Literacy Now

Every student is different, any teacher worth his/her salt knows this. But how are they different and how should teachers adjust their strategies to include students performing at the top of the class while not leaving everyone else behind?

#IRAChat on Thursday will address those questions with Jennifer Marten and Russell Cox. Marten, the Gifted and Talented Coordinator for the Plymouth Joint School District in Plymouth, WI, develops building- and district-level professional learning and maintains her blog, Teach From the Heart. She boils her thoughts on the changing face of education into plain speak and addresses everything from federal mandates to the deep history she has in her home district where she is now seeing the children of former students in the classroom. She is working toward a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction Leadership at Marian university in Fond du Lac, WI.

Russell Cox has taught students in all grades during his 16-year tenure and is currently the sole teacher of gifted students in several buildings spread across a rural area in Missouri. He is heavily active in social media where he taps Twitter and his professional learning network for advice and inspiration.

In addition to be literacy-focused himself, Cox is also married to a library media specialist in his home district.

Marten and Cox are ready to take questions addressing the unique needs gifted students have in the realm of literacy: how to keep them as part of a larger class without being bored, how to let them soar without getting lost, and how to foster a lifelong love of reading that many of these type of students seem to be born with, but still call for encouragement.

The chat will be 8 p.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 11. Don’t miss a tweet by following #IRAChat and check in on IRA’s twitter account.

April Hall is the editor of Reading Today Online.

For 60 business days, International Reading Association staff took on the International Literacy Day (ILD) 60-for-60 challenge. The challenge was implemented in classrooms across the globe to incorporate an additional 60 seconds of literacy into every day with fun, interactive activities. The goal? To establish a literacy “habit.” If we were going to ask educators to take on the challenge, we would, too.

We began with “Would you rather…” questions, asking staffers to select from just two options. Who would you rather take to prom, Ophelia or Juliet? Would you rather be a superhero or supervillain? Most answers during that two-week stint had us laughing at our desks.

“Can I go with neither? I mean they both died, and who needs that aggravation, am I right?”

“Supervillain! A Superhero has too many battles, enemies and, for some reason, also seems unhappy. So what if people don’t like a villain. I could take the day off and pick and choose my battles.”

Then, moving on to Word of the Day, we emailed out mostly unfamiliar words to staff members and asked that they respond with a sentence using that word or use it in conversation as much as possible during the day.

We were pretty impressed with our staff’s vocabulary.

Daralene Irwin, front end developer in Business Solutions at IRA, recognized “frabjous” as a Louis Carroll Stevens invention first used in Through the Looking Glass and shot back a line from “The Jabberwocky.”

Dan Mangan, director of Public Affairs, admitted to hearing “palaver” regularly during childhood to chastise against “idle talk.”

Director of Finance Linda Marston said that was her favorite activity (and one we revived in the penultimate week of the challenge). “Trying to use (the word) throughout my daily conversation was very interesting and thought-provoking,” she said.

Next, we imagined our trip to the International Space Station and what we would pack up if we were leaving Earth for an entire year.

From our favorite albums to our most cherished keepsake, we were asked to go as small as 3-inches-by-3-inches for meaningful items to put in our Astronaut Preference Kits.

By working through a number of writing prompts, like “Tweet it Loud, Tweet it Proud” and “Six Words in 60 Seconds,” these literacy minutes were a welcome break from the routine and a terrific way to get to know each other better.

“It’s surprisingly hard to create a new daily habit, even when you’re only committing to 60 seconds a day,” said Rachel Krall, IRA development manager. “I realize now why it’s so hard for some people to find 30 minutes to work out when it’s not part of their regular routine!  I thought the activities were a nice mental break from our workday, and I’m sad the 60 days have passed.”

At times it was difficult to maintain our dedication to the challenge, but we heard back from educators out there, some of whom said they would continue with their 60-second exercises all year long. We were all excited to hear how classrooms were faring across the country and around the world.

“I’m curious to find out how they made it work,” Krall said. “School days are already packed, and even though 60 seconds doesn’t seem like a lot, I’m sure it wasn’t easy to find the extra time.”

A number of teachers in Hyderabad, India, who showed us samples of their students’ writing and how they chose writing prompts and incorporated the activities into their everyday schedules.

“My class of grade 5 participated in the ILD 60-for-60 Mission and I am really amazed to see the results,” Anushree Arora shared. “The students not only showed their writing skills but also displayed high levels of thinking skills. I never thought a 60 second activity can benefit them so much. For 60 days, my students waited eagerly every morning when I would be asking them to do the 60 second of writing.”

