Literacy Now

A Message from IRA President Maureen McLaughlin and IRA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post

IRA, like many other non-profit professional associations, has struggled in the current economic downturn. Our revenues have decreased, and our membership levels have declined. Moreover, we are experiencing a major demographic shift tied to start of baby-boomer retirement. Addressing these concerns has been a major focus of the IRA Board, executive director, and staff for the past several years.

As you are aware, the International Reading Association is in the midst of a major strategic effort designed to stabilize our operating revenues, realign our network of councils and affiliates, and restate our mission and goals to insure our continued operation and growth in a professional terrain that has been radically transformed by both digital technology and governmental mandates. 

Given the scope of the challenge, our planning efforts were not undertaken lightly. Last year a special strategic planning team comprised of past IRA presidents, IRA board members, and selected members of the IRA staff held an intensive two-day session to conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. This team formulated a process for creating and implementing a new strategic plan that would pave our path to a sustainable future. The team also issued a mandate calling on the IRA staff to formulate the plan.

From the beginning of this effort, it was understood that the path to real success requires us to take considered steps in carefully planned sequence as new goals were established and new initiatives considered thereunder. Rather than rushing into change for change’s sake, our approach has been to appoint teams and committees that analyze the available data and carefully vet alternative approaches to arrive at the strongest possible foundations for building our future.

As conscientious stewards, we have been as open as possible about our progress. Last April at our annual conference in San Antonio, IRA’s executive director provided detailed briefings to many groups and committees, including a group of IRA past presidents, on the financial condition of the Association and the types of steps were taking to set a course correction for stabilization and future growth.

In June, a landmark council leadership academy was conducted in Minneapolis to assist state councils dealing with similar challenges. As the assembled attendees came to understand, realignment of the council network and IRA around membership options that provide increased value is an indispensable element of future success. Extensive coverage of the Minneapolis event was provided to the entire membership in the August/September issue of Reading Today.

Based on the groundwork laid at Minneapolis, planning for a new Council Transformation Initiative was undertaken this past summer with input from council leaders, staff, and legal counsel. The Initiative will climax later this month when the leaders of several councils who volunteered for a pilot program will participate in an intensive workshop that addresses critical operating issues, including incorporation, tax exempt status, bylaws, board member terms, member recruitment and retention, marketing, and social media. The goal is to make our councils stronger. We expect that one or two of the pilot councils will be presenting on this experience at the 2014 conference in New Orleans.

A special Cause, Mission, and Strategies (CMS) team was also formed in the summer consisting of the associate executive director of IRA and senior IRA staff. The CMS team was charged with drafting new internal and external messaging that would heighten the Association’s profile within the contemporary professional landscape and support a linked rebranding effort.

This team spent hundreds of hours reviewing IRA’s core strengths as its members strove to draft mission language that is contemporary and compelling, and that clearly and instantly communicates our cause to the professional literacy community, including practitioners and policymakers, and to the public at large. Expanding awareness in this way is essential if we are to attract new sources of financial support going forward. Part of this outreach also involved consideration of a name change for the Association.

Last week, at the October meeting of the IRA Board of Directors, many of these new initiatives were presented for board action. We are pleased to inform you that the board approved major new changes for IRA, including most notably the following:

• A new cause statement: Transforming Lives through Literacy
• A name change: International Literacy Association

No doubt changes like these require fuller explanation over time, as well as a “break-in” period. What we wish to note in this inaugural communication is that while reading remains at the core of our mission and purpose, the broader term “literacy” has the advantage of being less reductive. It imparts without more the reality that literacy professionals deal with a cluster of skills that also include speaking, listening, writing, and presenting.

By making this change—which many other literacy-focused associations have already done—we communicate more broadly the depth of our research base and our members’ instructional expertise.

Many other important steps were taken as well concerning such matters as governance, membership options, council support, and conference program rules. In the coming weeks and months, all of these changes will be explained at length in a series of updates that will come to you in special management reports, topical e-blasts, and Reading Today coverage.

We urge you to read these follow-up communications in detail so that you will fully understand the background of these changes, the deliberations that occurred in developing them, and the advantages we believe will be realized by adopting them. Until you have all of the facts, an informed perspective is not possible and any criticism would in fact be premature.

