Literacy Now

Maintaining students’ attention before a vacation break, and regaining it upon their return, is a challenge for teachers regardless of grade level or experience. It is often a steep downhill leading into vacation, and a steeper climb when class resumes.

Planning engaging projects, decorating your classroom, and incorporating seasonal lessons are a few teacher-endorsed suggestions to beat the pre- and post-holiday blues, but sometimes you need to think outside of the box. Don’t miss the next #ILAchat on Twitter at 8 p.m. Dec. 10 when we’ll hear from Dave Burgess, author of New York Times Best-Seller Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator, and learn his techniques for overcoming holiday obstacles in the classroom.

Teacher and professional development speaker, Burgess was awarded the 2014 BAMMY for Secondary School Teacher of the Year by the Academy of Educations Arts and Sciences.  During his time teaching in San Diego, Burgess received the Golden Apple in both 2001 and 2012, and was named Teacher of the Year in 2007/2008. Specializing in teaching hard-to-motivate students, Burgess’ techniques utilize showmanship and creativity as a means of connecting with hard-to reach students.

Burgess describes pirates as “daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success.” He urges teachers to embody this idea, going so far as to say “if you haven’t failed in the classroom lately, you aren’t pushing the envelope far enough. ‘Safe’ lessons are a recipe for mediocrity at best.” During the chat, Burgess will share some of his tried and true methods to keep student attention in the classroom regardless of what is happening outside of it.

Get ready to embrace your inner pirate with author and speaker Dave Burgess, as he shares advice on how to overcome the lack of motivation both before and after holiday breaks.  In Burgess’ own words: “it’s not supposed to be easy – it’s supposed to be worth it.”

Follow #ILAchat and @ILAtoday at 8 p.m. Dec. 10 to join the conversation.

Alexandra Baruch is ILA’s communications intern.

After receding into the political background for months, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization came alive with new energy last week as the House and Senate bills to rewrite and replace No Child Left Behind (NCLB) were taken to a conference committee in the form of a framework approved by conferees almost unanimously, with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) the lone holdout.

The framework addresses the controversial testing and accountability provisions of NCLB, which led to the United States Department of Education’s waiver system. Under the framework, the states will have to identify and intervene in schools in three specific circumstances: schools falling into the bottom 5% of academic performance, schools experiencing high dropout rates, and schools where an identifiable group of students is underperforming consistently.

The framework bars the federal government from mandating standards like the Common Core State Standards, moves English learner programs into Title I, and sets a 1% cap on the number of students with disabilities who can take alternative assessments.

Translating the framework into the actual text of a final bill comes next. The conference chair, U.S. Rep. John Kline (R-MN) indicated the draft will be available Nov. 30, and that the House expects to take up the bill two days or so later. Speaking for the Senate conferees, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) promised that the Senate would have at least a week to review the bill before it goes to the floor, possibly on Dec. 7.

Literacy education support

There was no indication in the conference deliberations that comprehensive literacy education support as provided for in the Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation Act provisions of the Senate bill was a point of controversy.

With what can only be described as fortuitous timing, the Advocates for Literacy Coalition, including the International Literacy Association (ILA), held a previously scheduled briefing for congressional staffers and others Nov. 17, the day before the conference commenced. Presentations were given by school and district administrators from Pennsylvania and Montana recounting significant gains in student literacy achievement that would not have been possible but for federal dollars.

As the conference opened, Diane Barone, ILA Board President, and Bill Teale, ILA Board Vice President, sent a letter on behalf of the board to each of the conferees urging them to include comprehensive literacy education support in the final bill. As they emphasized, “Literacy is indispensable for academic success in all areas of schooling and at all ages.”

Amendments voted up and down

The conferees approved amendments that allow some funding for dual enrollment for K–12 students taking college coursework, addressing the high school dropout problem, and training teachers on how to protect student privacy. Other approved amendments allow states to set targets for the amount of time students spend on standardized tests and help states integrate arts and music into science, technology engineering, and math education.

