Literacy Now

ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits is just around the corner. Before you start packing for Boston, join our #ILAchat Thursday when we’ll talk about how to make the most out of your conference experience.

Cornelius Minor, Thursday’s guest host, is a staff developer for Teachers College at Columbia University. A strong advocate for digital equity in the classroom, Minor is a Featured Speaker at ILA 2016 who will explore digital literacy and ways that educators can use it to create opportunities and to ensure access for students and teachers.

Join our #ILAchat to get a preview of this year’s conference, including the hot sessions and presenters, best places to network, and local attractions you don’t want to miss.

Follow #ILAchat and @ILAToday at 8:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 9, to join the conversation with your fellow educators and get ready for the literacy-rich PD activities that await you next month.

The Exhibit Hall at ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits is always a highlight of the weekend. Educators eagerly await for the doors to open, and the aisles are bustling while people make their way through all of the exhibitors, gathering swag and attending exhibitor sessions. This year ILA will add to the buzz of activities in the hall with ILA Central, the one-stop shop for all things ILA. Here there will be a slate of events in the expanded Age of Literacy Learning Lounge and the new Social Suite. Of course, in the ILA Central Bookstore, there will also be the newest must-have ILA swag to take home and ILA books to help you further improve your practice.

ILA Central

The Friday Sale will take place outside of the Exhibit Hall in the main lobby 7:30 AM–5:00 PM on July 8. For the rest of the conference, the regular member’s discount of 20% will apply to all books for all attendees. Remember to use your Bookstore Bucks, found in the Events, Signings & Savings guide for extra savings. Or take advantage of our Order Express and have your larger ILA book purchases shipped directly to you: No extra bags to carry or baggage fees at the airport for the pounds of books you’ll want to take home.

Last year the new ILA t-shirts flew out of ILA Central in record time. This year we’ll have a fresh batch in addition to new ways to show your ILA pride with a range of souvenirs from clothing to accessories.

Need to renew your membership or add a journal to your existing one? Ready to sign up to be an  ILA member for the first time? Membership staff will be on hand to help with special offers and gifts. You could also take this chance to update any membership information, like e-mail and home addresses that may have changed.

Stop by the Choices area in ILA Central for a takeaway list of this year’s winning children’s and young adult books. You will also find a list of conference events with connections to the Choices lists.

The Age of Literacy Learning Lounge

Introduced at last year’s conference, the Age of Literacy Learning Lounge (ALLL) was such a hit that we’ve expanded its programming. Here you’ll find everything from informal education sessions to meetups.

Highlights will include Twitter 101: Teacher to Teacher, literature lovers meetups (for every age level), a chance to hear from some of our “30 Under 30” literacy leaders, and sneak peeks at hot new children’s books publishing this fall and winter.

Look for the full schedule of events in the Events, Signings & Savings guide or in the Extras section of the ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits app.

The ILA Social Suite

On your way from ILA Central to ALLL, stop by ILA’s Social Suite to connect your #ILA16 online and offline experiences.

This interactive space will offer staff social media tips, handy takeaways, a free photo booth, and the chance to print out your favorite #ILA16 Instagram photos—just be sure to use that hashtag! And stop by our Q&A Wall for some “Pen and Paper” tweeting as you share brief answers to our daily question (we aren’t counting the characters).

The ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits will be July 9–11 in Boston, MA, with more than 6,000 attendees eager to cultivate new teaching practices. With over 300 sessions, including several new additions to the schedule, and the popular Preconference Institutes on July 8, the weekend is sure to be a memorable one. Learn more about what’s coming up at this summer’s conference at ilaconference.org.

April Hall is editor of Literacy Daily. A journalist for 20 years, she has specialized in education, writing and editing for newspapers, websites, and magazines.

Putting Books to Work sessions at ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits give a unique opportunity to hear about authors’ inspirations for school-friendly titles. Based on the popular Literacy Daily series by the same name, these sessions focus on providing practical classroom strategies for one spotlight book per author. During these sessions, attendees will be able to interact with the authors and moderators to share ways they’ve used the books in their classroom, as well as the challenges they encountered.

The following are overviews given by the moderators as to what to expect from each of the sessions, broken down by age level. And don’t forget to note the time of the “Lit Lovers Meetups” facilitated by session moderators at the Age of Literacy Learning Lounge in the Exhibit Hall where book lovers will get the chance to chat and share favorite titles.

Deborah Wooten, Putting Books to Work: Primary
(Saturday, July 9, 11:00 AM–12:00 PM)

“Teacher, Teacher, What Do You See, Two New Picture Books Looking At Me!”

