Literacy Now

Each year, thousands of literacy educators, professionals, advocates from across the world gather to attend ILA’s annual conference. The event attracts attendees of varying backgrounds, expertise, and experiences, who share and connect over a love of the written word.

Feedback from postconference surveys, #ILAchats, and social media activity consistently indicates that conference attendees value author interactions. As a result, ILA will now offer an entire day of programming dedicated to children’s and young adult literature, to debut at the ILA 2018 Conference, taking place in Austin, TX, from July 20–23.

Children’s Literature Day 2018 will include keynote speeches, educational sessions, book signings and giveaways, and more. Here’s a snapshot of what’s included with registration:

• Keynote speeches by Marley Dias, 13-year-old founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks and the youngest person on Forbes 30 Under 30 list; Colby Sharp, fifth-grade teacher and cofounder of Nerdy Book Club; and Kwame Alexander; poet, educator, and New York Times bestselling author of 24 books.
• A plated lunch during the afternoon keynote (Sharp) and the presentation of ILA’s Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards.
• One Author Meetup of your choosing. Four categories (Early Reader, Middle Grade, Early Young Adult, and Older Young Adult) feature a mix of up-and-comers and well-established veterans.
• Free titles from each featured author in the selected Meetup.
• Hands-on workshops (also spanning four age-level categories) where you’ll create title-focused classroom materials alongside the authors who wrote the books and gain practical, teacher-generated ideas for incorporating those books into your curriculum.

Learn more and register for ILA 2018 at ilaconference.org.

Alina O’Donnell is the editor of Literacy Daily.

Today’s post-Columbine generation has never known a world without school shootings. Last Wednesday, thousands of students and teachers across the country participated in National Walkout Day in response to the mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, FL. They were met with mixed reactions from district officials, some of whom prohibited participation, citing security risks, disruptions to learning, and the need to refrain from expressing political views during the school day as justification. In some instances, students were physically blocked from exiting the building by school employees.

We argue that this is a missed opportunity for meaningful learning about the democratic process and for teaching students how to advocate for their rights. Furthermore, teaching is a political act; it is impossible to take a neutral stance when making curricular decisions, choosing which books to include or exclude in our classrooms, and deciding whose voices and histories are being told and valued. We believe our students should not be asked to divorce their rights to freedom of speech or expression upon entering school. As educators, we owe it to our students to create spaces where they have the right to safely express their views and where their voices are valued.

In a field driven by top-down mandates, educators’ voices are often stifled and silenced, creating a culture of compliance. As the instructional coach at my school, I, Marie, was approached by many teachers who wanted to be a part of the movement to honor and show solidarity with the victims of Stoneman Douglas High School. I agreed that this was an important opportunity to teach students about civic engagement, but the teachers and I felt limited in what we could do as a result of the district’s communication that outlined appropriate activities, so I reached out to Katie to brainstorm possible solutions.  

After careful consideration, we decided that literature could create a conduit for conversations centered around social change. We encouraged teachers to read aloud Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Toniatiuh, which examines the Mendez family’s actions that led to school desegregation. The text was used as the foundation for classroom discussion, which provided reflection for taking action.

Students connected the events in the text to current conversations around policy change. They channeled their feelings through authentic writing experiences—students chose to write letters to first responders, to the students of Stoneman Douglas High School, or to fellow classmates. They shared words of gratitude for the first responders, expressed feelings of hope and encouragement to the victims, and stated their desire to end school violence. Knowing a group of students organized and led the movement added an element of genuine awe as these elementary students began to realize how powerful a group of young people can be. They learned that they too have a voice and can make a difference.

Real world reading, writing, and discussion were used as tools to foster meaningful response and to help students cope and support each other. Through each modality, a deeper understanding of their experiences was embraced in a caring and nurturing environment within the classroom community. Choosing to advocate for our students in this way allowed us to frame the larger ideas concerning the school shooting.

At such a pivotal moment, teachers embraced tough conversations and provided a framework for future activism. Students who participated in National Walkout Day experienced an important movement as part of living history that takes learning far beyond the pages of the textbook and stretches beyond their classroom and school walls. Even when banned from participating, educators still found ways to engage their students in valuable lessons about the democratic process while imparting essential literacy, social, and life skills.

