July/August 2020
Volume 38, Issue 1
LITERACY TODAY
Community
Through
Books
• Using read-alouds to stay
connected
• Key mind-sets in the wake
of COVID-19
• English class as a health
class
• Celebrating books for a
global society
ILA Digital Events provide an opportunity for you to learn from and
connect with experts and like-minded educators at a time and place that’s
convenient for you.
Special discounts are available for ILA members.
Check out what’s new!
literacyworldwide.org/digitalevents
ILA DIGITAL EVENTS
Online Learning. Online Resources. Online Community.
EXPAND YOUR LIBRARY OF DIGITAL PD RESOURCES!
Contents
LITERACY TODAY
Volume 38, Issue 1
July/August 2020
EDITORIAL STAFF
Managing Editor Colleen Patrice Clark
Editor Christina Lambert
ILA LEADERSHIP
Executive Director Marcie Craig Post
2020–2021 BOARD MEMBERS
Stephen Peters, Laurens County School
District 55, 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
ADVERTISING
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800.336.7323 x 417 or advertising@reading
.org. Acceptance of advertising does not imply
endorsement.
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
4
LIT BITS
6
ILA UPDATE
LITERACY LEADERSHIP
8
No Longer Distant: How Distance Learning
Is Forever Emblazed As Our Teaching Reality
12
What If? Imagining a World Without Book
Deserts
14
Will You Be My Book Buddy? Preservice
Teachers and Striving Readers Team Up to Shape
Each Other’s Literacy Futures
RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE
16
Constructing a Multimodal Literacies English Language Arts Curriculum
18
Why Color Shift s in Picture Book Illustrations Matt er
FEATURES
22
Preventing the COVID Slide This Upcoming School Year
26
Three Key Mind-Sets for Literacy Leaders in the Wake of COVID-19
30
How Reading Together Allows Us to Build Worlds Together
34 How the Pandemic Is Impacting Students’ Emotional Health and Social
Lives—But English Class and a Classic Piece of Literature Can Help
THE ENGAGING CLASSROOM
38
New Space, New Rules? Learning How to Be Together Online
40
Moving Beyond Skills to Conceptual Understanding and Transfer
42
Exploring Improv’s Possibilities for the Language Arts Classroom
THE ILA NETWORK
44
Voices, Understanding, and Inclusion: Notable Books for a Global Society
48
Searching for a Common Language: The Baltic Sea Conference on Literacy
50
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
34
EDITOR’S
NOTE
or most of us, the school year has wrapped
up by now—and what a year it was. What
can I even say without using the words
you’ve heard countless times already?
Challenging, unprecedented, uncharted,
uncertain. And, of course, it’s not behind
us. What school will look like when we
return is just as, well, fill in your adjective
here.
That’s why, in addition to dedicating
this issue to our yearly celebration of
children’s and young adult literature, it’s
also packed with content related to the
world of COVID-19—specifically lessons
learned and how we might approach this
upcoming school year better prepared
for inevitable disruption and with social-
emotional learning and trauma-informed
mind-sets at the forefront.
After reading, we encourage you to
share your thoughts with us by emailing
literacytoday@reading.org. What
resonated with you? What coverage would
you like to see in the future? We also want
to hear how you handled remote learning
and what your plans are for the new
year, whether they are initiatives in your
classroom, school, or community.
Until then, I hope you take
advantage of these next couple of months
to recharge and refresh. You deserve
every minute of it.
Warmly,
A BRAVE
NEW WORLD
Colleen Patrice Clark
Managing Editor
cclark@reading.org
2
literacyworldwide.org | July/August 2020 | LITERACY TODAY
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
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Professors: This book is Free for Adoption Consideration. If you are teaching a
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Also See
Children’s Literature in the Reading Program, FIFTH EDITION
Engaging Young Readers in the 21st Century
Edited by Deborah A. Wooten, PhD, Lauren Aimonette Liang, PhD,
and Bernice Cullinan, PhD
Foreword by Richard L. Allington, PhD
This indispensable teacher resource and course text addresses the “whats,” “whys,” and “how-tos” of
incorporating outstanding children’s literature into the K–8 reading program. The volume offers
proven strategies for teaching specific genres and formats, such as fiction, nonfiction, picturebooks,
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NEW EDITION—A Major Revision Grounded in ILA’s Updated Standards 2017!