In this first message about what is to come, we wanted you to know that we are thrilled at the future prospects we see for the Association. We look forward to hearing from you and engaging with you as these new initiatives are rolled out over the rest of the year. Most of all, we want you to know that we are honored to have the privilege of supporting you, our members, in the great work of advancing the cause of literacy. With your support, we will honor our past as we build IRA’s future.

The International Reading Association's Literacy and Social Responsibility Special Interest Group (SIG) awarded the first annual Social Justice Literature Awards at the International Reading Association’s 2013 conference in San Antonio, Texas. The Award was given to two books: The House on Dirty-Third Street by Jo S. Kittinger and illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez for Best Picture Book and Summer on the Moon by Adrian Fogelin for Best Non-Picture Book.

The Literacy and Social Responsibility SIG created this award to highlight children’s and young adult literature that illustrates qualities of social justice. The award is the result of a year-long process of the SIG. This process included selecting co-chairs Carolyn Cook, Kenneth Fasching-Varner, and Aimee Rogers; developing criteria for evaluating nominated texts; reviewing all entries; and coming to a final decision. The main categories created were Picture Books and Non-Picture Books with the potential subcategories of poetry, narrative and nonfiction. The committee was supported by the generous mentoring of Alma Flor Ada and Isabel Campoy, both of whom have experience with similar book awards.

The award committee selected the top 10% of the nominations received from publishers. In reviewing texts the committee considered two principles: recognition of the literary and artistic qualities of the text, as well as the reader response. With respect to literary and artistic qualities, texts were evaluated on how they fostered respect and understanding of diverse populations, promoted social responsibility (including equity, justice, and peace), presented social issues in their complexity, and addressed social responsibility towards individuals, communities, societies and/or the environment.  With respect to reader response, books were evaluated for the extent to which the text invites reflection and socially responsible action by the reader. Furthermore, in the reader response the committee judged how the text encourages the analysis of past injustices showing possible alternatives and/or challenges and how the text opens the reader’s imagination to other possibilities. Lastly, the committee considered the appeal of the text to the targeted readers.

Selected Picture Book

The House on Dirty-Third Street by Jo S. Kittinger and illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez
Peachtree Publishers, 2012, 32 pp.
ISBN 978-1561456192
Age Range: 4-8

In The House on Dirty-Third Street, a mother and her daughter have just moved into a different house to get a new start. As a result of limited income, it is located in an uninviting neighborhood. They spend much time and energy cleaning the house and yard, but they are discouraged because there is so much work to be done. People appear to paint and repair the house. Through the help of the community the house soon lives up to the visions mom had when she bought it. The double-page illustrations pull the reader into the emotions of the story. The illustrations are rendered in dull colors which gradually brighten as things improve for the mother and daughter. The reader understands life as a single mom and sees the power of faith and a giving community.

Selected Non-picture Book

Summer on the Moon by Adrian Fogelin
Peachtree Publishers, 2012, 256 pp.
ISBN 978-1561456260
Age Range: 9-12

In Summer on the Moon, summer vacation is just beginning for Socko and his best friend Damien. The first problem is dealing with Rapp, the leader of the local gang and neighborhood bully. However the best the friends can do is to postpone, but not solve the problem of Rapp. The next problem comes when mom unexpectedly moves Socko away from this bad neighborhood to Moon Ridge Estates, a half-built housing development. Socko is lost without Damien and the comfort of his former neighborhood. He spends his time taking care of his grumpy great-grandfather, the General. With this new responsibility and his deepening understanding of the situation at Moon Ridge Estates, Socko discovers that it is not where one lives that determines one’s character, but rather one’s actions. In addition, the reader learns with Socko the power found in family and friends no matter where you live.

2014 Committee and Award

The Committee is currently taking nominations from publishers for the 2014 award. Please contact Carolyn (cook@msmary.edu), Kenny (varner@lsu.edu), or Aimee (aimeearogers@gmail.com) with book submissions or questions. The 2014 committee will consist of Sarah Harrison-Burns, Patricia Dean, Zanthia Smith, Denise Stuart, and Joyce Wheaton. Nominations for the 2015 committee are also being taken. The committee will proceed with members rotating off after a multi-year commitment.

