The Future
of Teacher
Preparation
• The COVID-19 impact on
teacher prep
• The importance of
diversifying the
teacher workforce
• Preparing teachers
to stay abreast
of literacy research
November/December 2020
Volume 38, Issue 3
LITERACY TODAY
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Contents
LITERACY TODAY
Volume 38, Issue 3
November/December 2020
EDITORIAL STAFF
Managing Editor Colleen Patrice Clark
Editor Christina Lambert
Intern Paige Savitt
ILA LEADERSHIP
Executive Director Marcie Craig Post
2020–2021 BOARD MEMBERS
Stephen Peters, The Peters Group, President;
Rob Tierney, University of British Columbia,
Vice President; Kathy N. Headley, Clemson
University, Immediate Past President;
Juli-Anne Benjamin, Great Oaks Legacy
Charter School; Kia Brown-Dudley, The
Education Partners; Wendy Carss, University
of Waikato; Danielle V. Dennis, University of
Rhode Island; Rachael Gabriel, University of
Connecticut, Storrs; Annette M. Kiberu, GEMS
Cambridge International School; Kenneth
Kunz, Monmouth University; J. Helen Perkins,
University of Memphis; Laurie Sharp, Tarleton
State University
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ABOUT US
Literacy Today is the bimonthly membership
magazine of the International Literacy
Association, a nonprofi t that strives to
empower educators, inspire students, and
encourage teachers with the resources they
need to make literacy accessible for all.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Literacy Today (ISSN 2411-7900) is included
in the cost of ILA membership. To join, visit
literacyworldwide.org.
CONTACT US
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© International Literacy Association
2
EDITOR’S NOTE
3
LIT BITS
6
ILA UPDATE
LITERACY LEADERSHIP
8
Refl ecting on Virtual Learning: Supports and
Strategies to Continue Teaching and Learning
Growth
12
Preparing Educators of the Future: The Case
for Research Literacy
14
Enhancing Teacher Preparation Programs: Fostering Preservice Teachers’
Abilities to Meet the Diverse Needs of Students
16
Planning Forward for Literacy: A New Lens on Professional Learning
RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE
18
The ACTOR Method: Enhancing Close, Critical, and Effi cient Reading of
Informational Texts
FEATURES
22
Teachers’ Race Matters: Teachers a s Arbiters of Black Linguistic Justice
26
Looking Ahead: Four Ways 2020 Might Shape the Future of Teacher Prep
32
Recognizing Excellence: ILA Launches National Recognition for Programs
Preparing Elementary/Intermediate Classroom Teachers
THE ENGAGING CLASSROOM
36
Molding Students Into Informed, Compassionate Citizens
38
Engaging Critical Reading of Socioscientifi c Issues
40
Increasing Sustained Att ention in Distracted Readers
THE ILA NETWORK
42 PD From a Distance: Invito alla Lett ura - Rai Cultura Off ers Distance Learning
Program for Teachers in Italy
44
EVENTS
46
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
22
EDITOR’S
NOTE
e made it! Well, almost. It’s the
homestretch of 2020, and that is reason
enough to celebrate if you ask me. But as
much as we’re looking forward to putting
up a new calendar, we would be remiss if
we didn’t take the opportunity to look back
on this year and reflect on lessons learned
and ongoing challenges. As Cornelius
Minor asked during his Main Stage
Session at ILA Next in October: What if we
didn’t simply return to normal? What if
we returned to better?
That’s the mind-set we urge everyone
to have as we plow forward into 2021,
and it’s also a question we examine in the
cover story for this issue, “Looking Ahead:
Four Ways 2020 Might Shape the Future
of Teacher Prep.” Between the digital
challenges of COVID-19 and ongoing civil
unrest and social justice issues, there are
plenty of ways we can work to ensure that
this year for the history books is actually
remembered as a positive tipping point
in education—both in the education of
our students and in the education of their
future teachers.
This issue, which focuses on the
theme of teacher preparation, also
examines other ways teacher prep
programs can continue to improve—such
as by strengthening teachers’ connection
to research, focusing on pedagogies that
respect students’ mental health and
social-emotional learning, and working to
diversify our teacher workforce.
When you finish reading this issue,
we encourage you to ask yourself how you
can return to better—whether in your
classroom, your community, or your home.
Yes, there has been plenty of negatives this
year, but what positivity can you carry
forward?
Warmly,
REFLECTING ON 2020
Colleen Patrice Clark
Managing Editor
cclark@reading.org
2
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© 2018
ISBN 978-0-87207-379-1
Standards for the Preparation of Literacy
Professionals 2017
INTERNATIONAL LITERACY ASSOCIATION
FREE SHIPPING! literacyworldwide.org/standardsbook
800.336.7323 (U.S. and Canada) | 302.731.1600 (all other countries)
Members
SAVE
20%
Developed by literacy experts across the United States, Standards for the Preparation
of Literacy Professionals 2017 (Standards 2017) sets forth the criteria for developing and
evaluating preparation programs for literacy professionals.
