LITERACY TODAY
July/August/September 2022
Volume 40, Issue 1
The COVID
Recovery
• Reframing literacy learning after
the pandemic
• Focusing on literacy’s role in
mental health and SEL
• Engaging adolescent learners
post COVID
• Reimagining equitable possibilities
for students in the margins
Expert Guidance
Small Groups for Literacy Gaps
Effective Implementation
k e
n c
Call Toll-Free: 1-877-236-2465 • Visit: benchmarkeducation.com • Connect:
Click here for additional information.
Click here for additional information.
CREDITS: PAGE 1A: COURTESY OF NANCY AKHAVAN; PAGE 1B: AARON BLUMENSHINE; PAGE 1C: DONALD JEDLOVEC; PAGE 1D: SOMKR/GETTY IMAGES
Concrete Advice on Using
Diverse Texts for Inclusion,
Equity, and Justice
Instructional Scaffolds and
Coaching Language That Build
Knowledge and Confidence
Allison Briceño,
Ed.D.
Claudia
Rodriguez-Mojica,
Ph.D.
Nancy Akhavan,
Ph.D.
Targeted Small-Group Intervention and Assessment
Improve Reading Skills and Academic Vocabulary
Spanish Resources Feature Authentic Texts
Double-Sided
Posters facilitate
shared reading.
Program Guide
includes scheduling
options and skills
matrix.
Teacher’s
Guides
for each
unit provide
detailed
support.
Picture and Letter
Cards promote
multimodal learning.
Leveled Books 50-50 Fiction/
Nonfiction make differentiated
small-group instruction easy.
Take-Home Books
(downloadable
or print) extend
learning and increase
engagement.
Assessment
Resources
include
monitoring of
vocabulary,
comprehension,
and writing.
COMPREHENSIVE
K–2 RESOURCES
English &
Spanish
Contents
LITERACY
TODAY
Volume 40, Issue 1
July/August/September 2022
EDITORIAL STAFF
Managing Editor Colleen Patrice Clark
Guest Editors Eugene Pringle Jr.
ILA LEADERSHIP
Interim Executive Director
Nicola Wedderburn
2022–2023 BOARD MEMBERS
Kenneth Kunz, For the Love of Literacy,
President; Kia Brown-Dudley, The
Education Partners, Vice President;
Rob Tierney, University of British
Columbia, Immediate Past President;
Sue Corbin, Notre Dame College;
Danielle V. Dennis, University of
Rhode Island; Carol Jago, University
of California at Los Angeles;
Annette M. Kiberu, KinderKare Schools;
Molly Ness, Learning Ally;
J. Helen Perkins, University of Memphis;
Dana A. Robertson, Virginia Tech;
Rebecca Silverman, Stanford Graduate
School of Education; Jeanette Toomer,
Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health & Science
Charter School
ADVERTISING
For information, contact Nicola
Wedderburn at advertising@reading.
org. Acceptance of advertising does
not imply endorsement.
ABOUT US
Literacy Today is the membership
magazine of the International Literacy
Association, a nonprofit 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
CUSTOMER SERVICE
800.336.7323
customerservice@reading.org
EDITORIAL
800.336.7323 x 446
literacytoday@reading.org
Write to Literacy Today, PO Box 8139,
Newark, DE 19714-8139, USA.
MAILING LIST RENTALS
ILA rents mailing lists only to groups
approved by the Association. Members
can have their names removed from
lists rented by writing to ILA Customer
Service or emailing customerservice@
reading.org.
