When the theme of the ILA 2020 Conference—
”Shaping the Future of Literacy”—was conceived,
there was no way we could have imagined a
future in which the world would be engulfed in a
pandemic.
As a result of COVID-19, we all entered a twilight
zone where so many of our knowns became
unknowns, where our certainties became doubts,
and where “coming together” to push back this virus
meant “staying apart.”
In Ireland, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar
gave a most powerful address to the nation on St.
Patrick’s Day, March 17. In it, he noted that in years to
come, history would record that in 2020 “when things
were at their worst, we were at our best.”
Social media abounds with stories that prove
this true of the ILA community. It is heartening to
see how each of you is living the mission and vision
of ILA in this time of unprecedented crisis. With
minimum notice, school and university educators are
maintaining teaching and learning and connecting
with their students daily in virtual classrooms.
Librarians and authors are doing daily read-alouds and
reading bedtime stories to nurture a love of reading
among children. Publishers are providing links to free
resources and webinars for educators. ILA chapters
and affiliates are engaging with their members and
addressing their ongoing local needs.
As a global organization, ILA has stepped
forward to provide free access to select articles in
our journals and publications to everyone, members
and nonmembers. A livestream replay of the most
popular sessions from ILA 2019, including speakers
Pedro Noguera, Renée Watson, Donalyn Miller,
David Kirkland, Tricia Ebarvia, and Dave Stuart
Jr., in addition to the acclaimed “‘What Research
Really Says About Teaching Reading—and Why
That Still Matters” panel, are also being provided
free of charge. In April, we hosted our first and
very successful ILA Edcamp Online that allowed
educators from all over the globe the opportunity to
connect in a real-time virtual event. Virtual learning
events like these will continue into the future.
Shaping an Uncertain Future
ILA UPDATE
We will emerge from this crisis bruised but not
broken, a little bit wiser and a little less sure, more
thankful for social interaction than ever, and with
much to reflect upon.
As literacy educators, we will need to reflect
on what it will take to reach a future where access
to literacy instruction and resources is deemed a
fundamental human right for all. We will need to
reflect on evidence- and research-based strategies
for identifying and addressing the needs of all
students through multiple modalities. Finally, we
will need to reflect carefully on issues of equality of
opportunity and equity in access to technology and
online learning during the crisis—who had access
and who did not, and why.
The theme of shaping the future of literacy
invites us all as classroom teachers, school librarians,
administrators, higher education faculty, researchers,
literacy leaders, and policymakers to join together
to define what literacy education could, and should,
look like in the next decade and beyond.
The goal is to create a shared vision, one
informed both by research and by practice, that
benefits every child, everywhere, regardless of
geographical location, gender, ethnicity, or social
class. This shared vision is now more important than
ever, and we must move forward with hope.
In the words of Seamus Heaney, the Nobel
laureate, “Hope is not optimism, which expects
things to turn out well, but something rooted in the
conviction that there is good worth working for.”
May you continue to be at your best while things
are at their worst—and may
you lean upon each other
(and us) in the process.
Bernadette Dwyer
Immediate Past President of
the Board
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literacyworldwide.org | May/June 2020 | LITERACY TODAY