Literacy Now

If we learned anything at the ILA 2018 Conference, it’s that changemaking work is fueled by two feelings: hope and frustration. This year’s theme, Be a Changemaker, was about identifying a problem, and finding the tools, connections, and strategies needed to drive a solution.

And there’s perhaps no greater harbinger of hope than 14-year-old Marley Dias, the face of the next generation of changemakers. 

The inaugural Children’s Literature Day opened with a message of hope when Dias took the stage to deliver the opening keynote. Dias reflected on how she turned her frustration about the books she was seeing in school, which offered no mirrors but rather windows that “only opened up to one place and one type of experience”—that of white boys and their dogs—into a movement. She started the #1000BlackGirlBooksProject, a campaign to collect 1,000 books with black girl protagonists that she would then donate to libraries around the country.

“That singular and exclusive experience frustrated me, and I decided to do something about it,” she said.

She has since collected more than 12,000 books, appeared on the Ellen Show, interviewed Hillary Clinton, and written her first book, Marley Dias Gets It Done. Dias spoke about the importance of diverse books, inspiring activism in young people, and embracing difference.

“Reading allows us to see the humanity in others who are not like us,” she said. “Embracing difference is essential if you want to be a changemaker.”

“Each of us has a magic inside of us that we can use to make the world a better place.”

The New York Times bestselling-author Kwame Alexander joined her onstage for a Q&A session that was equal parts funny and poignant. The two discussed their new books, their shared love of poetry, and the age-old war between Nigerian and Ghanaian jollof rice.   

Attendees then dispersed for the morning session of author meetups, panels, and signings. Four categories of meetups (Early Reader, Middle Grade, Early Young Adult, and Older Young Adult) featured a mix of up-and-comers and well-established veterans, including Megan McDonald, Carole Boston Weatherford, and Peter H. Reynolds.

During a new event, the Latinx panel, moderator Oralia Garza de Cortés, cofounder of the American Library Association's Pura Belpré Award, lead a discussion with four authors whose works celebrate Latinx family culture. They tackled questions of identity and stereotyping, authentic cultural voice, and “the single story.”

After attendees reconvened at noon for a formal lunch, former ILA Board member Julie Scullen took the stage next to present the ILA Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards. Following was a keynote by fifth-grade teacher and Nerdy Book Club founder Colby Sharp, who made the audience laugh and cry as he shared videos from his mock Caldecott unit, which showed students’ celebratory cries and looks of defeat when the actual award winners were announced. 

He spoke about how to inspire a lifelong love of reading in young people, the value of family and community engagement; and the importance of leading by example.

“We have a responsibility to make sure a kid never feels like a level, to make sure kids feel like readers, and to make sure kids have all the books,” he said. 

After an afternoon of more meetups, panels, and signings, Alexander returned to the stage to deliver a dynamic closing keynote. He recited original poetry and shared videos of his first poetry workshop held in a juvenile detention center, an experience that showed him how language can empower and effect change. 

Alexander brought the message of hope full circle when he shared the fruits of his own changemaker work: the Literacy Empowerment and Action Project, a health clinic and library in the rural village of Konko, Ghana, that facilitates student scholarship opportunities, literacy training for teachers, girls’ empowerment workshops, and career development projects. He closed ILA 2018 on an inspiring note.

“Read the change. Be the change. Share the change. Make the change.”

Alina O’Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.

ILA announced the winners of the ILA Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards on Monday at the ILA 2018 Conference in Austin, TX.

The books on this year’s list comprise a wide range of genres and styles, transport readers around the world to places such as Cuba and Iran, and explore edifying themes, including mental illness, family life and tradition, and racial prejudice and police brutality.

In its 43rd year, the awards program recognizes newly published authors who show exceptional promise in the children’s and young adult book fields. Awards were presented for fiction and nonfiction in each of three categories: primary, intermediate, and young adult.

"Notable authors like Laurence Yep (winner of the formerly named Laura Ingalls Wilder Award), Christopher Paul Curtis (three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award) and Lois Lowry (winner of two Newberry Medals for Number the Stars and The Giver) were recognized with this award early in their illustrious careers,” said teaching and learning specialist and past ILA Board member Julie Scullen, who presented the awards.

The 2018 award winners are:

Primary Fiction

Winner: The Book of Mistakes. Corinna Luyken. 2017. Dial.

Honor: Little Fox in the Forest. Stephanie Graegin. 2017. Schwartz & Wade.

Primary Nonfiction

Winner: This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids From Around the World. Matt Lamothe. 2017. Chronicle.

Intermediate Fiction

Winner: Train I Ride. Paul Mosier. 2017. HarperCollins.

