Literacy Now

It’s been a busy couple of days for members of the International Reading Association’s Teacher Advisory Panel. After spending all of Saturday engaged upon strategic planning during the pre-convention day of Institutes, the panel met yesterday, during the opening day of the Chicago Convention, with Robert Baroz, a Classroom Teaching Ambassador Fellow from the Office of Communications and Outreach at the US Department of Education. 

Robert Baroz, US Ed Department Teaching Ambassador Fellow, sitting at the head of the table, participating in a focus group exchange with IRA’s Teacher Advisory Panel.

This meeting was arranged to provide the TAP members with an important opportunity to participate in the Department’s current outreach effort entitled The RESPECT Project, Envisioning a Teaching Profession for the 21st Century. The Department is conducting similar sessions with teachers from around the country.

According to Baroz, the goal is to have substantive discussions with about 5,000 teachers by the fall. To date, the Department’s Ambassador Fellows have met with about 1,500 classroom educators. “We want to get to the point where teachers are shaping policy,” he explained, “rather than policy shaping teachers.”

Baroz himself is no stranger to the issues facing teachers. A teacher in the Boston public schools, he recently found himself in the news when President Obama, who claimed to have met him personally, cited Baroz’s experience in being pink slipped due to budget cuts as a good example of the negative impact of declining funding for education. In fact, Baroz did secure alternative employment.

The RESPECT Discussion Draft

Baroz’s give and take with the members of the IRA panel was centered in a 17 page discussion draft which the panelists were asked to review. The draft explains that RESPECT is an acronym for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching. Something more than a wish list but less than a blueprint, the discussion document envisions new ways of doing things which are expressed in a series of accumulating subjunctives.

The most accomplished teachers might be asked to serve a larger number of students per class, the document posits. High quality data measuring student learning would be made available and accessible to students on an ongoing basis, and teachers would work professional weeks and days that extend beyond the traditional school day to include the extra hours to get the job done. Students would no longer be held in lock step, age based cohorts (grades), but would instead progress through the system based on what they know and can do.

Of course, an attempt to implement these desiderata is likely to entail a host of serious collateral issues. It is to this end that the Department is seeking to engage a broad range of stakeholders in a national discussion. Nevertheless, the short term push is on, and given the current political context, it is not clear just how compressed the period of stakeholder engagement and deliberation is likely to be.

As explained in a letter from Secretary Arne Duncan which was also given to the panel members: “In his fiscal year 2013 budge, President Obama is seeking $5 billion to support the transformation of the teaching profession. None of us underestimates the challenges ahead, but we also understand the implications of doing nothing. Our students need us now more than ever, and the opportunity for real and meaningful progress has never been greater.”

The Panel’s Input

Baroz sought frank comment from the TAP members, and that is exactly what he got. Some of the panelists felt that the $5 billion plan was just “pie in the sky.” Others questioned the authorship of the initiative, suspecting that political concerns and business interests may have trumped an informed educational perspective.

The plan’s linkage of teacher pay to experience and performance was thought to be a “two edged sword.” Some of the panelists expressed disappointment that issues such as the power of publishers are not even addressed. Others thought that teacher education needs to be designed more like the national board certification projects.

Interestingly enough, the panelists candidly acknowledged that they were themselves split on many questions. In particular, some felt that teachers need to make business interests react to education, while others saw business as the prime consumer of the education system’s “product.” One item in the RESPECT document that did get general support was the notion that teachers shouldn’t have to leave the classroom and move into administrative roles to get higher compensation.

With respect to standards and mandates, one of the panelists made the room erupt in laughter by explaining that “fidelity” was her new “f-word.” All in all, the input was robust, and the IRA Teacher Advisory Panel gave Boraz many ideas and suggestions to communicate back to the powers that be in the federal education establishment.

