Literacy Now

One of the great International Reading Association traditions is International Literacy Day.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established Sept. 8 as International Literacy Day in 1965 to focus attention on literacy around the world. IRA celebrates each year by highlighting the event and most recently supplied online printable resources for literacy educators everywhere. This year’s program, “Lift Off to Literacy,” partners IRA with NASA for some out-of-this-world activities, including “Story Time from Space.” The activities focus on devoting an extra 60 days on literacy in the classroom every day for 60 school days.

Here are just a handful of ILD activities happening this year:

• In Edinburgh, Scotland, McDonald Road Library is hosting author of The Panopticon and poet Jenni Fagan to talk about her work, past and future. A successful local writer, she is one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists.
• Bangladesh Reading Association will close the 2014 Asia Literacy Conference today. The theme this year was “Emerging Issues for Teachers Professional Development,” to create opportunity to explore situations, approaches, issues and questions relating to PD.
• In Wisconsin, more than 70 agencies and sponsors, including West Central Wisconsin Community Action Agency, Inc., (West CAP) Literacy Program, and Wisconsin Literacy, will kick off the 11th Annual 1200 Tutors in 12 Weeks campaign. Volunteer tutors work with adults on basic reading and writing, math skills, computer skills and job readiness for career training programs, GED programs, or simply to get a better job. West CAP also works with immigrants and refugees to learn and improve their English.
• The Missouri Press Association is using “Lift Off to Literacy” and, in addition to the 60 seconds a day for 60 days activities, it created a feature that utilizes the newspaper to improve literacy skills for kids. To access the materials, please visit www.mo-nie.com. The download code for this feature is “literacyday.”
• The Puerto Rican Reading Association will hold its ninth Literacy Marathon.
• In Haiti, one IRA member has translated IRA ILD activities into Haitian Creole for students.
• One Arkansas teacher is using “Lift Off to Literacy” to add an extra 60 seconds of literacy for 60 days by reading short pieces of scientific research conducted in space or scientific improvements as a result of space exploration. The class will write a tweet about what they’ve learned, confined to Twitter’s 140 character limit, in order to distill the most important themes and information.
• Christina Dellibovi, who is on the Brain Injury Team at PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., will celebrate Sept. 17 with a host of activities for the hospital’s 60 patients and their families. Food inspired by books, including Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, will be served and kids will be encouraged to write on the tablecloths. Other activities will include creating poetry collages from magazines, creating word families on pipe cleaners, and making bookmarks. Writing prompts will line the windows with window markers at hand to inspire stories.

“For this event, I really wanted to help make literature more accessible to children who are hospitalized for a prolonged amount of time for a variety of reasons,” Dellibovi said about her event. “Indeed, patients here this month are essentially missing the beginning of the school year, so inserting a literacy event can help normalize the environment while providing a unique dose of fun.”

April Hall is the editor of Reading Today Online. She can be reached at ahall@/.

The What’s Hot in Literacy Survey has appeared annually in IRA publications for nearly two decades. Within that span of time, the results of the survey have been cited in numerous publications, translated into languages other than English, and replicated in other countries including Denmark, Romania, and the United Kingdom. The results of the survey have also been used to guide professional development within schools and to situate the timeliness of current research. In this brief overview, we share how the 2015 survey was created, in what manner this year’s respondents were selected, and how the results were interpreted.

Constructing the Survey

Each year, 25 literacy leaders complete the survey. The literacy leaders who responded to the 2014 survey played a key role in constructing this year’s survey. This is because they reviewed the items listed on the 2014 survey and made suggestions for revisions. From their suggestions, the 2015 survey was formed. This process resulted in a 30-item survey. The following five topics were new to the survey this year: genre knowledge, STEM literacy, summer reading, writing (argumentative & based on sources), and writing (creative).

Selecting the Literacy Leaders

The key criterion for respondents is that they have a national or international perspective on literacy. Many of those interviewed have served (or are serving) on boards of prominent literacy organizations or as editors of major journals. Together, the 25 leaders create a diverse group representing various ethnicities, ages, and job categories such as classroom teachers, administrators, reading specialists, and college professors, although college professors constitute the majority of those responding.

The number of literacy leaders interviewed from a region is determined by the percentage of IRA members in that given area. The areas as defined by IRA are: East, South, Great Lakes, Plains, Southwest, Rocky Mountains, West, Canada and Outside North America.

Conducting the Survey

The literacy leaders were interviewed by phone or in person during the spring and summer months. Each respondent was read a standard 178-word paragraph explaining that a rating of “hot” and “not hot” was not a measure of their personal interest in a topic, but instead would refer to the amount of attention the item was currently receiving. Next, each of the 30 items from the survey were read aloud to the respondent and they were asked to give a rating of “hot” or “not hot.” Then each respondent was asked if each item “should be hot” or “should not be hot.” The direct oral contact is used for a number of reasons. Many times, respondents will make informal comments which can be helpful in the written narrative. Also, we want respondents to give a relatively spontaneous answer.

Tallying and Interpreting the Results

The final step was analyzing the results. This involved tallying the collected ratings. Items receiving 100 percent consensus among the literacy leaders were reported as “extremely hot” or “extremely cold.” Items receiving 75 percent consensus were reported as “very hot” or “very cold,” while those receiving 50 percent consensus were reported as “hot” or “cold.”

The full 2015 What’s Hot in Literacy Survey results were published in the September/October 2014 issue of Reading Today. Members: Click here to login and access the issue. Nonmembers: Join IRA now!

