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literacyworldwide.org | May/June 2020 | LITERACY TODAY
LIT BITS
COVID-19:
How ILA Is Responding
The world of education is in uncharted
territory with the COVID-19 pandemic. Following
are just some of the ways ILA has responded. We
encourage you to email us at social@reading
.org with stories of how your communities are
responding so we can continue to share them on
our blog and social media channels.
In response to requests for virtual learning
opportunities, we are offering the ILA 2019
Replay—open-access archived livestreams of
select sessions from last year’s conference.
The content is available for free from
April 1–May 31. Visit literacyworldwide
.org/2019ConferenceReplay to register.
On April 7, we held our first ILA Edcamp Online.
Three discussion topics were selected from
survey responses submitted by educators:
Alternative Access: Connecting When Your
Students Don’t Have Connectivity; Continuous
K–5 Learning During School Closures:
Techniques, Tips, and Tools; and Supporting
Struggling Learners: Instruction and Intervention
in a Virtual Environment. You can read our
wrap-up blog post at literacyworldwide.org
/edcamponline.
We held a webinar with Timothy Shanahan,
“Instructional Level or Challenging Text: Too
Hard or Not Hard Enough?” on May 3. Another
webinar is scheduled with Donalyn Miller, “Making
a Case for Reading Joy,” on May 31. Find more
information at literacyworldwide.org
/DigitalEvents.
We published—and continue to update—a
Literacy Daily roundup post, “Engaging Learning
Through Disruptions,” which includes relevant
ILA resources we’ve made open access, such
as journals content and former members-only
PD pieces, and other helpful (and free) remote
learning resources from other organizations.
Below are some examples, but you can access
the full article at literacyworldwide.org/COVID-
resources.
From the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
“Hybrid and Blended Learning”
“Teaching, Learning, and Sharing Openly Online”
From The Reading Teacher
“Mobile Documentation: Making the Learning
Process Visible to Families”
From ILA E-ssentials
“Blended Learning”
“Digital Discussions: Using Web 2.0 Tools to
Communicate, Collaborate, and Create”
From Literacy Daily
“Building an Open Narrative With Open Learning”
“Connecting Readers With Online Reading”
“Expand Your Classroom Boundaries Through
Virtual Field Trips”
Editor’s Note: Although the majority of this issue was already complete when the coronavirus outbreak
began causing widespread school and business closures around the world, we wanted to include
needed resources and information about how ILA is working to support educators—both members and
nonmembers. This Lit Bits space has been dedicated to the ongoing situation. In addition, there’s a special
message from ILA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post on page 6.