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More About the Annual Convention

Register for the International Reading Association Annual Convention

At its February board meeting the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association approved the recommendation of the Teacher Advisory Panel (TAP) Board Committee to appoint five new members to the Teacher Advisory Panel for a term to begin at convention 2012 and end at convention 2015:

• representing the Great Lakes Region, Thomas Leis, Wisconsin
• representing the Plains Region, Mary Lou Benesch, Nebraska
• representing the Southeast Region, Michelle Cardaronella, Louisiana
• representing an additional U.S. region (Great Lakes), Michael Henry, Illinois
• representing International, Maura Rose McMahon, Ireland

In addition, the Board appointed an additional international member to the panel, namely Margaret Muthiga of Kenya, to finish out the term of a current TAP member who is not able to continue. 

The Teacher Advisory Panel is an advisory body to the Association. It has the opportunity to present issues of concern to the Board and to respond to issues brought forth by the Board. The Panel meets electronically through conference calls and corresponds by e-mail.

As part of the appointment process, the Board considers the overall composition of the Panel in terms of representative diversity. A concerted effort is made to include teachers at various stages of the career cycle and to appoint at least one teacher who has less than five years of teaching experience. 

Moreover, the Board has made a strong commitment to the IRA Teacher Advisory Panel by approving up to US$1,000 for each TAP member’s travel expenses to attend an annual information/training session at IRA’s Annual Convention. 

For additional information about the panel visit the TAP page on the IRA website.   

Brief introductions of the new panel members are set out below.

Thomas Leis

Great Lakes Region

Thomas Leis teaches at Sparta Meadowview Middle School (grades 6-8), Sparta, WI. As a Library Teacher he works with students in whole class, small group and individual settings.  He also works with staff as a Differentiation Coach.

Thomas has been teaching for 24 years. His first five years as were spent in a self-contained grade 5 setting, then 17 years in the middle school setting teaching primarily Reading and Language Arts. The past seven years he has been in the library classroom working with students and staff as a library media specialist. He spends his summers teaching Driver Education, Secondary Social Studies, and keeping the middle school open a few afternoons each week so students and parents do not run out of reading material!

A lifelong learner, Thomas holds the following degrees and certifications: Secondary Broadfield Social Science (grades 7-12); Secondary History (grades 7-12); Driver Education; Reading Teacher (K-12); Elementary (grades 1-8); Education and Professional Development Masters; Library Media Masters; and Online Educator certification.

When his service is concluded Thomas hopes to be remembered as a dynamic, passionate, and fun member of the Teacher Advisory Panel, who shared his love of adolescent literature with anyone who would listen.  He will work to diligently to stress the importance of developing vocabulary instruction and content reading instruction at the middle and secondary levels.  He would like his tenure in this position to exemplify the need for representation of classroom teachers at all levels of the International Reading Association.

Mary Lou Benesch

Plains Region

Mary Lou Benesch is currently teaching at Dodge Elementary School in Dodge, Nebraska, but that will change next year when Dodge merges with a neighboring school.  The new school will be called Howells-Dodge Consolidated Schools.  Plans are for the high school to be in Howells, as well as K-2. Grades 1-8 will be taught in Dodge.

Mary Lou currently teaches Title 1, grade and grade 4 reading, and grade 5-6 social studies.  She has taught in this very small district for 16 years, first as a media specialist and then as a Title 1 teacher. Prior to that, Mary Lou taught in small Catholic schools for 4 years. She also taught for three years right out of college, before she was a stay-at-home mom to her three daughters. 

Mary Lou holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Wayne State College, a media specialist endorsement from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and a Masters in Educational Reading Specialist from Concordia University. 

Mary Lou hopes to do her best with the opportunities that service on the IRA Teacher Advisory Panel opens to her.

Michelle Cardaronella

Southeast Region

Michelle Cardaronella currently teaches first grade at Hammond Eastside Elementary Magnet school, located in Hammond, Louisiana. It is a "School of Interest" in becoming an International Baccalaureate World School. Michelle has been a teacher of primary-age students for twenty-three years now. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, both from the University of New Orleans. She also holds an Early Childhood Generalist certificate from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

When Michelle looks back on her service to IRA as a member of the Teacher Advisory Panel, she hopes that she will have represented teachers across her region well. She hopes to provide the Board of Directors with insight from the classroom and her experience as a consumer of quality professional development. She also wants to inspire other talented and passionate teachers to remain in the classroom.