Meet Laura Vaccaro Seeger and her current book I Used to Be Afraid and Michael Sampson with his latest book Listen to Our World. Each picture book has complementary interactive literacy and art activities.

I Used To Be Afraid is a reflective concept picture book that helps students face their fears and discover ways to perceive them in a positive perspective problem-solving approach. Seeger’s bold illustrations capture students’ attention along with the ingenious way she incorporates her die cuts that foreshadow the book's spirit of overcoming fears.

Sampson’s Listen to Our World, illustrated by Melissa Sweet and co-authored with Bill Martin Jr. before his passing in 2004, will have students journeying around the globe and singing the sounds of 11 animals from six continents. This award-winning author will showcase his new book about habitats along with the thrill of onomatopoeia that highlight the language of the animals. Students can easily develop literacy skills while nurturing their understandings and curiosities about geography, social studies, and science.

The engaging activities presented in this session will deepen and enlighten both of these wonderful books. And Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Michael Sampson will be giving away a limited number of free autographed copies to attendees.

The Primary Lit Lovers Meetup will be Saturday 2:00 PM–3:00 PM at the Age of Literacy Learning Lounge.

Sandra K. Athans, Putting Books to Work: Mid-Level
(Sunday, July 10, 8:00 AM–9:00 AM)

What does a silver sea and a super-sized squid have in common? Beyond a little alliteration, both are sure to lure you to the session where Grace Lin and Candace Fleming will share ideas about how these topics—central components in their new books—can be used in your classroom to captivate students and kick up your instruction!

Lin lovers will delight in When the Sea Turned Silver—a masterpiece companion to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky. This extraordinarily written new fantasy adventure includes some familiar faces yet also introduces cherishable new characters who entice readers along on another spectacular quest.

Fleming fanatics will flock to Giant Squid, a beautifully written and illustrated up-close account of this rare and elusive creature that will captivate readers in its unveiling of this lesser-known sea creature. Fleming will also spotlight Presenting Buffalo Bill, her new biography of this legendary Wild West wonder.

Both award-winning authors will share ways in which these new books can be used in your classroom.

The Mid-Level Lit Lovers Meetup will be Sunday 1:00 PM–2:00 PM at the Age of Literacy Learning Lounge.

Mary Cotillo and Erin O’Leary (The Crazy Reading Ladies), Putting Books to Work: Young Adult
(Monday, July 11, 8:00 AM–9:00 AM)

There’s a lot about growing up that we wish we could forget, and as teachers, we often have to live our mistakes again with our students. How we wish our kids would just listen to us when we see them headed down the wrong path and know that freight train of consequence is coming right for them! Jack Gantos’ autobiographical novel The Trouble in Me forces readers to reflect on the choices we make and how our “friends” have the power to change our lives. Told in the straight-forward, no-nonsense style that has made him a YA favorite (remember Joey Pigza?), Gantos tells the ugly truth of being a follower.

Salt to the Sea is the newest must-read from Between Shades of Grey author Ruta Sepetys. In her latest work, Sepetys opens our eyes once again to one of the greatest yet long-forgotten tragedies of World War II. History is beautifully, skillfully wrapped into a story so engaging and accessible that students won’t even realize how much they’ve learned until it’s too late. Told in four voices of relatable teenagers, this page-turning gem of a book provides an extraordinary opportunity for cross-curricular collaboration as well as serving as an adolescent-friendly gateway to alternate narration.

Come to the YA author panel and leave with age-appropriate, high-interest, contemporary titles that will easily support lessons aligned with skills and standards. And the kids won’t hate them. Win/win!

The Young Adult Lit Lovers Meetup will be Sunday 2:00 PM–3:00 PM at the Age of Literacy Learning Lounge.

The ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits will be July 9–11 in Boston, MA, with more than 6,000 attendees eager to cultivate new teaching practices. With over 300 sessions, including several new additions to the schedule, and the popular Preconference Institutes on July 8, the weekend is sure to be a memorable one. Learn more about what’s coming up at this summer’s conference at ilaconference.org.

The ability to speak multiple languages is a coveted skill in today’s economy. The goal is to create a learning environment that promotes language acquisition while making the curriculum accessible to everyone. For policymakers and educators worldwide, the question is how to foster that environment in an era of tight budgets, diverse priorities, and political sensitivities.

Schools that truly embrace multilingualism report higher levels of community engagement and academic achievement across the board. If implemented poorly, though, such programs can further marginalize groups that aren’t proficient in the dominant language.