Other books to teach young students about social activism include the following:

• The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, A Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson (Simon & Schuster, 2017)
• Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel (HarperCollins, 2013)
• Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Little, Brown, 2010)
• Malala Yousefzai: Warrior With Words by Karen Leggett Abouraya (StarWalk Kids Media, 2014)
• Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson and Frank Morrison (Houghton Mifflin, 2018)
• ¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!  by Diana Cohn (Cinco Puntos Press, 2005)

Katie Stover Kelly is an associate professor of education at Furman University in Greenville, SC, and coauthor of From Pencils to Podcasts: Digital Tools to Transform K-6 Literacy Practices (Solution Tree, 2017) and Smuggling Writing: Strategies That Get Students to Write Every Day, in Every Content Area, Grades 3-12 (Corwin, 2016). Her new coauthored book with Lester Laminack will be published by Heinemann this fall. Find her on Twitter @ktkelly14.

Marie Havran is an elementary instructional coach in Greenville, South Carolina, and an adjunct professor at Furman University. Find her on Twitter @MarieHavran.

You probably don’t know Nadia Lopez by name. You might not even recognize her face. Her story, though? That’s another thing entirely.

On Jan. 19, 2015, Brandon Stanton’s popular Humans of New York (HONY) blog featured a 13-year-old boy who cited his school principal as the most influential person in his life.

“When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us,” the boy told Stanton. “She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

Intrigued, Stanton did some digging that led him to Mott Hall Bridges Academy (MHBA), a New York City public school, and its founder—an inspirational educator determined to offer children living in the underserved, marginalized neighborhood of Brownsville a way up and out.

Now do you know who Nadia Lopez is?

Taking her message from Brownsville to the world

The initial HONY post went viral (to date, more than 1.2 million people have liked it on Facebook and more than 170,000 have shared it). It changed everything.

Before HONY, Lopez was on the verge of burnout. She was considering quitting altogether.

Afterward, there was an outpouring of support—and cash. A fundraising campaign started by Stanton brought in more than $1.4 million. Half of the proceeds were earmarked to send incoming sixth graders at Mott Hall on an annual trip to visit Harvard. The other half became a scholarship fund for graduates of MHBA.

There was an appearance on The Ellen Show. There was a trip to the White House. There was a TED Talk that has been viewed more than 1 million times. There’s a book—The Bridge to Brilliance: How One Woman and One Community Are Inspiring the World (Penguin)—that shares the story of MHBA and the woman whose vision brought it to life.

Lopez hasn’t shied away from the spotlight, and she’s certainly enjoyed the attention she’s received (when asked the most surprising thing that happened after her story went viral, she cites getting to meet Michelle Obama when both were honored at BET’s Black Girls Rock celebration). But the work that she’s done was never about her. It was always about the kids.

Serving them is what drives everything at Mott Hall, including the expectations set for its teachers. Lopez believes in the power of the team; at MHBA, educators collaborate on planning and preparation. She sees the staff as a village created to support the success of the school’s scholars.

“Leadership is not easy,” Lopez says, “but it’s worth it.”

Setting her scholars up for success

Leadership will be just one of the themes of Lopez’s General Session keynote at the ILA 2018 Conference.

“Everything begins with our leaders,” she says. “Administrators must be the example of what they want to see in their team members….What you choose to prioritize, those who work for you will understand it mandatory to follow.”

For Lopez, this means cultivating a culture of literacy in the STEAM-focused Mott Hall.

“Reading and writing are paramount in learning,” Lopez says. “Our incoming scholars range from a K–3 reading level in the sixth grade, which is unacceptable. If they will ever be successful, my scholars must be able to build their literacy skills before they graduate MHBA.”

Brownsville lays claim to some of New York City’s lowest literacy rates, but her vision behind Mott Hall—to create a school that sets children up for college and career—makes literacy education a top priority.

“A child who can read can learn beyond the limitations set upon them in this world,” Lopez says. “Opening a book, reading a blog or newspaper can give you a worldview from someone else’s perspective. It also levels the field by building knowledge that makes you not only competitive but marketable.”

There’s still much work to be done. Lopez puts in long hours, seven days a week. Her concern for her students and their future never wanes. Her responsibility to them and the community weighs heavily on her shoulders.

And yet…

“I love what I do,” she says. “Each day I am grateful for the opportunity to impact the lives of children.”

Lara Deloza is the senior communications manager at ILA.