Michael P. Henry

U.S. At Large Member

Michael P. Henry is a high school reading teacher and literacy coach at Reavis High School in Burbank, IL, where he has been teaching for the past seven of his eight teaching years. Michael holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Master’s Degree in Reading Education from St. Xavier University, and is currently enrolled as a doctoral student of Literacy Education at Northern Illinois University.

Through his various roles, Michael feels uniquely situated to consider voices from a variety of stakeholders at a variety of levels. As a high school reading teacher, he is allowed access to the thoughts and feelings of struggling adolescent readers.  As a high school literacy coach, his collaborative work with teachers informs his thinking a great deal about how different disciplines engage in literacy practices and how experts read and write in their field. As an adjunct professor of education, he hears the reading and writing goals and expectations of future teachers and can relate them to those of the practicing teachers with whom he works. And as a doctoral student of literacy education, he understands the critical importance and difficulty of transferring literacy theory to pedagogy and practice.

Through these various roles, Michael has been afforded the opportunity to see how what is postulated on college campuses becomes practice in high school classrooms and how that practice is received by students. Because of this, he believes that it is his responsibility as a Teacher Advisory Panel member to ensure that all voices from all levels in the field are collectively heard, as IRA’s mission is best served collectively in the field. When he looks back on his legacy as an IRA TAP member, he hopes to be remembered as the member who always kept voices from the field at the forefront of the conversation. 

Maura Rose McMahon

International

Maura Rose McMahon teaches reading in five primary schools in Dublin.  She has been teaching since 1994. She holds a Master's Degree in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, a specialist in Special Education, and has completed her coursework and comprehensive exams towards a Ph.D. in Education. 

Maura’s experience working in areas of educational disadvantage has highlighted the greater need for stakeholder cooperation and participation in teaching and learning in schools. She is now working on creating a structured mentoring system in reading which uses trained volunteers to help to offset the continued budget and staffing cutbacks in education.

As a member of the Teacher Advisory Panel, Maura aspires to create a wider discussion about using volunteers in schools to help to foster a love of reading with all children, and facilitate authentic reading opportunities in the wider school community.

Margaret Muthiga

International

Margaret Muthiga has served as an educator for the last 29 years, and has experience as a classroom teacher of children aged between six and fourteen years. Currently she is a senior teacher at Kilimo Primary School in Nakuru County, Kenya, serving also as the teacher in charge of the school library which she founded a couple of years ago. Margaret teaches language and social subjects. Muthiga is a college graduate, senior approved teacher grade M.

Margaret joined the IRA local council in 2002, and became an international member of IRA in 2005. She attended IRA training workshops which have enabled her to better her teaching through the diagnostic teaching approach techniques and also to stimulate and promote development of remedial reading and to assist development of improved teacher programs. Her dream is to turn students and teachers' lives around by inspiring them to read, to learn, write with passion, and live with the purpose to shape their own quest for a meaningful life and that they in turn will go further to enlighten and empower others across the globe.

As a TAP member, Margaret hopes to serve IRA diligently giving it her all through the experience she has gathered all these years in her capacity as a classroom teacher.

Teacher Advisory Panel (TAP) Information

About the Board of Directors and the International Reading Association

Victoria J. Risko, 2011-2012 IRA President, recently was invited to become a charter member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. She joins a panel of educators, including Linda Darling-Hammond, Diane Ravitch, Mark Ginsberg, and many others, who will celebrate teacher excellence with the annual Bammy awards. The Awards aim to foster cross-discipline recognition of excellence in education, encourage collaboration and respect in and across the various domains, elevate education and education successes in the public eye, and raise the profile and voices of the many people who are making a difference. Go to Bammyawards.com to learn more about these awards and to nominate and vote for educators that a make a difference for students.

Marcie Craig Post has been named Executive Director of the International Reading Association, Newark, DE. The appointment, which was made by the IRA Board of Directors, will begin in July 2012. The International Reading Association is a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy. More than 70,000 members strong, the Association supports literacy professionals through a wide range of resources, advocacy efforts, volunteerism, and professional development activities. 

