Literacy Now

It may be hard for some of us to believe, but in some low-income communities there is just one book for every 300 children. Consider how a book drought affects summer learning loss and knowledge gaps when students no longer have access to the school library.

This month’s #ILAchat will feature Book Love Foundation and First Book, non-profits that combat the education gap during the summer season through providing access to books year-round.

First Book and Penny Kittle, co-founder of Book Love Foundation, will be on hand during the chat to share with educators how to take part in the crusade to promote summer reading despite of the challenge of a book drought.

Kittle is an English teacher, literacy coach, and director of new teacher mentoring at Kennett High School in North Conway, New Hampshire. She is the National Council of Teachers of English Policy Analyst for the State of New Hampshire. She is the author of Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers, Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing. She co-authored Inside Writing: How to Teach the Details of Craft and My Quick Writes.

Kittle founded the Book Love Foundation in 2012 with her husband. The organization supports teachers who exemplify a passion for promoting reading by donating independent libraries to engage adolescents. The Foundation provides teachers with starter libraries of 500 books and since beginning, the group has funded 13 classroom libraries and awarded grants to 10 additional teachers.

First Book, founded in 1992 by Kyle Zimmer, is dedicated to making books available to all children on an ongoing basis. First Book has distributed more than 120 million books and educational resources to schools and programs serving low-income families, and on average First Book delivers more than 35,000 new books per day. 

Join @ILAToday in the #ILAchat On Thursday, April 9, at 8:00 p.m. ET.  Make sure to use the hashtag so you don’t miss any posts!

Madelaine Levey is the communications intern the International Literacy Association.

Join us April 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET for our next Google Hangout on Air when authors Donalyn Miller and Teri Lesesne will will share how teachers can kick start their reading lives and engage students with reading. In a casual atmosphere, Lesesne and Miller will chat about reading research, instructional moves, engagement strategies and resources, and of course, offer lots of book recommendations.

Teri Lesesne is a professor in the Library Sciences Department at Sam Houston State University and the Executive Secretary of the Assembly on Adolescent Literacy (ALAN). Teri is the author of 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).

Donalyn Miller is one of the founders of the wildly popular Nerdy Book Club blog and the author of two books about engaging children with reading: 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). Miller has taught fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, and was a finalist for 2010 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year. She currently serves as the Manager of Independent Reading Outreach for Scholastic Book Fairs.

During the Hangout on Air, Lesesne and Miller will share their personal experiences as readers, parents, grandparents, teachers, and provide suggestions for sparking students’ reading engagement. Attendees are invited to participate by asking questions and sharing their practical strategies for engaging readers. Every attendee for the live event will have a chance to win a signed copy of Lesesne’s Reading Ladders and Miller’s Reading in the Wild.

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 page at 8:00 p.m. ET, and will be archived for later access.

Madelaine Levey is the communications intern for the International Literacy Association.

The International Literacy Association has declared April 14, 2015 Leaders for Literacy Day. On that day, ILA will host critical physical and digital conversations with international literacy advocates and practitioners.

A panel of thought leaders and status quo interrupters will face head-on the topics that will shape the future of literacy across the world. How can educators, governments, and private sector and philanthropic leaders collaborate to develop, assess and share approaches that work in advancing literacy?

“We hope to talk about the state of literacy and policy implications for the future,” said Susan B. Neuman, professor and chair of the Teaching and Learning Department at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University. Neuman, former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, will be one of the panelists at the marquis portion of the program hosted by the Institute of International Education in United Nations Plaza.

Neuman, author of Giving Children a Fighting Chance, said she will talk about the importance of introducing literacy and reading at a young age to “set the stage for the development of information capital.”

This panel will launch a movement to address the crisis that nearly 800 million adults around the world are illiterate. Including illiterate children, it adds up to 12% of the world’s population. Leaders for Literacy Day will be the first step in mobilizing stakeholders who will be the future of literacy and building a successful society.

The panel will also include Allan Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education; Steven Duggan, director of worldwide education strategy for Microsoft Corporation; Bernadette Dwyer, a lecturer in Literacy Studies at St. Patrick's College, Dublin City University; David L. Kirp, professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley; and ILA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post. The panel will be moderated by Liz Willen, editor-in-chief of The Hechinger Report. The ILA communications team will live-tweet the panel.