As a supplement to her article about multimodal reading in the October/November 2013 issue of Reading Today, IRA President Maureen McLaughlin offers the following resources for literacy educators:

Eric Carle

Carle, E. (2006). The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories - DVD (2006). Roger McGough (Actor), Juliet Stevenson (Actor), Andrew Goff (Director) Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Disney. (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Mixed-Up Chameleon, and I See a Song)

Martin, M., & Carle, E. (2008).Brown Bear & Friends CD Audiobook CD – Audiobook, CD, Unabridged. Gwyneth Paltrow (Reader). New York, NY: Macmillan Young Listeners.

The Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series - DVD (2012) – 8 discs. Lily Tomlin (Actor), Daniel DeSanto (Actor), Larry Jacobs (Director), Charles E. Bastien (Director) – 52 episodes of the animated science-adventure series.

Magic School Bus Videos available from United Streaming – 20 titles – http://baucomes.wcpss.net/magicschoolbus/index

Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

Frost, R. (2005). Stopping by woods on a snowy evening. In E. Paschen (Ed.), Poetry speaks. .. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Mediafusion. (Frost reading this poem and others)

Frost, R. (2001). Stopping by woods on a snowy evening. New York, NY: Dutton Juvenile. (picture book)

Hamlet (1996)  

Barron, D. (Producer), & Branagh, K. (Director). (1996). Hamlet [Motion picture]. USA: Warner Bros. (film)

Grant, S. (2009). Classics illustrated #5: Hamlet (classics illustrated graphic novels). New York, NY: Papercutz. (graphic novel)

Shakespeare, W. (2005). Hamlet. New York, NY: BBC Audiobooks America.

Maureen McLaughlin is the president of the International Reading Association and the chair of the reading department and a professor at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania,mmclaughlin@esu.edu. She is the author of Guided Comprehension in Grades 3–8 (with Mary Beth Allen), Guided Comprehension in the Primary Grades (2nd ed.), and Guided Comprehension for English Learners, as well as a series of professional development books on the Common Core with Brenda J. Overturf.

This article is an addendum to an article from the October/November 2013 issue of Reading Today. IRA members can read the interactive digital version of the magazine here. Nonmembers: join today!

I was thrilled to discover that the 18th European Reading Conference was going to be hosted by the Swedish Council of the International Reading Association (IRA) and held in Jonkoping, Sweden. Visiting Sweden and learning more about how the world reads were two items on my must do list. As an added bonus, members of IRA’s Diversity Learning Committee, Wendy C. Kasten, Diana Sisson and I, presented on “Diversity in United States Teacher Education Programs in Literacy and Reading: A Nationwide Investigative Study” (Kasten, Sharma & Sisson, 2013).

Sisson, Kasten, and Sharma


Boat Tour


Sue Ann Sharma

In between fulfilling these aspirations, the conference itinerary included superb keynotes, new report findings, and rich conversations. Here are some impressions for anyone considering participating in an IRA affiliated conference in a distant country.

Exploring Jönköping

Jönköping is Sweden’s 9th most populated city. It is known for it matchstick industry 1845-1970 and home to ABBA’s group member, Agnetha Faltskog. When arriving via a three-hour train ride from Stockholm, the city can be spotted nestled against Lake Vättern, Sweden’s 2nd largest lake. The Sommarstället Munksjön’s boat ride is a must. Waiting to be explored are the many different shops from antique to hip. Taste an array of ethnic cuisine among the city’s 85 restaurants. The cuisine is indicative of the diversity in this university town, which has attracted 1500 students from over 65 countries. The food and people of Jönköping will capture your heart.

How the World Reads: New Challenges, New Literacies, Global Context

Mirroring the international students that attend Jönköping University, teachers and teacher educators from around the world gathered together to learn and have grand conversations about contextual issues related to 21st Century literacy practices. My fingers couldn’t keep up as I tried to capture every word of the variety of literacy aspects being addressed during the plenary sessions. Here’s a glimpse at both European and American context.

