Literacy Now

Most of us know about the famous St. Louis Arch, “The Gateway to the West,” but that’s not all this Missouri city has to offer everyone who comes to the International Literacy Association 2015 Conference.

From restaurants to museums to haunted mansions, there is something for everyone in St. Louis. You can even do your best Judy Garland with a trolley tour!

For a basic rundown of what conference in St. Louis offers in entertainment, we have some suggestions:

• Check out the activity guide from the preconference issue of Reading Today.
• See the Explore St. Louis website the Convention and Visitors Commission made just for ILA Conference goers.
• Create your St. Louis tourism Pinterest board by repinning from ILA’s conference board.

With so much to do it may be hard to fit in everything between conference sessions and touring the exhibit hall. Maybe you can tack on a Missouri vacation afterwards!

The ILA 2015 Conference will be held July 18–20 in St. Louis, MO, with more than 6,000 educators ready to transform their practice. The days will be jam-packed with featured speakers, the revamped Teaching Edge series, and exciting general sessions. Key topics affecting literacy featured at the conference include content literacy, children’s literature, classroom engagement, and professional development. More than 120 exhibitors will be on hand with new tools and technologies for all manners of literacy education.

Learn more about the conference programs at ilaconference.org. Register today for the ILA 2015 Conference to take advantage of special Early Bird pricing.

Educators often talk about choice in the classroom and how it can make all the difference in encouraging lifelong readers. Having titles for every taste at hand can be hard, so as we kick off Children’s Book Week, let 12,500 students from around the United States help narrow down your offerings.

The Children’s Choices program, a joint venture of the International Literacy Association and the Children’s Book Council, launched in 1974 and this year offers 100 favorite titles narrowed from more than 600.

The top vote-getters in the Beginning Readers category (ages 5–8) are Duck, Duck, Moose! (Disney-Hyperion), Eva and Sadie and the Worst Haircut EVER! (HarperCollins), Frances Dean Who Loved to Dance and Dance (Candlewick), How to Babysit a Grandma (Knopf Books for Young Readers), and A Pet for Fly Guy (Orchard/Scholastic). Young readers (ages 8-10) favored Claude at the Beach (Peachtree), The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza (First Second), Happy Birthday, Babymouse (Random House Books for Young Readers), Kali’s Story: An Orphaned Polar Bear Rescue (Arbordale), and Sisters (Graphix). Advanced readers (ages 11–14) chose The Dumbest Idea Ever! (Graphix), Ice Dogs (HMH Books for Young Readers), Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods (Disney-Hyperion), The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (First Second), and Temple Run: Race Through Time to Unlock Secrets of Ancient Worlds (National Geographic Society)as their favorites.

Choices voting is broken down by U.S. regions and is run by team leaders who coordinate book distribution and voting by students. In addition to the children’s list for school-age kids, there is also a Teachers’ Choices list and a Young Adults’ Choices list—more children’s and YA books chosen by, you guessed it, teachers and teens.

ILA is looking for team leaders for all of its Choices programs (Children’s, Teachers’ and Young Adults’). For more information, contact ILA’s Executive office.

 

The International Literacy Association is planning its first-ever 30 Under 30 list—a way to honor the new generation of literacy trailblazers and rising stars committed to increasing literacy rates, transforming classrooms, helping communities, and changing lives. We want to hear their stories—and we want you to tell us about them.

 

This is not just for educators—we’re also looking for up-and-coming administrators, authors, librarians, students, volunteers, advocates—anyone dedicated to literacy and making a difference. Those selected will be featured in the September/October issue of Reading Today and across ILA’s platforms. They will also be invited to participate in upcoming activities that support our shared cause. 

“This new generation of champions plays a critical role in the future of literacy at a time when the literacy landscape is evolving rapidly,” said Marcie Craig Post, Executive Director, International Literacy Association. “For that reason, we are eager and honored to be able to highlight the important contributions and commitment of these leaders through what will become our annual 30 Under 30 list.”

Visit literacyworldwide.org/30under30 to find out how to send in your nominations. All nominations must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 21, 2015. E-mail 30under30@/ if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

We look forward to embracing a new generation of literacy leaders!

International Literacy Association (ILA) is known for the valuable research-supported content found in the pages of journals such as The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Beginning with the July/August 2015 issue, those two titles will make the transition from eight issues spanning September to May to six “supersized” issues.

Adjusting to this new publication schedule both reduces ILA’s carbon footprint and provides a steady, bimonthly delivery date for all your research and practical application needs. The July/August issue will arrive in time for back-to-school planning for a head start on preparing for the upcoming school year.

The Reading Teacher and the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy are dedicated to delivering the same amount of peer-reviewed, practical content they’ve always provided. The new publication dates are July/August, September/October, November/December, January/February, March/April, and May/June.

Join ILA today to subscribe to a journal or contact ILA customer service to add a journal to your current Membership.

Just one week until our next Google Hangout on Air with authors Donalyn Miller and Teri Lesesne. Join us at 8:00 p.m. ET April 28 when Miller and Lesesne will discuss how teachers can actively engage students in developing a love of reading. They’ll also share instructional strategies and resources and recommend books to get students excited and inspired to read. As a bonus, Hangout watchers will have a chance to win each  author’s latest book.

Miller, manager of Independent Reading Outreach for Scholastic Book Fairs, is one of the founders of the popular Nerdy Book Club, a blog dedicated to discussing latest releases and facilitating a love of children’s and young adult literature. She is also the author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child (Jossey-Bass, 2009) and Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer’s Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits (Jossey-Bass, 2013). She has taught fourth, fifth, and sixth grades and was a 2010 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year finalist.

Lesesne is the executive secretary of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN) and a professor in the Library Sciences Department at Sam Houston State University. She is the author of several books on literacy, including Making the Match: The Right Book for the Right Reader at the Right Time (Stenhouse, 2003), Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong Readers (Stenhouse, 2006), and Reading Ladders: Leading Students From Where They Are to Where We’d Like Them to Be (Heinemann, 2010).

To win a signed copy of Lesesne’s Reading Ladders and Miller’s Reading in the Wild, share the ILA “I’m a Reading Role Model” Twitter image with the hashtag #ILAHangout. One lucky tweeter selected at random will win a copy of both books.

As part of the Hangout on Air, Lesesne and Miller will take questions via Twitter. Tweet yours using the hashtag #ILAHangout. The Hangout will stream live on the ILA YouTube channel at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be archived for later access.

Morgan Ratner is ILA's communication assistant.