Honor: The Notations of Cooper Cameron. Jane O’Reilly. 2017. Carolrhoda.

Intermediate Nonfiction

Winner: Marti’s Song for Freedom. Emma Otheguy. 2017. Lee & Low.

Young Adult Fiction

Winner: Words on Bathroom Walls. Julia Walton. 2017. Random House.

Honor: The Hate U Give. Angie Thomas. 2017. HarperCollins.

Young Adult Nonfiction

Winner: Obsessed: A Memoir of My Life With OCD. Allison Britz. 2017. Simon & Schuster.

“Congratulations to all of our award winners,” said Scullen. “I’m excited to get all of these books into the hands of young readers.”

Additional information on ILA’s awards can be found here.

Alina O'Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.

For the audience of ILA’s Equity in Education panel, Literacy and Our LGBTQ Students: Starting and Sustaining Schoolwide Transformation, which took place this weekend at the ILA 2018 Conference in Austin, TX, the message was clear: If you want to create a school climate where LGBTQ students feel comfortable, start with empathy.
 
Eliza Byard, executive director of GLSEN, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group focused entirely on K–12 education, delivered the opening keynote, weaving her personal narrative with statistics about LGBTQ risk factors.

“Today, I’m here as a lesbian who grew up in the U.S., whose life was saved by my relationship with books,” she said. “I simply want to say how much it means to be here with people whose work is dedicated to unlocking the incredible joys of literacy for children now, because it meant the world to me.”
 
Byard also discussed GLSEN’s recent initiatives in response to the wave of discriminatory legislation attempted to roll-back efforts for LGBTQ equity. The organization has been a leading advocate for the repeal of so-called “no promo homo laws” that ban teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics in a positive light. Texas is one of seven states where these laws are still in effect—a fact that Byard used to underline the urgency of their work.
 
“Change is possible; individuals can make a difference,” she said. “You cannot improve school climate if you don’t take these issues on.”
 
She then opened the conversation to the panelists: Kris De Pedro, assistant professor at the College of Educational Studies at Chapman University; Amy Fabrikant, staff developer at the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility; Courtney Farrell, founder of The Journey Project; Jessica Lifschitz, Heinemann Scholar and fifth-grade teacher; Kate Roberts, author and literacy consultant; Dana Stachowiak, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of North Carolina Wilmington; and Tim’m West, senior managing director of the LGBTQ Community Initiative at Teach for America. 

After introducing  themselves and stating their preferred pronouns, they spent the next hour unpacking and strategizing on a wide range of LGBTQ issues in education, from language to libraries.
 
The danger of staying silent
 
When asked about their first steps toward creating an LGBTQ-inclusive school climate, several panelists shared their own journeys of self-acceptance. 
 
Stachowiak spent much of her teaching career wearing dresses and heels, skirting questions about her personal life, and avoiding LGBTQ topics in the classroom. Ultimately, it was a conversation with a student that inspired her to embrace her authentic self at work. 
 
“A little girl in my classroom who had been really spunky and really gifted academically just started to go downhill and got quiet. I found out through her peers that she had been writing love letters to other girls in the classroom, and they were uncomfortable with that. I didn’t know what to do because I felt like if I supported her, I would be outed," she said. “I made it all about me at that moment—there was wanting to protect my student and there was wanting to protect myself, and that kind of overshadowed, unfortunately.”
 
When the school counselor failed to take action and the student’s social and emotional well-being continued to decline, Stachowiak realized it was time for her to overcome her fears and focus on the needs of the student confiding in her. 
 
“I just said, you know what? I can’t just continue to watch this happen,” she said. “That was me, as a kid.”

Stachowiak’s story sparked a conversation about the dangers of silencing these topics in the classroom and addressed concerns about parent, administrator, or community pushback. 

“There are a bunch of schools where the adults haven't moved to the same degree as our young people have,” said Roberts. “And I think that’s because, and others will echo, we’re terrified of the parents, we’re so scared of parent communities complaining.”

Roberts reminded the audience that they can be loud, too.

“We can complain too, right? We can be the annoying flashing light that someone’s terrified of, being like, ‘Why don’t you have more books that represent all kids? Why isn’t your curriculum more inclusive?’ I don’t think we do become that squeaky wheel enough,” she said. “So the loudest person in the community is the bigoted one.”

Creating social-emotional benchmarks
 
Before coming out to his students, West had to overcome his own perception of what it means to be a role model, a responsibility he cherished as one of the few black, male educators in his district.
 
“Often when we talk about how our young boys need strong, black men [role models], there’s a lot of gendering and homophobia associated with that,” he said. “It may not be pronounced, but the assumption is that you’re masculine, of center, and heterosexual.”
 