What’s more, we didn’t just hear from reading teachers. Recognizing that literacy is important in every curriculum, educators from every subject shared their experiences.

Elementary music teacher Teri Nieveen of Adams, NE, merged music into the challenge by selecting a weekly musical term for her students to read, spell and define in the music room.

“We also discuss other meanings of the word, or ways the students see the word outside of the music classroom,” Nieveen said mid-challenge. “It's helping us develop a musical word wall!”

Thelma Kastl, a STEM teacher at West Wilkes Middle School in Wilkesboro, NC, participated with her 160 students by reading articles together for extended periods of time.

“As an educator, parent and grandparent I appreciate this program and hope that it continues,” she says. “Thank you for this opportunity to inspire students to read more.”

Thank you for taking this challenge with us. We look forward to hearing more about your experiences now that it’s over. Feel free to tell us more at social@/.

Morgan Ratner is a communications intern for International Reading Association.

As November quickly comes to a close, the International Reading Association reflects on the month dedicated to project-based learning tips and techniques. Focusing on key skills in communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, PBL is often cross-curricular, incorporating technology and driving questions to connect students to the world outside their classrooms, and, of course, relies on literacy in all subject areas.

Our Twitter #IRAchat with the Buck Institute for Education’s Suzie Boss and Myla Lee revolved around incorporating inquiry-based learning, engaging students in reading, writing, and listening skills, and taking part in analyzing text and finding evidence to support statements. The chat also highlighted how students learn with each other and, more importantly, from one another. Contributors to the chat stressed the importance of teamwork, finding texts that benefit all readers, and modeling dynamic learning with technology.

Nell Duke, PBL advocate and author of Inside Information: Developing Powerful Readings and Writers of Informational Text Through Project-Based Instruction, said PBL is critical to taking classroom teaching to the next level of efficacy. Her book is co-published by IRA and Scholastic.

“Providing a purpose for students' reading and writing beyond simply learning to read and write or practicing reading and writing supports students' development,” Duke said. “PBL offers one way to provide such a purpose. PBL provides an overall framework into we can place many valuable instructional moves, such as teaching comprehension strategies and teaching students to tailor their writing to their audience.”

The PBL teaching style is gaining more attention and momentum from educators, but there’s still a long way to go to implement the practice into schools. It is important that we continue to revisit PBL techniques and look to see how we can apply PBL strategies into education across all ages and all subjects.

“We have more to do as a field to sort out what constitutes PBL,” says Duke. “We need to sort out how best to involve literacy instructional techniques that we know to be effective, such as text structure instruction and teaching editing strategies, in project-based approaches. Finally, we need to find ways to make PBL more practical for more teachers.”

Reading Today Online posts included a check-in on an innovative school program starting in Missouri, the Maker Movement used in a school library, and tips from educators on how to effectively use PBL in the classroom.

Morgan Ratnor is a communications intern for International Reading Association.

Here is a comprehensive list of November’s PBL-centered posts:

Putting Books to Work: Primates: Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas—Using a nonfiction text can open a world of project-based learning possibilities.

Super Practical Project-Based Learning Ideas—Some tips and leads on incorporating PBL in the classroom.

The ‘Maker Movement’ Has a Place in All Disciplines—This maker movement isn’t necessarily something new, I have allowed my students to play and tinker with reading and writing.

#IRAchat: Literacy’s Role in Project-Based Learning—The November #IRAchat will answer questions focused on literacy’s role in project-based learning with experts.

Using PBL Within “The Standards”—New educational standards make instructional demands. Using project-based learning is a great way to follow through.

Innovative School Program Highlights PBL—Quest@GHS is an innovative high school program utitlizing project-based learning to foster critical thinking.

PBL: Many Paths, One Destination—Julie Ramsay shares four strategies she uses for PBL in her classroom.

How Project-Based Approaches in Literacy Could Go Terribly Wrong (Or Powerfully Right)—Project-based education has a lot of potential for literacy development, but also potential pitfalls.

Given the high stakes that are placed today on student achievement and testing outcomes, it might be assumed that major changes in educational policy can only result from careful debate in public forums informed by full consideration of research-based approaches for enhancing classroom instruction. But such is decidedly not the case in Pennsylvania where the formal qualifications for a critical academic position were changed in early November by means of a single sentence buried at the very end of a routine two-page email update from the Department of Education’s (PDE) Division of Professional Education and Teacher Quality.