The conferees also approved amendments calling for a study of early childhood education programs and directing the Institute of Education Sciences to study the Title I funding formula, in each case reporting back to Congress.

Voted down were amendments that would have frozen funding levels outlined in the bill and a measure that would have created a clearinghouse for research on teacher evaluation.

Lingering controversy

Although the bipartisan bill appears to be headed for enactment by the end of the year, concerns still linger over the larger issue of accountability. The White House has expressed concern that the compromise bill does not do enough for minority and economically deprived children, although there is no talk of a veto at the moment. Civil rights advocates have expressed reservations that the compromise bill takes too much authority away from the U.S. Secretary of Education.

All eyes will be on the text of the final draft, to be released next week. It appears, after years of effort, that the road to ESEA reauthorization might soon reach its final goal.

Dan Mangan is the Director of Public Affairs for ILA.

Inspiring the next generation is the duty of seasoned professionals, wise industry veterans who yearn to share their knowledge. The symbiotic mentor/mentee relationship is a strong one, built on a foundation of shared interest and enthusiasm. For many, the term “mentor” is not associated with a young person; a mentor is thought to be someone with a lifetime of experience. For a remarkable few, however, crossing the threshold from student to master is accomplished before the age of 30.

Join the next #ILAchat on Twitter at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 when we’ll ask some of the extraordinary people who made ILA’s inaugural 30 Under 30 list of young, yet experienced, leaders who are finding innovative ways to promote literacy. Evolving from mentee to mentor, each of these remarkable literacy leaders represents the future of our field. 

We look forward to reconnecting with these inspiring individuals to discuss how they were able to follow their passion for education. Young literacy leaders themselves, our featured contributors will open up about the mentors who support them, challenges that discourage them, and why they chose to pursue a role in literacy.

Don’t miss our upcoming #ILAchat on Nov. 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST featuring these young literacy leaders:

• Louise Baigelman is the executive director and cofounder of Story Share, a nonprofit that encourages authors to create content for teens and young adults who read below their grade level. At 28, her résumé includes Teach for America, Boston, English teacher at KIPP Academy in Massachusetts, and literacy coach in New York.

• Kevin English, 25, was first elected to the school board of Van Buren Public Schools in Michigan at age 19. As an English teacher at Wayne Memorial High School, he is a member of the literacy initiative team, a leader of the staff professional book study group, and a teacher leader for Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education (RAISE) teachers.

• Ana Dodson was only 11 years old when she founded Peruvian Hearts, a nonprofit working to eradicate poverty and gender inequality by educating young women in Peru. More than a decade later, the now 23-year-old Dodson, and Peruvian Hearts, continue to provide food, clothes, and medical care to hundreds of girls. 

• Jon Wargo is 29 and a PhD student at Michigan State University. He is currently working on his dissertation, “Connective Compositions and Sitings of Selves.” He was awarded the Conference on College Composition and Communication Gloria Anzaldua Rhetorician Award in 2015 for his research exploring the language and literacy tendencies of the LGBTQ community in Michigan.

Other 30 Under 30 honorees are expected to join the conversation using #ILAchat. Follow the hashtag and @ILAtoday at 8 p.m. Nov. 12 to keep the conversation going.

Alexandra Baruch is ILA's communications intern.

Alan E. Farstrup, who served as the executive director of the International Reading Association (now International Literacy Association) from 1992–2009, passed away October 31 from complications related to a recent stroke. 

Alan’s long period of service touched many. He was an indefatigable advocate for research (he served as IRA’s director of research 1985–1991) and the professional development of literacy teachers and school-based literacy professionals. He was an ardent supporter of the state council network and of our international affiliates. He kept a world map on his office wall covered with colored pins marking the countries he had visited to meet with members and work with colleagues to advance the cause of literacy.

Earlier in his career, Alan was a Peace Corps volunteer and served as a graduate teaching assistant to P. David Pearson, noted researcher and founding chair of ILA’s Literacy Research Panel, when Pearson taught at the University of Minnesota in the mid-1970s. The two became lifelong friends.