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literacyworldwide.org | July/August 2020 | LITERACY TODAY
LIT BITS
ILA Welcomes
New Board Members
ILA Signs on Against Censorship
ILA, along with more than 40 other
organizations, signed on to a statement from
the National Coalition Against Censorship
against the silencing of voices by banning or
challenging books featuring LGBTQ characters
and themes.
“When public schools or libraries yield to
pressure to remove, red-flag or limit access
to these books, they undermine free speech
principles, further isolate LGBTQ youth, and
deprive all young people of opportunities
to increase their empathy and respect for
differences,” the statement reads.
Eighty percent of the 10 most frequently
challenged books in 2019 told queer stories,
such as A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by
Jill Twiss (Chronicle Books) along with And
Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin
Richardson (Little Simon).
“When LGBTQ stories are silenced in this
way, LGBTQ youth and children from LGBTQ
families get the message that their own
stories—their very lives—do not have value, that
they are shameful,” the statement continues.
“However, reading stories that acknowledge
their experiences, in which they can recognize
themselves and their families, reinforces their
sense of self-worth and helps them overcome
the experience of and feelings associated with
social marginalization.”
To read the full statement, visit ncac.org
/news/attacks-lgbtq-stories. To see the list of
most challenged books from 2019, visit ala.org
/advocacy/bbooks.
ILA is pleased to announce the newly elected members of the ILA Board
of Directors, including our new vice president, Rob Tierney. Tierney is
currently dean emeritus and professor, University of British Columbia,
Canada, honorary professor, University of Sydney, Australia, and
distinguished scholar, Beijing Normal University, China. His term began July
1, 2020. He will assume the presidency of the Board on July 1, 2021.
Our three new Board members-at-large for the 2020–2023 term are
Danielle V. Dennis, professor of literacy teacher education and director of
the University of Rhode Island School of Education
Annette M. Kiberu, librarian at GEMS Cambridge International School in
Kampala, Uganda
J. Helen Perkins, professor of literacy at the University of Memphis in
Tennessee
To learn more about our newly elected leaders, visit literacyworldwide
.org/about-us/our-team/board-election.
Tierney
Dennis
Kiberu
Perkins
LITERACY TODAY | July/August 2020 | literacyworldwide.org
Hiatus for Choices Reading Lists
As a result of disruptions to schools and businesses caused by
COVID-19, the Choices reading program has been suspended
for the upcoming year 2020–2021. The 2020 Choices reading
lists, published this May, were completed prior to COVID-
related closures. Those lists can be downloaded for free at
literacyworldwide.org/choices. The 2020 Teachers’ Choices
titles can be purchased through our partner Booksource
(booksource.com/ila-collections). If you have any questions,
please contact choices@reading.org.
We recently launched ILA at Home, a
new series of one-hour webinars from
leading voices in the literacy field. The
live broadcast includes the opportunity
to interact through a presenter Q&A, but
the events are also available to watch
at a later time. So if you missed out on
our webinar with Timothy Shanahan
in May, you can still register (free for
ILA members!) to access the archive,
which is available until May 2021.
Nonmembers can register for $45. An
upcoming webinar in July will feature
Marjorie Lipson, Victoria J. Risko, and
Jeanne Paratore, and a webinar with
Donalyn Miller, rescheduled from May,
will be held in August.
ILA’s slate of digital events also
includes “Book Access in the Post-
COVID Era” with Molly Ness, Susan B.
Neuman, Allister Chang, and Karlos
L. Marshall, which takes place July 14
and is available free to all.
Visit literacyworldwide.org
/digitalevents for more information,
and be sure to check back often,
as new learning opportunities are
announced regularly.
ILA Digital Events
NAEP Reading Framework: Your
Feedback Is Wanted!
In the United States, the National Assessment Governing Board is
currently leading updates to the Reading Assessment Framework for
the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known
as the Nation’s Report Card. The framework guides development
of the assessments and defines what knowledge and skills students
need in reading and writing. Final updates to the framework will be
reflected in the administration of the 2025 reading assessments.