European Context

Insights gleaned from Digital Futures: Learning and Teaching Literacy in the Digital Age affirmed for me that teachers worldwide are meeting the challenges of new media literacies in many different ways. During this lecture, Jackie Marsh, from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, shared some unique ways in which children use virtual worlds. Examples included children selecting a bedtime story from QR codes on pajamas and the blurring of online/offline classroom investigations in which children retrieve information from QR codes placed on trees.

American Context

While sharing results from several online research projects, Donald Leu, from University of Connecticut, United States, helped us contextualize the social practices of literacy in a digital age using the dual level theory of new literacies (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castel, & Henry, 2013). The dual level theory of new literacies focuses on trends and patterns emerging from “Upper Case New Literacies,” based on common findings from localized and domain-specific “lower case new literacies” such as social interactions occurring with text messaging. The Digital Futures in Teacher Education Project and Online Research and Comprehension Assessment (ORAC) projects promote new insights in both theory and practices that prepare teachers and students for the future.

Creating Opportunities for International Collaboration

Literacy topics across nine strands framed the parallel sessions and verified for me common literacy challenges being addressed worldwide including “The Third Progress in International Literacy Study (PIRLS)” report which revealed information on international trends in reading achievement in fourth graders from 49 countries. In response to the adolescent reading difficulties made evident by the PISA studies, an international team formed to address the lack of reading instruction across the curriculum. This collaboration resulted in the European Comenius Project: “BaCuLIt” – Basic Curriculum for Teachers’ In-Service Training in Content Area Literacy in Secondary Schools.

International Teacher Educator Exchange

As Americans, we know our classrooms are becoming increasingly more diverse. However, I can now testify from the discussion with teacher educators from around the world, that this is the case worldwide. Ultimately, this conference heightened my curiosity about addressing the complexities teachers face when meeting the diverse needs of learners globally.

Final Thoughts

I loved the learning that took place during breaks and lunch. These informal interludes held their own charm. They provided time for thoughtful dialogue concerning teacher educational programs around the world while sipping tea with colleagues from countries such as Australia, Turkey, and Russia.

The European Reading Conference was an incredible experience.  I discovered    many admirable literacy practices.   Mark your calendar for the 19th European Reading Conference.  In 2015 this biennial will be held in Klagenfurt, Austria.

References

Leu, D. J. (2013, August). New literacies of online research and comprehension: Reading with a lens to the future as well as a lens to the past. Paper presented at the 18th European Reading Conference. Jönköping, Sweden. Retrieved from. http://www.slideshare.net/djleu/18th-european-conference-on-reading-scira-25083475.

Leu, D. J. (2013, August). Online reading comprehension assessment. Paper presented at the 18th European Reading Conference. Jönköping, Sweden. Retrieved from. http://www.orca.uconn.edu/

Marsh, J. (2013, August). Digital futures: learning and teaching literacy in a digital age. Paper presented at the 18th European Reading Conference. Jönköping, Sweden. Retrieved from. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/ed1jam/ecor-marsh

Marsh, J. (2013, August). Digital futures in teacher education.  Paper presented at the 18th European Reading Conference. Jönköping, Sweden. Retrieved from http://www.digitalfutures.org/.
Institute for German Language and Literature II, University of Cologne, Germany (2013). BaCuLit. Retrieved from http://www.alinet.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=50

International Development in European Committee of the International Reading Association (2013). 19th European Reading Conference. Retrieved from http://www.literacyeurope.org/meetings-conferences/european-conferences/

International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2011. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pirls/pirls2011.asp

Kasten, W. C., Sharma, S. A., Sisson, D. (2013, August). Diversity in United States teacher education programs in literacy and reading: A nationwide investigative study. Paper presented at the 18th European Reading Conference. Jönköping, Sweden.

Leu, D. J., Kinzer, C.K., Coiro, J., Castek, J., Henry, L.A. (2013). New literacies: A dual level theory of the changing nature of literacy, instruction, and assessment. In N. Unrau & D. Alvermann (Ed.s), Theoretical models and processes of reading (6th ed., pp. 1150-1181). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Sue Ann Sharma is a visiting assistant professor at Oakland University in Michigan, dr.sueann@gmail.com.

This article is an addendum to an article from the October/November 2013 issue of Reading Today. IRA members can read the interactive digital version of the magazine here. Nonmembers: join today!