To stimulate fresh thinking on this critical topic, the International Literacy Association (ILA) recently convened a roundtable with a distinguished group of advocacy and policy experts in Washington, DC. In a wide-ranging conversation led by award-winning journalist Diane Brady, experts shared their thinking on the best practices and priorities for achieving true multilingual learning. In a three-part blog series, we’ll explore the key takeaways from the conversation.

Parents have long recognized the importance of English as the language of global business, but as the world becomes more interconnected and emerging economies gain strength, it is clear that multilingualism is prerequisite for success. In the U.S. and beyond, dual-language programs are oversubscribed, noted Beatriz Arias, vice president and chief development officer for the Center for Applied Linguistics. “Parents are recognizing the importance of their children being bilingual or multilingual—the economic benefits of that for their kids.”

Multilingualism “is going to be the differentiator,” said Mariana Haynes, senior fellow, Alliance for Excellent Education, adding that students understand the value of having those skills on their resume.

Deputy Secretary Mohamed Abdel-Kader, the International Foreign Language Education Office of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Post-Secondary Education, suggested engaging the business community to stress the importance of language learning. “I think that’s incredibly important, because as the business community articulates the need for at least a basic understanding of language and some of the cultural nuances, parents are thinking about their kids, when they graduate college, those kids need to have a job.”

Multilingualism “is not a partisan issue,” Abdel-Kader said. This is the right thing to do for our kids. It is the right thing to do for our businesses. It is the right thing to do for our communities. The kids need these skills to be able to communicate.”

At the simplest level, Arias said, “We need leadership at all different levels in order to encourage growth and understanding of the importance of multilingualism—we need to value multilingualism, and have clear ways to do that.”

“We need to dispel the myths surrounding bilingualism primarily that learning two or even three languages as a child brings confusion and lowers academic achievement,” Marty Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages added. “We have research that proves the opposite.”

Within the education community, we need to equip educators with the resources and tools they need to embrace and encourage multilingualism, noted Hector Montenegro, associate, Margarita Calderón & Associates. “Educators need additional resources and information about how best to work collaborative so that we can have a more accepting and welcoming environment—school and classroom—where teachers can teach effectively.”

Haynes noted that fragmented leader and teacher development should be addressed in order to create structures for language learning. “Leaders play a huge role in setting the tone. If teachers work in isolation, it is impossible to make this happen. You have a lot of district policies that are very much at odds with the kinds of things that you want to have happening within schools.”

We also need to take a step outside of the schools themselves and consider how governments can support and foster a culture of multilingualism, Abbott suggested, and continue “to build champions in Congress,” to push forward research on the importance of languages. “Hopefully we can have an impact working together.”

Leslie Engle Young, Director of Impact for Pencils of Promise, added policy considerations should take into account the best practices and proven strategies that already exist around multilingual learning. “It’s getting the case studies, bringing the evidence forward, and showing evidence from abroad. We should be cross-learning with evidence from across the board.”

The ability to speak multiple languages is a coveted skill in today’s economy. The goal is to create a learning environment that promotes language acquisition while making the curriculum accessible to everyone. For policymakers and educators worldwide, the question is how to foster that environment in an era of tight budgets, diverse priorities, and political sensitivities.

Schools that truly embrace multilingualism report higher levels of community engagement and academic achievement across the board. If implemented poorly, though, such programs can further marginalize groups that aren’t proficient in the dominant language.

To stimulate fresh thinking on this critical topic, the International Literacy Association (ILA) recently convened a roundtable with a distinguished group of advocacy and policy experts in Washington, DC. In a wide-ranging conversation led by award-winning journalist Diane Brady, experts shared their thinking on the best practices and priorities for achieving true multilingual learning. In a three-part blog series, we’ll explore the key takeaways from the conversation.

Research shows that children can handle learning of two, and even three, languages from the time they start school. Yet foreign language requirements tend to become mandatory only in high school—and the requirements are not consistent across school districts. There is also a notion afoot that students need to be proficient in one language before introducing a second and a third.

We know children are more open to learning languages at younger ages, so why wait until they're teens to reinforce the value of language? “We know that there is a window of availability to quickly and ably grasp language to a greater degree of fluency, and that it begins to close down as children get older,” said Marcie Craig Post, ILA’s executive director. “Capturing and leveraging that is going to be critically important.”

Marty Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, noted, “As adults, it is hard for us to imagine young children picking up languages so quickly. We underestimate the ability of students to pick up languages, and really become proficient, I mean very proficient, in writing as well as speaking.” 

Engaging students’ parents is critical, said Leslie Engle Young, Director of Impact for Pencils of Promise. “If we don’t tap into that resource, we don’t tap into what children are capable of learning when they’re very young, even before school, and what the parents are capable of supporting in the home.”