WestEd, a key partner in these efforts, has convened panels
of subject-matter experts, practitioners, and other stakeholders to
develop recommendations for improvement. An updated draft
of the Reading Assessment Framework was presented to the
general public for additional feedback in late June, and the public
comment period extends through July 23. To learn more about
the comment period and how to share your thoughts, visit
naepframeworkupdate.org/framework-draft.
ICYMI: ILA and
#KidLit4BlackLives Town Hall
ILA, in partnership with The Brown Bookshelf, the Society
of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and Versify, held
a free virtual town hall in June for teachers and families:
“How to Raise and Teach Anti-Racist Kids,” a follow-up to the
overwhelmingly successful KidLit Rally for Black Lives, hosted
by The Brown Bookshelf. The event was hosted by award-
winning author Kwame Alexander and featured moderator
Cornelius Minor with panelists Tiffany Jewell, Pam Allyn,
Dr. Noni Thomas López, and Karyn Parsons, followed by a
45-minute Q&A. If you missed out on this critical and timely
discussion, the recording is available on our YouTube page:
youtube.com/internationalliteracyassociation.
The impact of COVID-19, its rapid spread, and the
actions we took became an imperative for all of
us. Our lives were reshaped as we were blitzed
with news of the spread of the virus and what was
needed to protect ourselves and our communities.
We were not just observers or individuals; we were
participants and community members. And not
only was our reading a source that shaped our lives,
but also our changed lives shaped our readings—
who, how, what, where, and why we read.
Our readings aligned with dramatic shifts in our
worlds as schools moved to virtual environments,
businesses operated from other venues, restaurants
were closed, jobs were lost or changed, and
we were called on to be responsible in terms of
isolation and social distancing.
On the heels of this pandemic, during which
members of the black community in the United
States died in disproportionately higher numbers
from COVID-19, we witnessed the murder of
George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.
This murder was filmed, and the resulting video
became a flashpoint for uniting groups of people
in Minneapolis, throughout the United States, and
all over the world against the ongoing racist and
violent attacks on people of color from those who
are meant to protect us all. Many of us viewed the
video of his death, the response of the Minneapolis
community, and the response of family members.
We heeded the words of black commentators
who compared his death to a lynching, and we
listened intently to the sermon by Rev. Al Sharpton,
who referenced the officer’s knee as a symbol of
society’s chokehold on the black community.
The video recording of George Floyd’s death
threw into stark relief the systemic racism that was
present. Integral to this moment are the many
surrounding texts and readings of those texts,
including readings of our readings—commentaries
by journalists, community members, athletes, and
spiritual leaders, to name a few. As we reckoned
with this event, our readings were not passive; we
were outraged, empathetic, and mobilized. Our
Reading Our Worlds
ILA UPDATE
readings were tangled, unsettling, and provocative.
Members of the black community reported
firsthand knowledge of and resonance with these
events; others have done their best to listen, to be
active allies, and to reconsider their own complicity.
The event brought to the surface a range
of related issues existing in our lives, especially
concern over the rising white supremacist
movement and the divisiveness and precipitousness
of hate speech from tweets and blogs or tied to
political policy speeches. As some commentators
noted, racism represented a form of a virus of
pandemic proportions.
In the United States, spurred by yet another
death resulting from police violence along with
renewed conversations, the focus was on racism
and America’s narrative of systemic discrimination,
disenfranchisement, and inequity. Soon the
protests spread in recognition of systemic racism
in other parts of the world, including Europe
and Australasia. In Australia, despite a history of
mistreatment and murder of Australian Aboriginals
at the hands of police, Australian politicians have
a history of foiling constitutional recognition of
Indigenous Australia and an aversion to systemic
cultural accommodations. As with black Americans,
Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders represent
a hugely disproportionate number of those
incarcerated in prisons.
New Zealanders, despite enormous pride in
their diversity, especially related to the Indigenous
Maoris, were forced to confront the targeting of
more recent migrants with the killing of some 50
New Zealanders of Muslim faith at the hands of
an Australian white supremacist. Befittingly, the
prime minister of New Zealand emphasized the
need for a moral compass that embraced one
another, and also passed legislation that changed
the gun laws.