Through the hashtag #AgeofLiteracy, advocates have already shared on social media what they will do to further literacy around the world. On April 14, that hashtag will be used for one-hour intervals of discussion focused on the most important topics facing the literacy community. All discussions will be nonconventional Twitter chats where conversations will develop organically outside of a standard Q&A format.

The conversation on the pre-event Twitter will include:

• How to Engage Today’s Students (12 p.m. ET): keeping interest in the classroom while competing with ever-evolving education reform and technology. Hosted by Becky Fetterolf, ILA acquisitions editor, featuring Pernille Ripp, creator of the Global Read Aloud, Steven W. Anderson, co-founder of #Edchat, and others.

• How to Take Charge of Professional Development (1 p.m. ET): going beyond one-sided lectures to interactive and cyber-propelled PD. Hosted by Tiffany Sears, ILA council advisor, featuring Hadley Ferguson, executive director of Edcamp; Kylene Beers, former NCTE president, current blogger, author, educator, and speaker; Christopher Lehman, founder of The Educator Collaborative, LLC; Loise Gichuhi, education economist and program director of Education in Emergencies at the University of Nairobi; Sara Brown Wessling, 2010 Teacher of the Year and teacher laureate for Teaching Channel; and others.

• How to Become a Powerful Literacy Advocate (2 p.m. ET):  what to do in your neighborhood and around the world. Hosted by Yesly Contrares, program officer for the ILA Global Operations Unit featuring Pam Allyn of LitWorld, Little Free Library, Angie Manfredi, librarian and author of the blog Fat Girl Reading, and others.

Bloggers are also invited to take part by writing about the age of literacy for their audiences. ILA will then share those posts via social media.

Some suggested topics:

• How is literacy critical to the advancement of society today?

• What is needed to advance literacy rates around the world?

• How can governments, businesses, NGOs, and community leaders work together to advance literacy?

Log on to Twitter April 14 at noon and follow #AgeofLiteracy to see what literacy advocates are saying and join the conversation.

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

If you visited our new URL, literacyworldwide.org, recently, you may have noticed the beginning stages of the new ILA website. When we changed our name to the International Literacy Association on January 26, our new logo and colors graced the pages and we began the process of transitioning the thousands—yes, thousands—of website pages, PDFs, and files over in phases. Today, our new website officially launches on literacyworldwide.org and, although there are more exciting changes ahead, we wanted to take a moment to tell you about the improvements you’ll experience now.

What to expect

At the top of each page on the new website, you’ll find quick links to what you need, including signing in to your member account (“Sign In”), joining ILA (“Join”), renewing your ILA membership (“Renew”), the ILA 2015 Conference (“Conference”), and the Literacy Daily blog (“Blog”). 

The new website has five top navigation choices: “Why Literacy?,” “Get Involved,” “Our Community,” “Get Resources,” and “About Us.”

“Why Literacy?” explains the illiteracy problem throughout the world and what ILA is doing to solve it.

“Get Involved” offers you ways to become an ILA Member (“Membership,” “Join”), donate to our cause (“Donate”), talk about literacy (“Join the Conversation”), and find out about councils, affiliates, Special Interest Groups, and the Alpha Upsilon Alpha Honor Society (“ILA Network”). Some of these links will send you to forms and information on the “old” / site; we’re working on transitioning all of the webpages to the new site in the next few months.

The “Our Community” section reaches out to you, our audience, in four areas: “Champions,” “Educators,” “Donors & Sponsors,” and “Partners.” On these pages, you will find stories from people like you, resources tailored to your needs, and what you can do to help fight illiteracy alongside ILA.

The “Get Resources” section has a page that details our offerings and publications: reading lists from Choices and Literacy Daily; the Literacy Daily blog; position papers, statements, and advocacy briefs; books, ILA E-ssentials articles, ILA Bridges curricular units, and ReadWriteThink.org lesson plans; journals; and Reading Today magazine. The links in this section go to the old / site for now. If you browse our hundreds of resources, you’ll see why! We’re still in the process of bringing them over to the new site, and when that happens, we promise you an even fuller, richer experience.