© International Literacy Association
2
NOTE FROM THE GUEST EDITOR
4
LIT BITS
8
ILA UPDATE
10
RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES
LITERACY LEADERSHIP
14
Developing Deep Teacher Knowledge
16
Prioritizing Mental Health
RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE
18
Supporting Early Literacy Development for Students Impacted
by Emergency Pandemic Instruction
20
RTI: The Key to Ensuring Social Equity in Literacy Education
22
Strategies for Increasing Stamina, Strength, and Endurance for
a Winning Reading Season
FEATURES
26
Restructuring Schoolwide Literacy Systems for Impact Post-COVID
30
Changes in Leadership: Lessons Learned From the COVID-19 Pandemic
34
Reimagining Equitable Possibilities: A Focus on ELs and Other Underrepresented
Learners After COVID-19
38
Choice and Challenge: Fostering Joyful Learning by Design in Any Setting
THE ENGAGING CLASSROOM
42
Read-Alouds and SEL: Building a Supportive and Mindful Environment Post-COVID
44
Writing to Learn and Grow: The Power of Scriptotherapy in Schools
46
Connecting Diverse Picture Books With Hands-On STEM Activities
48
Redesigning a Secondary Literacy Program
52
Engaging Adolescent Learners Post-COVID
THE ILA NETWORK
54
Context Matters: Sustainable Literacy Development by Africans for Africans
58
West Virginia University’s Road to ILA National Recognition
62
EVENTS
64
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
26
OPPORTUNITIES
AHEAD
FROM THE
GUEST EDITOR
he COVID-19 pandemic will be viewed
as one of the most life-altering events
of our lifetime. In the blink of an eye,
life as we knew it changed and the
world grappled with those changes.
There was true uncertainty as families,
communities, and individuals made
meaning of the pandemic’s impact.
Among the most evident changes
was seen in schools and educational
systems, which pivoted to determine
what was best for students, teachers,
and families.
This issue of Literacy Today
explores some of the ways that the
COVID-19 pandemic impacted the
world through the lens of literacy. The
pandemic brought into question issues
of equity in literacy instruction and
resources, the reimagining of what
literacy instruction could look like in
a digital world, and the ways in which
teachers are prepared to teach literacy
instruction to diverse populations
of students.
What can be seen as great beauty,
in a not so beautiful situation, is the
endless possibilities in thinking
about how to trudge forward and
create equitable literacy outcomes
for students and communities, while
holding true to foundations and
exploring multimodal methods to
address inequities and disparities.
The lessons learned from the pandemic
are a call for deep reflection and
prioritization around literacy
outcomes for students—not just
in terms of scores, standards, and
competencies, but in terms of lifelong
skills that will empower students,
teachers, and communities to build
and be the best versions of themselves.
What is true is that most things can
be what they have always been while
evolving in new and creative ways. Over
time, theories around literacy practices
and practical application have evolved.
Post-COVID, there is a greater charge to
learn and grow.
Eugene Pringle Jr.
(pringlee@cookman.edu) is
the director of the School
of Education at Bethune-
Cookman University in
Florida. A 2019 ILA 30
Under 30 honoree, he is the
guest editor of this issue of
Literacy Today.
—Eugene Pringle Jr.
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literacyworldwide.org | July/August/September 2022 | LITERACY TODAY
Check out what’s new and browse all available offerings!
literacyworldwide.org/DigitalEvents
Special rates are available for students and groups of five or more.
Contact customerservice@reading.org for more information.
ILA DIGITAL EVENTS
Online Learning. Online Resources. Online Community.
Professional
learning online!
ILA’s digital events provide access to
high-quality resources from leading
voices in literacy and allow you to
connect with like-minded educators.
■ Dig deep into the issues you’re facing right
now: hybrid and distance learning, equity and
access, social-emotional learning, and many
other important topics.
■ Choose from various event formats that allow
you to participate in live Q&As with speakers,
connect with other attendees via chat, and
have lively discussions in real time.
■ Watch wherever you are, whenever you want.
Your registration gives you access to on-
demand recordings that you can review as
many times as you’d like.
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ILA congratulates the newly elected members of the ILA Board of Directors, including our
new vice president, Kia Brown-Dudley. Dudley, the director of Programs and Partnerships
for The Education Partners, has served on the Board as a member-at-large since 2019.
An ILA member since 2003, Dudley began her career as a teacher in the New York City
Department of Education. Through her position with The Education Partners, she works
with educators and leading organizations to create and deliver transformational curricula
and professional learning opportunities to improve student outcomes in literacy and early
childhood education.
