Literacy Now

We have made it even easier to register for the International Reading Association 59th Annual Conference in New Orleans online and to find the forms to print and mail or fax! Simply visit www.iraconference.org and click on “Registration is Now Open!” to begin your registration process. In this article, we share tips on how to complete your registration and housing process quickly and efficiently.

Before You Register

First, review the Annual Conference website at www.iraconference.org and take a look at the iPlanner (itinerary planner), which offers detailed descriptions for the more than 300 sessions and events being offered in New Orleans between May 10 and 12 and the 11 full-day Institutes scheduled on May 9.

Be Prepared

To make your registration process faster, it is helpful to have these items handy:

• If you are an IRA member, or have created an account with IRA to purchase books, etc., have your IRA logins and passwords ready. (If you don’t remember them, there is an option to have your password sent to you at the beginning of the online registration process.)
• Students should have their student I.D. numbers and institutional affiliation accessible to receive the student discount.
• If you’re bringing a guest, it is useful to have this guest’s full name and phone number.
• Of course, have your credit card nearby for payment.

An Important Note

We have created an online registration process that seamlessly guides you through the steps of registration and housing. Please do not use your Internet browser’s “back” and “forward” buttons as you register. Instead, use the orange buttons found at the top and bottom of the registration webpages.

Log In to Save Time

The first page of online registration gives you three options:

• “Log In” (for IRA members and people with accounts who know their name and password)
• “Create an Account” (which allows you to create an account from scratch)
• “Forgot Password?” (which sends a password reset form to your e-mail address)

If you have created an account before, the system will not allow you to create a new account using an e-mail address that you have used to create an account in the past. So, if you know you have an account, it’s best to use the “Forgot Password?” option instead of the “Create an Account” option.

On this page you will also see links to print the registration forms to fax them to 415-293-4399 or mail them to:

IRA Registration
c/o Convention Management Resources
33 New Montgomery, Suite 1100
San Francisco, CA 94105

 

Starting to Register

The next page of online registration gives you several options. You can choose to “Register Now” or “Book Hotel.” You will be able to switch between the two options during the process, or to register for one section and login later to finish the other.

For the example in this article, let’s begin by clicking on “Register Now.”

Conference Choices

On this page, you select your conference attendance, whether it is the Conference & Exhibits (full conference) or just a single day.

If you only want to attend for two days, choose the “Conference & Exhibits” option. (There isn’t a two-day option since choosing two individual days would actually cost more money than the full conference!)

This page also allows you to select one of our 11 full-day, preconference Institutes on May 9. There is a separate fee for Institutes, beyond the cost of registration.

 

When finished selecting, click the orange “Next Page” button at the bottom of the screen.

Author Luncheons

The next page allows you to register for one or more of our three Author Luncheons. Speakers include Judy Moody series author Megan McDonald (Saturday), Ball Don’t Lie and We Were Here author Matt de la Peña (Sunday), and Magic Treehouse series author Mary Pope Osborne (Monday). While the luncheons cost an additional fee beyond registration, savvy conference-goers know that they are a great way to enjoy a quality, sit-down lunch and time to network with colleagues.

When finished selecting, click on the “Next Page” button at the bottom of the page.

Guest Registration

You are invited to bring a guest to the luncheons based on the registrants conference purchase. This next page will guide you through adding this guest to one or more luncheons. When finished selecting, click on the “Next Page” button.

 

All About You

On the next page, we want to get to know you! Fill out this questionnaire, making sure to complete the questions with asterisks next to them. Click on the “Next Page” button at the bottom of the page to continue.

The next page gives you the option of paying now (orange “Check Out” button) or selecting your hotel (orange “Book Hotel” button). 

 

For this example, let’s make our hotel reservations.

Book Housing

Our hotel pages allows you to choose from 29 hotels. You can use the “Sort By” option on the left to list them by hotel name, proximity to convention center, and price.

Once you click an orange “Reserve” button, the next page asks you to input your contact information. Most of the information will automatically appear based on the account you entered at the beginning of this process.

When finished, click the orange “Confirm Registration” button at the bottom of the page.

 

At this point, you will be returned to the overview page, now showing your conference registration as well as your hotel reservation.

 

This page gives you three options: “Edit Your Registration” (if you need to change your conference attendance choices), “Edit Your Reservation” (if you need to change your hotel choices), and “Check Out.”

For this example, let’s go ahead and check out.

Check Out

When you click on the orange “Check Out” button, you will be taken to a payment page. Simply fill out the information and click on the box to accept Terms and Conditions so  the “Submit Payment” button appears at the bottom of the page.

 

You Did It!

The next page you see is an overview page with a barcode that you can print and bring to registration in New Orleans! This page includes information about your conference registration, hotel, and other helpful links. A duplicate of this page will be e-mailed to you as well (from the address IRAReg@cmrus.com). Refer to this e-mail confirmation in case you need to go back to your conference registration or hotel reservation to make changes. 

 

BONUS: Be sure to visit www.iraconference.org/promotions to see all current special promotions, including special discounts and giveaways!

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

The IRA Board of Directors has appointed IRA Past President Carrice Cummins to serve as Vice President for the remainder of the year, filling in for IRA Vice President Maryann Manning who died suddenly last September. Cummins’ tenure in this interim role will conclude on the last day of the IRA New Orleans Conference, May 12, 2014, when current IRA President Maureen McLaughlin hands over the gavel to IRA President Elect Jill Lewis.