Careful readers of the PDE email of November 5, 2014 discovered to their utter astonishment that the education department is apparently doing a complete about-face on the qualifications for becoming a reading specialist in the state. The full text of the single-sentence blurb states that “Reading Specialist is a content area that can be added to an instructional certificate by testing.” This terse announcement, hardly a model of administrative clarity, has been published as an ipse dixit: it is not accompanied by any background information, explanatory comment, or practical guidance.

PA Acting Secretary of Ed Carolyn Dumaresq

Unfortunately for the Acting Secretary of Education, Carolyn Dumaresq, Pennsylvania’s literacy educators are not at all docile and know an end run when they see one. The PDE’s reticence on this matter is noteworthy. Apparently PDE is not unduly concerned by the impression created of an attempt to sneak something through. Moreover, it is surprising that a state education department would consider lessening requirements for certification at a time when teacher education generally has come under attack by groups like the National Council on Teacher Quality and others.

What Happened in 2003

Just how bizarre is all of this? A good way to answer that question is to go back to 2003 when a similar change was attempted by the state’s education department. At that time educators across the state voiced strong opposition to the attempted elimination of rigorous coursework for this important role, which involves many discrete skill sets, specific knowledge, and mentored experience. Leading the way was the Keystone State Reading Association (KSRA), an affiliate of the International Reading Association (IRA), a membership association of literacy professionals. KSRA mounted a vigorous advocacy campaign, directed by its former Governmental Relations Chair, Jesse Moore.

Moore testified at hearings on the issue, a process with no parallel as yet in the current situation. He pointed out that granting reading specialist certification based on a two-hour multiple choice test contradicted the IRA Standards for Reading Professionals, which are used by the National Council for the Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE). He emphasized that NCATE had always considered reading specialist certification to be an advanced degree program. Moore and the KSRA leadership also invited the education secretary to a state board meeting where exchanges with members and other concerned educators was enough to eventually prompt a change of mind and get the test-only pathway to reading specialist certification revoked.

This past history makes the single-sentence policy reversal by Dr. Dumaresq all the more baffling, coming, as it does, in the interregnum between Pennsylvania’s outgoing and incoming gubernatorial administrations. One wonders just who pushed for this change at this time, whom it is intended to serve, and how such an ill-conceived disclosure process could possibly foster compliance, let alone produce a beneficial result. The department of education now has a fight on its hands, and the charge is being led once again by the KSRA.

KSRA’s New Call to Action

Julie B. Wise, KSRA’s current president, wasted no time calling attention to Dr. Dumaresq’s action, informing her members in an email that the PDEis trying to employ a shortcut to an academic certification program that requires specialized education. “We are concerned about the abrupt decision by PDE to provide an alternative option for certifying reading specialists instead of training reading specialists through graduate courses,” which, she noted, “provide intensive academic and field work to prepare competent K-12 reading specialists.”  

Julie B. Wise

As KSRA sees it, school districts hire teachers who complete graduate reading programs because of the strong foundational knowledge of strategic teaching, diagnostic abilities, and professional support they aptly provide to students and general education teachers. Rita Bean of KSRA, a former IRA board member,puts the issue this way: “What happened to rigor? We talk about quality teaching—and high level standards—and improving teacher performance. Yet the state is willing, on the basis of one test, to grant reading specialist certification to individuals with initial teaching certification?” KSRA’s message to Harrisburg is that PDE needs “to rescind the hasty decision,” and “reinforce the appropriate route for earning a quality K-12 reading specialist certification.”

Wise and KSRA’s Governmental Relations Chair, Millie Henning, are mobilizing college education school deans, school districts, and local literacy associations across the state to communicate their opposition to the test-only certification idea. They are also planning to request a meeting with PDE. Their advocacy strategy is spelled out in full on the landing page of the KSRA website. As Wise points out, the issue affects graduate education students as well: “If educators decide to take the test-only certification approach, will districts hire them when they lack preparation that includes strong fieldwork?”

Going Forward

It remains to be seen whether Dr. Dumaresq can be prevailed upon to change course, and if not, whether the appointment of a new secretary under the incoming governor will make a difference. Meanwhile KSRA has been joined in its advocacy effort by the leadership of IRA.

Jill Lewis-Spector, IRA’s current president, believes test-only certification will have serious ramifications: “The solution for having more and well-prepared teachers who can address the literacy achievement gap is for teachers to pursue additional preparation for teaching literacy from nationally accredited programs.”

IRA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post concurs: “There is no short cut or substitute for graduate level training when it comes to setting qualifications for the reading specialist certificate.” Post has pledged IRA’s assistance in KSRA’s campaign to drive this point home to PDE.

Dan Mangan is the Director of Public Affairs at the International Reading Association, dmangan@/.