s graduate students logged in to their online course for the first time in January,
they found an initial assignment from me, their professor, awaiting their
attention: a careful reading of and response to ILA’s latest What’s Hot in Literacy
Report, which had just been released.
These students, mostly working professional educators, are taking Current
Issues in Reading Research as part of their ongoing education at Slippery Rock
University in Slippery Rock, PA. Throughout the course, students engage in
a professional learning community—reading, interpreting, analyzing, and
applying current scholarly research about various topics in literacy education.
They end the semester by engaging in an action research project of their own to
address a problem of practice in their educational setting.
This type of professional learning community is something respondents
to the 2020 What’s Hot survey say they value; 61% of respondents—composed
of literacy educators, administrators, higher education professionals, and
consultants—state that they need additional time to collaborate or confer
with other teachers facing similar challenges. In addition, 89% cite staying
abreast of the latest literacy research as one of the primary responsibilities of
literacy educators, while 44% of respondents say they need more support in
this endeavor.
Each year in my course, I have students read ILA’s report as part of their
scholarly reading and as a form of continued professional development. One of my
requirements: craft a response to discuss in class and share their feedback with
ILA.
You don’t know what you don’t know
Having my students consider the What’s Hot report during their first course
assignment reframes their thinking about which issues in literacy education
deserve their current focus. The report pushes us to look outside of our
own classrooms, communities, and narrow lenses to contemplate what
stakeholders around the world are imploring us to consider—because we just
don’t know what we don’t know.
The report allows me to facilitate learning opportunities that are in line
with current “hot” and important topics in literacy education. For example,
we explore equity and opportunity (54% of literacy professionals in this year’s
survey said the topic deserves more attention) and access to high-quality,
diverse books and content (42% said more attention should be paid to this
topic) in our course readings, responses, and discussions. Other topics of
Using the ILA 2020 What’s Hot in Literacy Report to
frame our study of current issues in reading research
A GUIDE TO
PROFESSIONAL
GROWTH
By Elizabeth LaGamba
Elizabeth LaGamba
(elizabeth.lagamba@sru.edu),
an ILA member since 2014, is
an assistant professor in the
Department of Elementary/
Early Childhood Education at
Slippery Rock University in
Pennsylvania.
LITERACY
LEADERSHIP
8
literacyworldwide.org | March/April 2020 | LITERACY TODAY