These updated standards focus on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for
effective educational practice in a specific role and highlight contemporary research and
evidence-based practices in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and leadership.
Standards 2017 addresses the following roles:
� Reading/literacy specialists � Literacy coaches
� Literacy coordinators/supervisors � Classroom teachers (Pre-K–12)
� Principals, teacher educators, and literacy partners
LITERACY TODAY | November/December 2020 | literacyworldwide.org
LIT BITS
By the time you read this, ILA Next, our monthlong professional learning event tailored to the unique needs
of educators in today’s digital and hybrid environments, will have concluded—but it’s not too late to register
and view 36+ hours of professional development on demand. The four-week professional learning event was
designed to be viewed on your own time, at your own pace.
ILA Next offered a blend of live and on-demand learning, including Main Stage Sessions and Learning
Labs each Saturday, Pathway Workshops each Tuesday, and Office Hours each Thursday for attendees to
gather and discuss what they learned.
Throughout the event,
speakers focused on what’s
critical for literacy educators
in our evolving COVID-19
landscape, addressing distance
and hybrid learning, equity
and access, social-emotional
development, and/or trauma
responsiveness. Sessions are
available to view through
January 31, 2021. Learn more
and register at ilanext.org.
ILA Next: That’s a Wrap!
During the month of September, ILA
highlighted children’s books authors and
illustrators through a new YouTube series,
#ILAreads. This daily series featured authors and
illustrators—such as Tiffany M. Jewell, Nidhi Chanani,
Tami Charles, and Bryan Collier—reading their book
aloud or sharing the inspiration behind it. Educators
can share this series with their students to
incorporate a virtual read-aloud into their distance
or in-person classroom. Check out the playlist
on ILA’s YouTube channel at youtube.com
/internationalliteracy
association.
#ILAreads
Do you know someone who is invested
in literacy and has a passion for service?
ILA is looking for new leaders to serve on
our Board of Directors. The Board plays
a crucial role in ensuring the financial
success and well-being of the organization.
Members of the Board guide ILA and
enhance value for members. Although
nominations are accepted year round,
the deadline for the next election cycle is
December 21. You can nominate yourself
or a colleague at literacyworldwide.org
/election. Keep an eye out for elections
opening in March 2021.
Submit a Nomination for
the ILA Board
4
literacyworldwide.org | November/December 2020 | LITERACY TODAY
Eye
on the
Science
of
Reading
Achieving
Work–Life
Balance
In the time of
COVID-19, teaching
and learning are
unlike anything
we’ve seen before.
Struggling to balance
the new demands
of both life and
work is normal. Tina
Nazerian approaches
this global issue in
her Literacy Now
blog post, “How
to Achieve Work–
Life Balance While
Teaching Remotely
During COVID-19.”
For tips on how
to prioritize your
responsibilities,
strengthen
connections with
others, take time
to regroup, and
maintain focus
and energy, check
out the post at
literacyworldwide
.org/work-life-
balance.
In case you missed it, the September/October issue of Literacy Today, as well as
a special digital issue of ILA’s Reading Research Quarterly (RRQ), focused on the
science of reading—including the supports for, critiques of, and questions about
this critical topic. There were also two digital events to round out the monthlong
special focus:
Unpacking the Science of Reading: A Conversation With the Editors of Reading
Research Quarterly—a free event with Amanda P. Goodwin and Robert T.
Jiménez
Making Sense of the Science of Reading—our first digital ILA Intensive, featuring
P. David Pearson, Timothy Shanahan, Timothy Rasinski, and more.
Visit literacyworldwide.org/digitalevents for information on how to register
to view these events on demand. The Literacy Today issue (which is open
access for ILA members
and nonmembers), can be
found at literacyworldwide
.org/literacytoday, and
the RRQ issue, including
information on how to
subscribe, can be found at
literacyworldwide.org
/journals.
Our library of ILA at Home Webinars continues to grow. ILA at Home Webinars, featuring leading
voices in the literacy field, are free for ILA members. Visit literacyworldwide.org/digitalevents to
view one of these past webinars on demand and check back often for upcoming events.
Marjorie Y. Lipson, Jeanne R. Paratore, and Victoria J. Risko: Early Reading Difficulties: Improving
Outcomes for All Students
Timothy Shanahan: Instructional Level or Challenging Text: Too Hard or Not Hard Enough
Donalyn Miller: Making a Case for Reading Joy
ILA at Home
LIT BITS
LITERACY TODAY | November/December 2020 | literacyworldwide.org
Journal Spotlight
The Reading Teacher Practitioner Review Board
Are you a classroom teacher, reading/literacy specialist, literacy coach, ESL/bilingual teacher, or
curriculum specialist working with children from birth through age 12? Do you read The Reading
Teacher (RT)?