Cummins’ appointment will not affect the current election cycle, which is due to commence later this month. Voting members of IRA will elect next year’s Vice President, who will take office on the last day of the New Orleans Conference, May 12, 2014, along with the other newly elected members of the Board. The Board will postpone, until a future time, any decision on filling the vacancy that will arise when Cummins’ interim appointment is concluded.

Maryann Manning’s sudden and untimely death was a shock to all of her colleagues on the IRA Board. In selecting Carrice Cummins to serve out the year in her stead, the Board secures the participation and services of someone uniquely situated to join in the Board’s ongoing deliberations. Carrice began her presidential term around the same time that Marcie Craig Post, IRA’s Executive Director, took office. Many of the critical strategic initiatives which the Association is currently immersed in were commenced during Carrice’s presidency, making her selection for the pro tem role a logical choice.

Now at full strength, the IRA Board, in tandem with the Executive Director and staff, continues to address strategic priorities while the important day-to-day work, including planning an outstanding conference for New Orleans, proceeds apace.

The International Reading Association’s “Invent Your Future” International Literacy Day theme inspired many teachers around the world to create projects to motivate their students to read and to dream. We are excited to announce the three winners of the “Invent Your Future” contest, who will receive Sony Xperia tablets.

Second Grade Scholars Say “Reading Rocks”

When Hope Valley Elementary School teacher Elisha Cliette discussed the many places and adventures literacy could lead her “second grade scholars,” International Literacy Day morphed into International Literacy Week. The events in this North Carolina school included “Invent Your Future Day,” where students dressed up to show what career they wanted to have when they grew up and “Get Lost in a Book Day,” where students dressed up as a character in one of their favorite books. Then they held “Read to Me Day,” where their principal and assistant principal read aloud to them followed by “Partner Reading Day,” where the students were assigned different partners to read with throughout the day. They finished the week with a “Reading Rocks, Dance Party!” Cliette played some of their favorite songs, and they danced along with their favorite book in hand!

Marching on Washington to Celebrate Literacy

In September 2013, The Sheridan School’s third year celebrating International Literacy Day, the sixth grade students collaborated with teachers Noel Sheppard and Susie Baker-Lapp (sixth grade teachers), Emilie Greene and Ilva Olinto (art teachers), and Vicki Masson (world language teacher) to create an assembly based on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. The students in this Washington, DC school reenacted the march, focusing on the importance of literacy for the future, 21st century literacies, and literacy is a tool to help us invent our own futures.

Students created march placards and chants to inspire the marchers, and speakers made clear the meaning of literacy. Also, each sixth grade student was responsible for a “family-style” group of students from across the school. The silhouette of a kindergarten student was traced around on black paper, and then each group brainstormed all the ways in which literacy facilitates inventing the future—all the careers and qualities, benefits and advantages of a future informed by literacy. Approximately 180 children worked in 26 groups, each led by a sixth grade student, and then shared their ideas at the end of the assembly. The visions were many and varied, including “go to Belgium,” “be a dermatologist,” “become a doctor,” “wisdom,” “hope,” “teacher,” “scientist,” “build buildings,” “Lego creator,” “make skateboards,” and “be an author.” After the presentations, the silhouettes were arranged on a wall of the lunch room, with samples of the placards above, as a reminder of the assembly and as a protest installation.

Breaking News in Massachusetts

To celebrate International Literacy Day at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, Massachussetts, Reading Specialist Erin O’Leary and 8th Grade ELA teacher Mary Cotillo invited students to invent their future by pondering, envisioning, and writing headlines featuring their future accomplishments.

They began by researching headlines from history and sharing positive examples with their students. They introduced the idea to students on the morning video news on the Friday before International Literacy Day on September 9. Cotillo reminded students of the project via Instagram and offered extra credit.

At lunch on Friday the teachers placed models and headline writing templates on the tables (so teachers didn’t have to pass out anything). Due date flyers posted on the cafeteria doors were coupled with strategically placed extra templates as students exited the building, and the teachers decorated the area around the collection boxes in the lobby with balloons and streamers. When only a few headlines trickled in, they circulated among tables shouting, "Write your headlines! Grab a friend! I have extras! I have markers! GO! GO! GO!!"

By the end of the day, they had about seventy headlines which they proudly displayed in the HMMS lobby. Other teachers in their building put their own spin on the idea of helping students invent their futures. One eighth grade social studies teacher showed an inspirational YouTube video about high school students who are changing the world with their ideas. A seventh-grade social studies teacher read a UN article talking about literacy's role in preventing poverty. His seventh grade counterpart and the administrators tweeting their headlines.

 

 

To learn more about International Literacy Day or to view our event kit with lesson and activity ideas, visit our International Literacy Day webpage.

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

 

Kenji Hakuta, Stanford University, a member of IRA’s Literacy Research Panel, will present a free webinar this afternoon sharing his thoughts on how the Understanding Language Initiative is working to meet the language demands of the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards.

The webinar, entitled "The Understanding language Initiative in Supporting Attainment of Content and English Language Proficiency Standards," will take place 2:00-3:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (5:00-6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time).

To register now, go to https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/610648807

 

Think your students can spend an extra 10 minutes a day reading and then record their progress? Perhaps you should register your classroom to take part in Fast Break for Reading, a joint project between the International Reading Association (IRA) and the American Basketball Association (ABA). The program runs from November 18, 2013 until March 14, 2014 and is sure to delight any student or teacher interested in sports.