Our three new Board members-at-large for the 2022–2025 term are
Sue Corbin, professor and chair of the Division of Professional Education, Notre Dame
College, Ohio
Rebecca Silverman, associate professor of early literacy, Stanford Graduate School of
Education, California
Jeanette Toomer, 12th-grade English language arts teacher, Dr. Richard Izquierdo
Health & Science Charter School, New York
To learn more about our newly elected leaders, visit literacyworldwide.org/vote.
New Board Members Announced
LIT BITS
ILA Summer Learning Series
For a limited time, you can catch up on what you missed
or rewatch and relearn from our most popular ILA Digital
Events. You’ll need to hurry—these recordings go back into
the vault on September 15, 2022. Visit literacyworldwide.org/
digitalevents for more information.
Early Reading Difficulties: Improving Outcomes
for All Students with Marjorie Y. Lipson, Victoria J.
Risko, and Jeanne R. Paratore
Instructional Level or Challenging Text: Too Hard or Not
Hard Enough? with Timothy Shanahan
Making a Case for Reading Joy with Donalyn Miller
Making Sense of the Science of Reading with P. David Pearson, Nicole Patton Terry, Timothy
Shanahan, Timothy Rasinski, Kymyona Burk, Gina Cervetti, and Jimmy Kim
The Science of Reading Comprehension with Nell K. Duke
Using Research to Accelerate Decoding and Letter Instruction with Heidi Anne Mesmer
Brown-Dudley
Corbin
Silverman
Toomer
LITERACY TODAY | July/August/September 2022 | literacyworldwide.org
New in ILA Resource Collections
ILA Resource Collections offer evidence-based, practitioner-friendly content carefully curated by educators and researchers.
Check out these collections currently available at literacyworldwide.org/ILAcollections:
NEW! Literacy Coaching, Collaboration, and Leadership: Exploring the opportunities literacy leaders have to work together
to establish and maintain a strong culture of literacy
NEW! Digital Literacy and Learning: Helping educators create classrooms that reflect the digital contexts of learning that
students will continue to encounter throughout their lives
Supporting Readers Who Struggle: Providing practical, evidence-based strategies to help educators tailor their instruction
to meet the needs of all their readers
Instructional Strategies for Today’s Writers: Offering a blueprint for establishing a classroom that grows writers toward independent
thought and creativity
Using Culturally Relevant and Responsive Children’s Literature: Examining how to implement culturally relevant and
responsive literature in your curriculum in meaningful ways
Strategies for Multilingual Learners: Focusing on ways in which educators can move beyond labels and center the lives
of their linguistically diverse students
ILA is pleased to announce the next
editor team to take the helm of our
flagship research journal, Reading
Research Quarterly (RRQ):
Jennifer Rowsell, Professor and
Deputy Head of School, School of
Education, University of Bristol,
United Kingdom
Christian Ehret, Associate
Professor, Integrated Studies in
Education, McGill University, Canada
Natalia Kucirkova, Professor,
Norwegian Centre for Learning
Environment and Behavioural
Research in Education, University
of Stavanger, Norway
Cheryl A. McLean, Associate
Professor, Rutgers Graduate
School of Education, New Jersey,
United States
Their appointment marks the
first time in the publication’s
history that it will be steered by
researchers representing four
countries. Visit literacyworldwide
.org/NewRRQEditors for more
information, and keep an eye out for
the October/November/December
issue of Literacy Today for more
about our new editors, including
their vision for the future of the
publication.
Next Editors of Reading Research Quarterly Named
Rowsell
Kucirkova
Ehret
McLean
Salisbury University Receives National Recognition
Salisbury University recently became the latest recipient of ILA National Recognition—and the first to receive the
honor for two of its programs. Salisbury’s undergraduate Early and Elementary Education program was honored
in the Elementary/Intermediate Classroom Program category, while the Master of Education Reading Specialist
program was recognized in the Reading/Literacy Specialist category.