Post brings more than 20 years of experience in the leadership and management of educational organizations to the International Reading Association. In each of her positions, she has focused on establishing and maintaining sustainable operations by applying strong expertise to long-term, mission-centric strategic planning, data-driven outcomes-based growth and the development of innovative products and services. The focus of Post’s career has been the improvement and enrichment of reading and language development programs for school-age youth and creation of a supportive environment of professional learning to enhance teacher practice. 

Prior to joining the International Reading Association, Post served as an independent consultant, providing schools and non-profit organizations with design and implementation support for strategic planning, program development and measurement, and board development and education.  She also served as Chief Program and Education Officer for Global Partnership Schools, a newly formed company to develop programs and services for public school turnaround and assisting with project implementation from 2009 to 2011. 

From 1999 to 2009, Post was the Chief Executive Officer of Education Enterprises of New York, overseeing the operation of five affiliated non-profit organizations, which included a school for students with learning disabilities, a community education center (where she served as founding Executive Director) and a foundation. She managed each of these organizations for growth and sustainability, providing leadership for program development and implementation. She also established systems for program planning and measurement, and processes to ensure quality assurance and cost effectiveness. In addition, Post led an annual fund development effort, generating public interest, stewarding prospective donors, and raising over $1 million a year.

Post holds a Masters of Education in Higher Education degree and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She serves on the board of the New York Association of Independent Schools and chairs visiting committees for accreditation review. In her spare time, Post enjoys reading, hiking, volunteering for thoroughbred adoption centers and spending time with her family. 

by Jen Donovan

The International Reading Association is proud to announce the publication of three new books this spring: Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp; Best Ever Literacy Survival Tips: 72 Lessons You Can’t Teach Without by Lori D. Oczkus; and Guided Comprehension for English Learners by Maureen McLaughlin. All three titles will be for sale in the IRA Bookstore (Booth 2247) at the 57th Annual IRA Convention in Chicago, where the authors will hold book signings. Visit / for information about the Annual Convention and the author signings, to view sample contents and chapters, or to order these must-have resources.

Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading
by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp

The Common Core State Standards place an emphasis on teaching students to read and understand increasingly complex texts. That teaching requires more than just assigning students hard books and hoping they get better at reading. Teaching starts with a deep understanding about what makes text complex. In this book, Fisher, Frey, and Lapp explain the quantitative and qualitative factors of text complexity as well as the ways in which readers can be matched with texts and tasks. The book focuses on instruction and assessment of complex texts through close readings and extensive discussions. With this understanding, lessons can be developed that ensure students are prepared for the wide range of reading and writing they will do for the rest of their lives. Preview a sample chapter at /TextComplexity.

Best Ever Literacy Survival Tips: 72 Lessons You Can’t Teach Without
by Lori D. Oczkus

Lori D. Oczkus is a literacy coach, an author, and a motivational speaker across the United States. Her latest book, Best Ever Literacy Survival Tips: 72 Lessons You Can’t Teach Without, includes 12 chapters on the hottest literacy topics such independent reading, grouping strategies, formative assessments, nonfiction, fl uency, and comprehension. Each chapter features research-based guidelines, classroom examples, and Lori’s Top 5 Surefire Strategies for motivating elementary and middle school learners. Preview a sample chapter at /BestEver.

Guided Comprehension for English Learners
by Maureen McLaughlin 

With this new volume, Maureen McLaughlin expands her Guided Comprehension Model to help improve the comprehension of English learners in grades 3–8. There are 12 new theme-based lessons for teaching English learners using the Model, plus teacher commentaries, think-alouds, planning forms and reproducibles, and lists of related resources, such as trade books in multiple languages and helpful websites. This volume contains connections to the benchmark WIDA Standards, the TESOL Standards, and the Common Core State Standards. Preview a sample chapter at /GCEnglishLearners.

IRA members receive a 20% discount on book purchases. Learn about these books, and many more professional development books, at /books. 

Jen Donovan is the strategic communications department intern at the International Reading Association.