This article originally appeared in the open access March/April issue of Literacy Today, ILA’s member magazine.

Nadia Lopez will be a keynote speaker during the General Session at the ILA 2018 Conference, July 20–July 23, in Austin, TX. For more information visit ilaconference.org.

Not all models of literacy coaching are the same; “There are choices, and the choices matter,” according to ILA’s latest brief, Literacy Coaching for Change: Choices Matter. Drawing these meaningful distinctions can help teachers and coaches to make an informed decision on the most suitable model.

With the ever-increasing emphasis on reading achievement in today’s schools, many districts are hiring literacy coaches to support teachers. The past two decades have given rise to a wave of major federal and state literacy initiatives that have significantly accelerated the expansion of coaching programs across the United States.

The growth in the scale and diversity of instructional programs has engendered a critical need to define the varying roles and responsibilities of the literacy coach. Although each literacy coach–teacher relationship may have its nuances, the brief says three models of coaching for change are worth noting in detail: coaching to conform, coaching into practice, and coaching for transformation:

• When coaching to conform, the coach provides expertise and direction on how to implement the features of a program under adoption.    
• The coach assuming a practice perspective supports teachers in understanding classroom experiences, focusing on students as “the context for teaching growth through reflection.”
• When aiming for transformation, the coach creates spaces where teachers can challenge their own practices as well as the historical power structures that operate within schools.

The brief then provides guidance on how to choose a coaching model that’s in line with the teacher’s ideological beliefs, context, and goals. The International Literacy Association further conceptualizes the role of coaches and other specialized literacy professionals in Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals 2017.

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

The prevalence of school shootings in the United States underscores an urgent and, so far, unmet need of devising comprehensive measures that protect students, teachers, and staff in education spaces.

While the specifics of those measures are, and ought to be, open to fair debate, the notion that arming teachers is the best answer to preventing recurrences of this type of tragedy is preposterous.

We are already seeing action. State lawmakers across the country have introduced legislation specifically prohibiting classroom teachers from carry guns, such as in New York. And, earlier this week, the Florida state Senate took action to halt the movement toward arming classroom educators. 

Teaching and security enforcement are two different roles. Combining them is impractical and unwise, even if proposed with the best of intentions. The challenges of effective literacy instruction for students are formidable enough. Neither teachers, nor students, should have to wrestle with the distraction of gun-equipped classrooms.

Everyone deserves to feel safe in the classroom. Teachers need to give their full attention and effort to each day’s learning. They need schools unfettered by violence. What we are hearing from our members and other educators is that introducing weapons into the teacher-student relationship shatters any shared sense of safety and security.

Talk to literacy teachers and you will quickly find out how precious a commodity their instructional time is, and how demanding a preparation is required for them to be at their most effective in the classroom. Asking teachers to learn how to use weapons, arm themselves, and undertake security enforcement roles while teaching is not only burdensome, distracting, and education-impairing, it’s downright dangerous.

To place on teachers the additional responsibility of having to use deadly physical force against an armed assailant who has managed to enter school grounds with lethal ordinance distorts and perverts the teaching function. It further puts teachers and students at risk as shown by instances where weapons have accidently or, at times intentionally, been misused.

It also gives would-be assailants the ultimate and undeserved victory of making schools a weapons-based environment.

This is hardly the legacy that teachers and students at schools which have had to contend with episodes of gun violence would wish for. We owe it to them and to ourselves to do much better than that.

The International Literacy Association denounces the very idea of arming classroom teachers. Yes, we should talk about how we can increase safety of school perimeters. Yes, we should talk about resources to help early identification and treatment for mental health issues. And yes, we need better communication and coordination between the agencies we have in place to protect us.

That’s why ILA calls upon government officials, federal and local authorities, and school officials to fashion security measures for the nation’s schools that preserve safe learning spaces by keeping the instruments of violence out of them, save for those possessed by law enforcement officers.

Many commentators on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy have noted the maturity and eloquence of the school’s students whom they have spoken with on the air. The students are indeed striking examples of the poignancy and power that literacy education instills.

We’re proud of these students and proud of their teachers. We want to see a solution for school security that supports without diminishing the focused learning opportunities they have enjoyed and leveraged to such an impressive effect.

Marcie Craig Post is the executive director of the International Literacy Association (ILA).