We, the incoming editor team of The Reading Teacher (RT), are looking for
language and literacy educators around the world to share their expertise as a
part of RT’s first ever Practitioner Review Board.
As a member of our Practitioner Review Board, you can help by:
Reading four articles per year before they are published.
Providing brief, anonymous feedback to the author(s) on ways to
make the article more helpful for practitioners (e.g., what additional
information would you need to implement an idea from an article with
the students you teach?).
Your professional expertise will help RT better serve the literacy needs
of children from birth to age 12 and ensure that RT remains a high-quality,
practitioner-focused publication.
Interested in applying or nominating a colleague? Please send the
following materials to rt@msu.edu by Tuesday, December 15, 2020:
A brief email explaining your interest and your resume OR
Nominate a colleague by sending us a nomination email and sharing a copy of their resume
Practitioner Review Board members will be publicly recognized on our website.
The Reading Teacher is an ILA journal published six times per year that provides the latest peer-reviewed,
research-based best practices to literacy educators working with children up to age 12. Classroom-ready
articles cover topics from curriculum, instruction, and assessment to strategies for teaching diverse populations
of literacy learners. For more information, visit https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19362714/
practioner_review_board.
The Reading Teacher Themed Issues
Beginning in fall 2021, RT will have some themed issues each year. The first
theme is as follows:
Teaching Bi/Multilingual Learners (submissions due January 4, 2021)
In this issue, we are looking for articles about literacy instruction that supports
bi/multilingual learners’ literacy and language development. When we teach bi/
multilingual learners, we must engage and nurture their language and literacy
development by fostering connections between the two. Questions we hope to
explore in this issue include but are not limited to: What are the most innovative
practices for teaching bi/multilingual children and building bi/multilingual
classrooms? How can teachers recognize and build on children’s bi/multilingual
practices? How can we include the voices of bi/multilingual families and
communities to support children’s language and literacy development?
RT is a practitioner-oriented journal that publishes articles and teaching
tips focused on applications and implications of research to classroom practice. RT’s large readership includes
literacy researchers, teacher educators, and classroom teachers of children birth to age 12. More information
about submissions is available at: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19362714/calls_for_papers
By the time you read this issue of Literacy Today,
November will have arrived as the calendar moves
toward the end of 2020 (drumroll, please!). As I
write this, my networks of educators, both P–12
and higher education, are engaging and supporting
students in learning virtually, face to face, or a
hybrid of the two. These educators are my heroes.
The year 2020 brought several challenges,
many of which were courtesy of COVID-19. For
the International Literacy Association (ILA), those
challenges invited change.
The most visible of these changes is the pivot to
virtual offerings, including the following:
ILA at Home Webinars. These hourlong
webinars that include interactive Q&As have
so far featured educators such as Donalyn
Miller, Timothy Shanahan, Marjorie Y. Lipson,
Jeanne R. Paratore, and Victoria J. Risko and
are available free to members.
Free events. ILA has offered several open-
access webinars with some of the biggest
names in literacy—such as Kwame Alexander,
Susan B. Neuman, Ernest Morrell, and Nell K.
Duke—reflecting on timely topics including
anti-racism, book access in the time of COVID,
and teaching in turbulent times.
ILA Workinar. This combination of a webinar
and workshop in August was a low-cost event
held in conjunction with CASEL (Collaborative
for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning)
that focused on planning for social-emotional
learning in literacy instruction. More workinars
will be announced in the future.
ILA Intensive. This inaugural event in
September, which brought the popular ILA
in-person offering into the virtual realm,
featured speakers such as Gina Cervetti,
P. David Pearson, Timothy Rasinski, and more.
Intensives bring researchers and practitioners
together on key literacy topics and feature a
Positive Notes F rom 2020
ILA UPDATE
variety of session formats including keynotes,
panels, and short talks. Be on the lookout for
more of these in the future as well.
And finally, there was ILA Next, which had
only just begun at the time this issue went to
press. This interactive learning event featured
progressive workshops organized by learner
ages that built sequentially each week for four
weeks. The monthlong event also featured
Main Stage speakers, Learning Labs, and a
virtual exhibit hall.
Registration is still available for these events, as
all of them are available to view on demand. Note
that ILA Next registration is available only through
the end of January. Visit literacyworldwide.org
/digitalevents for more information about these
as well as upcoming offerings, which are added
regularly.