Longtime IRA member and current president of IRC, Cindy Gerwin, said to receive the award was an honor.

“Literacy teachers across the state know the Illinois Reading Council (IRC) is an organization empowering teachers, and raising community engagement and public awareness,” Gerwin said. “I am so excited and proud to be part of the incredible leadership team that has accomplished so much in a relatively short time, and of the energy for the direction we are heading as an organization.”

Professional development is a high priority not only for the state council, but the local councils as well, Gerwin said. While IRC has an annual conference that is always well-attended and highly regarded, the local councils build on the conference’s theme through the year, offering professional development to supplement the state conference offerings or to give local teachers who cannot attend the main gathering as opportunity to participate in continuing education.

“The council raises awareness and engagement statewide by funding grants for teachers and their learning communities,” Gerwin said. “IRC provides classroom libraries that are culturally diverse through the Obama Library Award and libraries that support rural towns through the Pamela J. Farris Library Award.”

She said that, again, local councils augment statewide efforts in community engagement.

The International Reading Association is accepting applications for editors of The Reading Teacher (RT) and the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (JAAL). These separate, prestigious editorships function as two-person teams of either two co-editors or one editor with an associate editor. The volunteer positions have six-year terms: The first year overlaps with the final year of the current editorship and the subsequent years constitute the volumes for which the new editors provide material.

The application deadline is Oct. 15 and the term for both editorships is June 1, 2015–May 31, 2021.

RT is the leading peer-reviewed journal for educators of literacy learners up to age 12. Its special emphasis is primary and elementary classroom instruction, and its readership consists of school-based educators, university researchers and scholars, literacy consultants, administrators, and policymakers.

JAAL is the leading peer-reviewed journal for educators of literacy learners ages 12 and older. The journal reflects current theory, research, and practice in support of effective literacy instruction. Readership includes middle school, secondary, and postsecondary classroom teachers; university researchers and scholars; literacy consultants; administrators; and policymakers.

Applicants must be members of IRA, recognized experts in the field of literacy education of learners in the journal’s intended age group, and demonstrate a commitment to translating sound research to practice.

April Hall is the editor of Reading Today Online. She can be reached at ahall@/.

Join us Aug. 14 for the next IRA Twitter chat focusing on starting the school year “literacy strong.”

With two experts on board, we will be discussing what it means to be strong in literacy and what educators can do to lay a solid foundation as the new year begins. Log on to join the discussion and gain tips for the classroom. Our cohosts this month are Pam Allyn and Melissa Edwards.

Allyn is the founding director of LitWorld, a global literacy initiative serving children across the United States and in more than 60 countries, and LitLife, a cutting-edge consulting group working with schools to enrich best practice teaching methods and building curriculum for reading and writing. She has written more than 20 books, including Your Child’s Writing Life, What To Read When, Best Books for Boys, and Core Ready, and is a spokeswoman for BIC Kids, championing BIC’s 2014 "Fight For Your Write" campaign.

She received the 2013 Scholastic Literacy Champion Award for her work both nationally and globally bringing literacy to underserved communities and was chosen as a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow in April 2014, focusing on racial healing and equity. Allyn recently appeared on NBC News, CNN and Al Jazeera as a thought leader on equity, standards, and literacy in public education.

“Literacy strong is the child who breathes words in and writes them out into the world, the teacher who mentors and models best practice, the school and family community that inspires the child to become a lifelong reader, writer, speaker and listener,” Allyn said.

“Literacy strong is reading the world and writing in your own voice.

“Literacy strong is building muscles for stamina, discovery, joy and independence through the power of words and images.”

You can learn more about Allyn on her website.

Edwards works in Instruction Technology, helping teachers utilize resources and tools to impact student learning.

She began her career as a fourth-grade reading and writing teacher who looked forward to “read-aloud” time each day. She then taught gifted students and struggling readers and, after seeing the unique needs of both groups, she dove into Problem-Based Learning and giving students a variety of outlets of expression. She uses blogs, websites, and other technology with both students and to help teachers find resources for the classroom.  

Edwards said, as an artist at heart, she wants to tap into the creativity she believes to be inside of everyone. She said she’s seen firsthand the ways creative thinking skills can be utilized to make connections and bring together all the pieces of learning.

“I enjoy working with teachers to tap into that creativity and help students think critically, create, collaborate, and take advantage of the learning opportunities all around,” Edwards said.

Being literacy strong “involves exhibiting strength in so many areas,” she added. “Literacy includes not only reading and writing, but also the skills involved in thinking, problem solving, asking questions, analyzing, collaborating, and creating, which lays a good foundation for the effective expression of ideas in a wide range of areas.”

Learn more about Edwards at her blog, Figuring Out How the Pieces Fit….

To get a feel of what IRA chats are all about, here are a few links to summaries of previous chats:

Using Mentor Texts to Teach Writing

Reflections on #IRA14

EdCamp Literacy: An “Unconference” Opportunity

How to chat

To join the conversation, you can simply search for the #IRAchat hashtag in Twitter. If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter, read Fly to Twitter for Online PD for some tips.

We look forward to chatting with you Aug. 14. Please feel free to tweet us with any questions you may have. Just use the #IRAchat hashtag in your tweet and we will do our best to help you with any advice or Twitter troubleshooting.

April Hall is editor of Reading Today Online. You can reach her through e-mail (ahall@/) or Twitter (@mediaapril).