Amid the press of his administrative duties, Alan found time to coedit with S. Jay Samuels the three titles of ILA’s influential What Research Has to Say series on the topics of reading, vocabulary, and fluency instruction. He was also an active member of the Reading Hall of Fame.

Tall and ever-smiling, Alan always exuded a personal warmth that was his most endearing quality. He was genuinely interested in exploring all manner of project and program ideas. Supportive and encouraging by nature, Alan relished his interactions with board members and ILA staff. He decorated the headquarters conference room and hallways with group photos of both.

At annual and regional conferences, and at the world congresses, Alan’s meet-ups and appointments kept him constantly on the move, as he toiled to grow new contacts and forge new partnerships.

During his tenure, ILA (then International Reading Association) undertook joint efforts with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to develop standards for English Language Arts, the Carnegie Corporation to develop guidelines for literacy coaches, and the Marco Polo Partners Consortium to develop the award-winning online resource ReadWriteThink.

Of equal importance, under Alan’s leadership, the Association’s website, formerly reading.org, underwent a major upgrade to support online interactions and e-commerce transactions with members, and new agreements for digitizing the content of our journals were entered into. Alan understood the strategic importance of digital technology as a driver of new literacies.

Alan was a congenial leader, fully absorbed in his work and fully appreciative of all those with whom he worked. He would never pass in the hallway, the parking lot, or the coffee room without stopping to chat. We will miss him dearly at ILA, and in this moment of grief we celebrate his long service and the grace with which he gave it.

We offer our deepest condolences to his family along with our sincerest gratitude for all that he accomplished on behalf of our membership.

In our upcoming Google Hangout on Air, we are joined by authors and advocates who want to get diverse books into the hands of students around the world.

It began with a Twitter exchange and has since evolved into a full-fledged movement: The #WeNeedDiverseBooks (WNDB) campaign seeks to increase the number of diverse books on classroom shelves and spread awareness about the lack of multicultural representation in literature. According to their mission statement, WNDB is a “grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential change in the publishing industry” and recognizes all diverse experiences, including LGBT gender diversity, individuals with disabilities, and cultural, ethnic, and religious minorities.

Join us at 8:00 p.m. EST Oct. 27 for the Hangout on Air featuring these distinguished guests:

Shane Evans is known for his work as a picture book illustrator, but he has also delved into graphic and web design for clients including Nike, and the Kansas City International Jazz Festival. Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding nonfiction for Children, Evans’s work is often influenced by his travels to Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Most recently, Evans illustrated Taye Diggs’s Mixed Me! and Chocolate Me! Mixed Me! was released Oct. 6.

I.W. Gregorio identifies as a “practicing surgeon by day, masked avenging YA writer by night.” A founding member of WNDB, she currently serves as the organization’s vice president of development. Gregorio’s writing has appeared in The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Journal of General Internal Medicine. Her debut novel, None of the Above, was inspired by an intersex patient that she met during her residency. 

Miranda Paul is a children’s author and executive vice president of outreach for WNDB. Her books One Plastic Bag and Water Is Water were named Junior Library Guild selections, and she was a guest presenter at the Library of Congress Young Readers Center. In addition to writing children’s books, Paul is the administrator of Rate Your Story, a website that encourages aspiring writers.

Angie Manfredi is the innovative head of youth services for Los Alamos County Library System in New Mexico. She replaced her library’s reference section with graphic novels and manga—boosting circulation and the library’s reader base. She thinks outside the box of what must be to what could be. Manfredi does not believe in gendering books, and she served as the moderator for a session titled “Girls Like Fart Jokes and Boys Have Feelings.” In her own words, “Miss Angie doesn’t believe there are books for boys or girls, there are just books.” She was named the Association for Library Service to Children Member of the Month in February 2014.

From what makes a book diverse in the first place to why those books are necessary for majority and minority students alike, ILA’s Google Hangout on Air will address more about the benefit and need for diverse books.

The Hangout on Air will be live-tweeted. To join the conversation on Twitter, use #ILAHangout.

Alexandra Baruch is ILA's communications intern.