For more information on programs, registration, and exhibits call 800-336-7323 (302-731-1600 international) or visit the official conference website at www.iraconference.org or follow #IRA14 on Twitter.

On Monday, September 9, the International Reading Association (IRA) celebrated International Literacy Day with an exclusive event at The Whittemore House in Washington, DC.

The program centered on the theme of career readiness and featured speakers Alma Powell from America’s Promise Alliance, IRA President Maureen McLaughlin, and a panel including Glenn Marshall from the National Association for Manufacturing Excellence, English/Reading Specialist Ann Kennedy from Arlington Mill High School, Rich Carson from Rotary International, and Jaimie Matthews from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. IRA Director of Government Relations Richard Long moderated.

The event was enriched by a question-and-answer segment at the end, where attendees enjoyed the opportunity to ask the speakers questions and hear insightful responses to their organizations’ specific challenges.

Alma Powell

Alma Powell and Maureen McLaughlin

Ann Kennedy, Jaimie Matthews, Rich Carson, and Glenn Marshall

Glenn Marshall, Alma Powell, Maureen McLaughlin, Jaimie Matthews, Ann Kennedy, Richard Long, and Rich Carson

More details of the Washington, DC event and other projects in IRA’s International Literacy Day celebration will be featured in the next issue of Reading Today, IRA’s bimonthly member magazine. For more information about this event, read the press release.

August 29, 2013

The International Reading Association adopted the “Invent Your Future” theme for the 2013 International Literacy Day celebration in conjunction with Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which will be released in 3D and Real 3D on September 27. The goal is to inspire students to dream big about their future—just like inventor Flint Lockwood, the main character of the film—and illustrate the crucial role literacy skills play in achieving those dreams.

IRA and Sony Pictures Animation will host an “Invent Your Future”-themed Twitter chat on September 9 at 8:00 p.m. EST with special guest tweeter Bill Hader, a Saturday Night Live alum and comedian who voices Cloudy 2 protagonist Flint Lockwood. Participants may join using the hashtag #IRAchat.

To encourage educators and librarians to share the message that strong literacy skills pave the pathway to future success, IRA teamed up with Sony Pictures Animation to launch www.Cloudy2LiteracyActivities.com. The site features a downloadable activity kit with educational ideas that emphasize career readiness for students ages 5-19. 

Classroom teachers of K-12 students may submit stories, photos, and videos to IRA about how they celebrated this year’s International Literacy Day for a chance to win a new Sony Xperia tablet (retail value: $499). The contest is open from September 10-30, 2013, and the official registration form is available at /ILD13contest.

In addition, the first 150 teachers who fill out a registration form on the Sony Pictures site will receive a free copy of the original Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs book, by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett, courtesy of Simon & Schuster. Teachers may also request Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 movie posters and activity books.

As a new school year begins, IRA helps you bolster your students’ career and college readiness by encouraging them to dream big. These “Invent Your Future” activities and contests are a fantastic way to start the year right!

by Mary Lynam

The International Reading Association will be hosting its first Twitter chat on Thursday, July 18 at 8:00 p.m. EST.  The hour-long chat will pose a unique opportunity for educators at all levels of experience to discuss the topic “Digital Writing in the Classroom” with fellow educators. Teachers will be able to talk about why digital tools benefit student writing, trade strategies and pointers for using them, and share what did or did not work for their class, among other subjects. You will find the conversation by searching the official #IRAchat hashtag.

Julie D. Ramsay, sixth grade teacher and author of ‘Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?’ Collaborating in Class and Online, will be on hand to participate. “Through chats, connections are made and conversations and collaborations continue long after the official chat has ended,” she says. “I love the flexibility and impromptu nature of discovering what everyone else will share and the questions they will ask.”

You can learn more about Ramsay’s background in classroom technology by checking out Plugged In, her monthly column on the Engage blog. Other Engage writers, such as App a Day columnist Lindsey Fuller, will also partake in the chat.

Want to join the conversation? Please share your thoughts using the #IRAchat hashtag. Or, feel free to just kick back and follow.

Mary Lynam is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.