You’ll also find on our website the updated
resource Standards for the Preparation of Literacy
Professionals 2017 (Standards 2017), which is
the basis for ILA’s newly expanded National
Recognition program. ILA National Recognition and
National Recognition With Distinction, the highest
honor awarded by ILA to an institution, recognizes
reading/literacy specialist and now elementary/
intermediate classroom teacher preparation
programs that align to the rigorous benchmarks
set forth in Standards 2017. Alignment to the
standards means an institution is among the best
in teacher preparation, making this initiative part
of ILA’s ongoing efforts to ensure educators enter
the workforce ready to tackle today’s challenges,
including issues of equity and digital access. Check
out literacyworldwide.org/standards2017 and
ilanationalrecognition.org for more information.
You’ll also find a feature about the National
Recognition program on page 32.
In addition to that, much of this issue focuses
on the theme of teacher preparation, including our
6
literacyworldwide.org | November/December 2020 | LITERACY TODAY
done six months ago, I find myself reflecting
on some personal reading exploration I did this
past summer. In particular, I am thinking about
The Book That Matters Most, a 2016 title by Ann
Hood. The title opens the mind to consider the
books that mattered most in our lives. Think
about that: not our favorite book, but the one
that made a difference. Pondering still, I’m not
ready to confirm a title or two quite yet. How
about you?
Happy reading at home and in your classroom.
Kathy N. Headley
ILA Immediate Past
President
feature on page 26 on how the year 2020 is sure
to change the future of teacher prep. You can also
find a trove of resources on ILA’s website regarding
both teacher preparation and ongoing professional
development, particularly under the Get Resources,
Position Statements tab, where you’ll find all of ILA’s
position statements and literacy leadership briefs,
such as
Transforming Literacy Teacher Preparation:
Practice Makes Possible
Literacy Teacher Preparation
Teacher Preparation for Literacy Instruction
Democratizing Professional Growth
With Teachers: From Development to
Learning
Download these and more at
literacyworldwide.org/statements.
As we ready ourselves to say goodbye to
2020, something many of us wish we could have
Learn more and share your feedback at
literacyworldwide.org/glossary
ILA’s Literacy
Glossary—
Together, we can define
our profession,
one word at a time
LITERACY TODAY | November/December 2020 | literacyworldwide.org
eptember passed! With trepidation, we donned our masks and gallons of sanitizer
and began a unique school year. Whether teaching via distance learning or spread
out in school buildings, at 6-foot distances, we began with the intent that our
delivery methods must promote student learning. We were united in the belief
that we could not allow students to experience any further learning or emotional
gaps. We reminisced about the times when we were all forced into crisis teaching
and scurrying to take instruction online. Many returned to classroom calendars
stuck on March 2020, as if time had frozen. With time to prepare, we were now
more ready; although many still felt like novices to virtual learning platforms.
Now several months into multilocation instruction, we begin the third article
in our three-part series by tipping our hats to teachers, especially new teachers
who were circumstantially forced to try out content for the first time within a
virtual classroom. We also give a big nod to teachers about to retire, who learned
so much about technology that a year earlier they had never considered and
maybe never heard of. With all of your knowledge, you decided to stay and you
gained technological skills that have allowed you to continue teaching effectively.
Eventually, out of necessity, we all created an instructional balance between
delivery and content because we are united in affirming that our teaching and our
students’ learning must grow stronger each day. Most of us would now agree that
we’ve become more comfortable and confident with our new instructional tools.
To support us completing this school year on an even more positive side of
learning, we surveyed colleagues, some new to the profession and some with many
years of experience, to gather their insights regarding what worked well for them
these past few months and also what didn’t. In the following sections, we provide
their insights with the intention of continuing to share ideas that support online
learning success for teachers, students, and families.
Creating positive relationships with families
Connecting with families and caregivers is of utmost importance in any school format
because they are our partners, and students have the right to integrated systems of
support regardless of what mode is used to deliver instruction. Entwined family and
teacher supports have the power to get students to show up in Zoom meetings or
at the school door. During these months of distance learning, many parents joined
the synchronous instruction, supporting their children’s completion of lessons and
Supports and strategies to continue teaching
and learning growth
REFLECTING ON
VIRTUAL
LEARNING
By Diane Lapp & Kenneth Kunz
LITERACY
LEADERSHIP
Diane Lapp (lapp@sdsu
.edu), a longtime ILA member
and the current chair of ILA’s
Literacy Research Panel, is
a distinguished professor of
education at San Diego State
University and a teacher and
an instructional coach at
Health Sciences High and
Middle College, San Diego,
CA.
Kenneth Kunz (kunz
.kenneth@gmail.com), an ILA
member since 2008 and a
current ILA Board member-
at-large, is an assistant
professor of literacy and
language arts at Monmouth
University in West Long
Branch, NJ, and a literacy
consultant.
The following article is Part 3 of a series dedicated to early literacy instruction
through remote learning. Part 1 is available in the July/August 2020 issue of Literacy
Today and Part 2 in the September/October issue.
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