West reached his tipping point when he heard his students using the word “gay” as an insult. Instead of reacting, he decided to use that moment as a learning opportunity; he asked the students to clarify what they meant and, as a class, they read aloud the dictionary definition of the word. 

His next step was to openly identify with that word. 
 
“The power of my own decision to come out in that setting was just remarkable. After that, the way that they treated each other, the way they dealt with things, was so much different,” said West. “We had created a culture, in that classroom, in that school—where being gay was really awesome.”

To West, this experience highlights the need for more social and emotional development work in the classroom. He wants to see more open, respectful dialogue around these topics.

“When we talk about teaching and testing, when we talk about benchmarks—where are people and where do we want them to grow—we have to do the same thing around social-emotional competencies—not only for our students, but for our teachers.” 

Students can be teachers, too  

There was a consensus among all of the panelists about the importance of trusting in students’ wisdom and opening spaces for them to lead inclusivity efforts.

“I think it’s important to remind ourselves that students come to school with incredible funds of knowledge,” said De Pedro. “In many ways, our students are more sophisticated and more involved than the teachers and the adults in our schools. Our students are teachers too; they can actually lead in these efforts.”

Farrell said educators should focus on demonstrating they are truly listening by turning students’ words into actions. 

“It’s learning what it is that the children need from us. Opening up spaces to say, ‘What would you like? What do you seek? What are your experiences?’” she said. “And whenever we open up spaces to hear, and they give us information, following it by action. So saying, “What you say matters, and here’s what we’re going to do about it.’”

You don’t know what you don’t know

Byard closed the panel by asking the panelists to share an action item for attendees to take back to their practices. 

“I would echo the idea that it starts with us, recognizing that we don’t know what we don’t know,” said Farrell. “To dig deep into spaces that we may not have personally lived ourselves. So, a lot of listening, a lot of research, a lot of introspection, a lot of reading.”

De Pedro similarly encouraged the audience to continuously challenge their assumptions and to seek new ways of knowing. 

“Admitting you don’t know something and admitting you’re wrong are the two most powerful things educators can—and should—do,” he said.

Fabrikant urged educators hold regular check-ins where students can discuss their feelings.

"Just to know what everyone is bringing into the room," she said. "I really do believe in having a space just to share what’s alive in us."

Panelists also discussed the importance of intersectional thinking, using conscious language, and fully integrating LGBTQ topics into the curriculum.
 
Stachowiak closed the conversation with a powerful call to action. 

“We need to be those voices to say, ‘Yes I can, and yes I will.’ Believe in yourselves that you can do this work and you’re not alone. Even if it’s just starting with you, just look around this room—this is a room full of accomplices,” she said. “This is where the revolution starts.”
 
The livestreamed conversation, sponsored by Heinemann Publishing, was archived on ILA’s Facebook page and can be viewed here. 

Alina O’Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily. 

The International Literacy Association (ILA) presented the William S. Gray Citation of Merit to Nell K. Duke, a professor in literacy, language, and culture and in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan, School of Education, this weekend at the ILA 2018 Conference in Austin, Texas.

The William S. Gray Citation of Merit, ILA's most prestigious award, is reserved for those ILA members who have made outstanding contributions to multiple facets of literacy development—research, theory, practice, and policy. A former member of ILA's Literacy Research Panel, Duke was recognized for her work on early literacy development, particularly among children of poverty, specifically in the development of informational reading and writing in young children, comprehension development, and issues of equity and access in literacy education.

"William S. Gray was the first president of this organization and was a pivotal contributor to our knowledge of the reading process," said Timothy Shanahan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and past recipient of the William S. Gray Citation of Merit, who presented the award to Duke. "More than any other ILA award, this one is for lifetime achievement and a career of contributions."

Duke teaches preservice, inservice, and doctoral courses in literacy education; speaks and consults widely on literacy education; has served as coprincipal investigator on projects funded by Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and Lucas Education Research, among other organizations; and is the author and coauthor of numerous journal articles, book chapters and books, including Inside Information: Developing Powerful Readers and Writers of Informational Text through Project-Based Instruction and Beyond Bedtime Stories: A Parent's Guide to Promoting Reading, Writing, and Other Literacy Skills from Birth to 5. 

"I want to thank Tim [Shanahan] and the members of the committee and ILA," said Duke. "It's not really an award for me; it's an award for all the major collaborators I had the pleasure of working with over the years."

In addition, the Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award, given annually for a dissertation completed in reading or literacy, was presented to Elena E. Forzani, assistant professor in literacy education at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her dissertation, How Well Can Students Evaluate Online Science Information? Contributions of Prior Knowledge, Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Offline Reading Ability, investigated how well seventh-grade students evaluated the credibility of online information in science.