“About Us” is self-explanatory: It tells you all about ILA! The “About Us” page has our new mission, and the “Our Story” page talks about what we’ve done during the past 60 years. See press releases and conference news on the “News & Events” page, and check out our financial reports on the “Financials” page. As always, feel free to click on “Contact Us” to see how to mail, call, or e-mail us.

What’s next

One website! Improved search! And much, much more. Stay tuned for more changes and improvements this summer.

A wide array of literacy experts will hit the stage at the ILA 2015 Conference in St. Louis, MO. Learn classroom best practices, education reform, and quick tips with our full schedule of Featured Speakers.

Saturday, July 18:

Meenoo Rami (@MeenooRami)

A veteran of EduCon, #140edu, Urban Sites Conference for National Writing Project, and others, Meenoo Rami is no stranger to educational conferences. An English teacher at Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy, she pushes her students to think outside the box and connect themselves to the world beyond the classroom. Rami is the author of Thrive: 5 Ways to Re(Invigorate) Your Teaching and founder of #engchat, a Twitter chat that engages teachers across the United States to discuss English teaching techniques. She will be discussing the power of networking across classrooms, helping students to become active members of society.

Steven L. Layne (@StevenLayne)

In Defense of Read-Aloud, will highlight successful practices for read-aloud instruction. He is also the author of various children’s books, including The Teachers’ Night Before Christmas, an ILA/Children’s Book Council “Children’s Choice” book. Layne currently teaches children’s and young adult literature courses at Judson College in Elgin, IL and serves as a literacy consultant. Layne is well known for motivating educators through his talks.

Stephanie Harvey (@Stephharvey49)

After working in the public school system for 15 years, Stephanie Harvey worked as a staff developer for the Denver, CO–based Public Education & Business Coalition and is now president of her own consulting firm. As a passionate advocate for children’s reading and writing, Harvey has written many books, including Nonfiction Matters and The Comprehension Toolkit. Her session will include strategic tips for close reading and comprehension in K–12 literacy.

Jennifer Serravallo (@JSerravallo)

As a staffer at Columbia University’s Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and Vassar College, Jennifer Serravallo developed a passion for urban education reform and children’s literature. She is an active blogger and the author of the Association of Educational Publishers award-winning Independent Reading Assessmentin addition to The Literacy Teacher’s Playbook. Serravallo will be hosting a session to engage student motivation and growth through independent reading.

Sunday, July 19:

Pam Allyn (@pamallyn)

Pam Allyn, author, motivational speaker, and founder of global literacy initiative LitWorld, will be hosting a session dedicated to creating practices that meet the needs of students with varying reading and writing experience. As a 2013 Scholastic Literacy Champion, Allyn is the author of Your Child’s Writing Life and is a spokesperson for BIC Kids 2014 and BIC’s “Fight For Your Write” campaign.

Julie D. Ramsay (@JulieDRamsay)

Julie D. Ramsay, a sixth-grade ELA teacher, navigates the world of technology from her classroom and shares what she learns in her regular Literacy Daily column, Plugged In her personal blog, eduflections. She will discuss the importance of using digital tools and thinking critically to collaborate on classroom projects and engage in active writing inside and outside the classroom. She is the author of “Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?” Collaborating in Class and Online, Grades 3–8and speaks at various conferences about student writing practices.

Christopher Lehman (@iChrisLehman)

As the founding director of The Educator Collaborative, Lehman supportsteachers and literacy coaches in implementing rigorous literacy instruction. He will be discussing techniques to assist students with voice-filled writing and critical thinking. Lehman is also the author of literacy books such as A Quick Guide to Reviving Disengaged Writers and Energize Research Reading and Writing.

The ILA 2015 Conference will be July 18–20 in St. Louis, MO, with more than 6,000 educators ready to transform their practice. Key topics affecting literacy featured at the conference include content literacy, children’s literature, classroom engagement, and professional development. In addition to conference favorites, there will be plenty of new features, such as the refreshed Teaching Edge series. More than 120 exhibitors will be on hand with new tools and technologies for all manners of literacy education.

Preconference institutes, which take place on July 17, offer an all-day deep dive into topics including culturally responsive instruction and building literacy through project-based learning. You do not need to register for the full Conference & Exhibits to take part in the preconference institutes.

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

Morgan Ratner is the communications assistant for ILA.