For most of society, such events have been
riveting—indeed, signaling once again the necessity
of change, and perhaps this time achieving the
traction to do so. For the literacy educator, they
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literacyworldwide.org | July/August 2020 | LITERACY TODAY
whether detached from or engaged with the
communities as an ally and activist
Reading involves not just reading but also
responding in ways that demand our questioning,
discussing, discerning, linking, reconsidering,
re-reading, rethinking, composing, and acting
on. Reading our worlds requires stepping inside,
stepping outside, or stepping to the side of people
and events reservedly and respectfully—taking
into consideration an appropriate balance so that
one’s interests do not override or displace others,
or are enlisted in ways that are presumptuous or
opportunistic.
As historic developments reverberate through
our lives, challenging the status quo, our readings
and how we read become
consequential—indeed,
potentially life changing.
Rob Tierney
Vice President of the Board
illustrate how reading can be integral to change,
that these events and readings should be a focus
of the curriculum, and particularly of our literacy
engagements with young people. They highlight
the need for reading to go beyond school walls and
do more than acknowledge such events in passing.
These times suggest that reading can be
powerful when it includes the following:
Enlisting social frames pertinent to our worlds,
especially frames that address racism, matters
of equity, freedom of expression, social
responsibility and censorship, liberty and
violence, including police violence, as well as
politicians’ responses, media coverage, and
judicial matters
Unpacking the historical and socio-political
conditions that undergird these developments
Recognizing that reading is far ranging, as we
read various texts for which there may never
be a last word
Reflecting on and extending our readings
to incorporate our views and positionings,
We Support,
Inspire,
Encourage.
LITERACY = POWER
Let’s Empower
Everyone, Everywhere!
literacyworldwide.org
LITERACY TODAY | July/August 2020 | literacyworldwide.org
The following article is Part 1 of a series on early literacy instruction through remote
learning. Parts 2 and 3 will follow in upcoming issues of Literacy Today.
eachers of every grade and discipline begin each new school year intending
that the instruction they share will result in each of their students acquiring
one year or more of learning. In the early years, instruction focuses heavily on
teaching students to read. Although various pathways may be needed to ensure
differentiated learning, all pathways should guarantee that every student acquires
the skills and language needed to become a successful reader who is able to
comprehend the message of the target text.
This past school year was unique for us and our students. There is also
uncertainty regarding when we will return to a regular instructional schedule.
When we do, there could be staggered attendance and teaching schedules.
It is likely that we will continue reaching our students using online platforms
that many of us have just started to explore during the last few months. The
early 2020 shift to distance learning and digital/remote instruction, done under
emergency needs, has been especially hard for those of us who are less than tech
savvy, but it has also offered opportunities for growth.
Thinking ahead for the next school year, let’s reconsider three points that,
regardless of the delivery platform, will enable the continuation of expert teaching.
1. Support yourself: Commit to providing comprehensive
distance literacy instruction.
It has always been important for teachers to share an array of authors and books
that expose students to various topics and author styles, topically related words,
their meanings, their use in the text, and their morphological and contextual
families. We can continue doing this by providing explicit instruction, reading
aloud, and sharing a variety of carefully selected books in print and digital
formats that comprehensively address the literacy needs of our learners. Our
instruction delivered through distance learning platforms undoubtedly involves
new and innovative ways of addressing phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,
vocabulary, comprehension, writing, background knowledge, motivation, reading
engagement, and joy.
We applaud the teachers, reading/literacy specialists, literacy coaches,
administrators, community members, publishers, and authors for continuing
this important work and helping to improve and refine it, even during these most
challenging of times. In many states, such as New Jersey and California, the state
literacy associations used the WeVideo, YouTube, and Zoom platforms as ways of
connecting remotely and digitally with students, families, and teachers. Be sure
to check with your state literacy organization to identify how they are supporting
teachers’ use of digital instruction.
The digital collection of New Jersey Literacy Association videos can be found
at tinyurl.com/njlaonyoutube. Professional development materials shared by the
California Reading Association are available at californiareading.org.
Distance learning is forever emblazed as our teaching
reality
NO LONGER
DISTANT
By Kenneth Kunz & Diane Lapp
Kenneth Kunz (kunz
.kenneth@gmail.com), an
ILA member since 2008 and
a current 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.
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 an
instructional coach at Health
Sciences High and Middle
College, San Diego, CA.
LITERACY
LEADERSHIP
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