Other award highlights include:

• The Corwin Literacy Leader Award was presented by ILA to Esmeralda Carini, literacy district educational specialist for the Winward District, Kailua-Kalaheo Complex Area, Hawaii Department of Education.
• Julie Coiro, associate professor of reading at the University of Rhode Island, received the Erwin Zolt Digital Literacy Game Changer Award.
• The Jerry Johns Outstanding Teacher Educator in Reading Award was presented to Sharon Walpole, professor at the School of Education at the University of Delaware.
• Mark Conley, professor of instruction and curriculum leadership at the University of Memphis, TN, was the recipient of the inaugural Leaders Inspiring Readers Award, sponsored by Achieve 3000.
• The Maryann Manning Special Service Award was presented to Diane Barone, foundation professor of literacy at the University of Nevada, Reno.
• The Regie Routman Teacher Recognition Grant was awarded to Keith Garvert, a teacher at Highline Community School, Denver, CO.

The full list of award recipients can be found here.

Alina O'Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.

Though just shy of 8 a.m. Saturday, the energy was high as attendees poured through the doors of the Exhibit Hall at the Austin Convention Center. Inside, they danced to live music and posed for pictures in front of the colorful stage, eagerly awaiting the start of General Session.

ILA Immediate Past President Douglas Fisher welcomed the audience and opened with a powerful quote: “Every student deserves a great teacher. Not by chance, but by design.”

With its theme of “Be a Changemaker,” these words set the tone of the ILA 2018 Conference in Austin, Texas.

Fisher then explored what it means to be a great teacher—one who offers equity in choice and access, advocates for all students’ rights to read and write, and ensures that zip code doesn’t dictate achievement. He said literacy is “the gateway to all other learning and the best anecdote to poverty at our disposal.”

Bernadette Dwyer, ILA President of the Board, said the key to changemaking is persistence: we must “get going, keep going, and get started again.” She encouraged the audience to continue to be curious, to learn, and to advocate for things that matter.

“Change begins with ordinary people—the quiet revolution of changemakers,” she said. “Let’s get started again and again and again until the basic fundamental right of literacy is achieved for all.”

The revolutionary changemakers who followed continued to drive that message home.

Don’t just involve, but engage

When Adan Gonzalez, educator and founder of the grassroots community organization Puede Network, took the stage, he told his story of finding freedom through education. The son of Mexican American immigrants raised in the high-poverty neighborhood of Oak Cliff, Texas, he realized at a young age that the education system wasn’t serving him.

“I became angry at the system, the system of education that became more worried about passing the test than knowing my name or my dreams,” he said. “This system was not created for people like me.”

Gonzalez channeled his frustration into school. The more he read, the more he realized that education would be his escape from poverty. Today, a graduate of Georgetown and Harvard universities, he’s a third-grade teacher at his former elementary school.

Gonzalez spoke about the danger of reducing faces and dreams to data and numbers and about the importance of speaking truth. He closed with a call to action: for all educators to not just involve but engage the communities in which they teach and to build on the strengths there.

Practice “disruptive kindness”

Cornelius Minor, lead staff developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, followed with the powerful reminder that passion for change is not enough. He called on educators to practice “disruptive kindness.”

“Being nice in the face of oppression is not enough. Nice does not create change—kindness does,” he said. “Kindness means I care enough about you to call you out and help you learn and change.”

He reminded the audience of educators that, although they cannot dismantle the discriminatory systems in government, they can—and should—change the discriminatory systems that govern their classrooms, districts, and schools. If we fail to take action, he said, we choose to accept the problem.

“If you show people a problem with no roadmap to possibility, they can get used to living with the problem,” he said. “I can never get used to this. We can never get used to this.”

Minor left the audience with a four-step plan for becoming a changemaker: study, invent something, try it and measure your results, and ask for collaborative feedback.

Change begins with you

In the final keynote of General Session, Nadia Lopez relayed her story of founding Mott Bridges Academy, a middle school in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn—one of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods, an experience that taught her the importance of knowing students beyond their levels and scores. She reminded the audience that the power of literacy is not about passing a test, but about connecting students to their own stories and to worlds outside of their communities.

“If you give them a name, they will own it,” she said. “If you give them a number, they will focus on what they cannot achieve.”

Lopez shared a few of her students’ success stories as well as her four-part formula for transformation: a vision, a written plan, a tribe, and the audacity to make things happen.

She closed with a powerful message: that change begins with you. She then asked the audience to join her in repeating an inspiring mantra:

“Neighbor, you have been chosen to do a significant job for children who need you. You are liberating minds, transforming communities, hearts, and minds. You matter. You matter. You matter.”

Alina O'Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.