Universities that achieve this honor go through a rigorous review process that closely examines all course
offerings and each aspect of their teacher preparation program, ensuring strict adherence to the standards and
high benchmarks set forth in ILA’s Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals.
To learn more about ILA National Recognition, visit ilanationalrecognition.org.
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literacyworldwide.org | July/August/September 2022 | LITERACY TODAY
Primary Fiction
Winner: Isabel and Her Colores Go to School.
Alexandra Alessandri. Ill. Courtney Dawson. Sleeping
Bear Press.
Honor: Archie Celebrates Diwali. Mitali Banerjee
Ruths. Ill. Parwinder Singh. Charlesbridge.
Primary Nonfiction
Winner: Mimic Makers: Biomimicry Inventors Inspired
by Nature. Kristen Nordstrom. Ill. Paul Boston.
Charlesbridge.
Honor: Areli Is a Dreamer: A True Story by Areli
Morales, a DACA Recipient. Areli Morales. Ill. Luisa
Uribe. Random House Children’s Books.
Intermediate Fiction
Winner: Starfish. Lisa Fipps. Penguin Young Readers.
Honor: Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna. Alda P. Dobbs.
Intermediate Nonfiction
Winner: It Takes Guts: How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel
(and Poop). Jennifer Gardy. Ill. Belle Wuthrich. Greystone
Kids.
Honor: Orca Rescue! The True Story of an Orphaned Orca
Named Springer. Donna Sandstrom. Ill. Sarah Burwash. Kids
Can Press.
Honor: Why Longfellow Lied: The Truth About Paul Revere’s
Midnight Ride. Jeff Lantos. Charlesbridge.
Young Adult Fiction
Winner: Both Sides Now. Peyton Thomas. Penguin Random
House Young Readers.
Honor: Where I Belong. Marcia Argueta Mickelson. Lerner.
Young Adult Nonfiction
Winner: No Way, They Were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret
Loves (Queer History Project). LeeWind. Lerner.
Honor: We Are Not Broken. George M. Johnson. Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers.
Winners of the ILA 2022 Book Awards Announced
ILA recently announced the winners of the ILA 2022 Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards, highlighting
both fiction and nonfiction works that exemplify the best from rising stars in the literary field. The annual awards
program recognizes newly published authors who exhibit exceptional promise in the children’s and young
adults’ book fields; eligible titles must be the author’s first or second.
The 2022 award winners are as follows:
Building Emotional Literacy Through Dungeons & Dragons, an ILA Webinar on July 12, 5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
Leveling Up Reluctant Readers With Dungeons & Dragons, an ILA Webinar on August 9, 5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
Literacy Coaching for SEL, an ILA Webinar featuring Crystal D. Cook and J. Helen Perkins on August 24, 5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
In case you missed them, the following two events are available on demand:
ILA Intensive: Coaching and Literacy Leadership, featuring Jacy Ippolito, Rita Bean, Adam Brieske-Ulenski, Pamela A. Mason,
and Benjamin Piper
Censorship in School Libraries Across the Globe, a free ILA Webinar featuring Valérie Glass, Lucy Santos Green,
Annette M. Kiberu, Jennisen Lucas, Molly Ness, and Julia E. Torres
For more information on any of these events, visit literacyworldwide.org/digitalevents.
Digital Events
ILA’s Instructional Practices collection is an exclusive ILA member resource that
offers a framework of effective, easy-to-implement, and research-supported
practices in four critical categories:
■ Families and Communities
■ Literacy Teaching and Teachers
■ Schools and Schooling
■ Student Learning
ILA’s Instructional
Practices Collection
Join ILA now to gain access to the collection.
literacyworldwide.org/practices
Friends, ILA members, and literacy changemakers
in our beloved global community:
Our community is one in which reading,
writing, listening, and oracy are vital tools for
human development, problem-solving, and
social justice. A community where the spirit of
cooperation, reconciliation, and kindness are
exemplified. A community, as bell hooks wrote in
Killing Rage: Ending Racism, “formed not by the
eradication of difference but by its affirmation,
by each of us claiming the identities and cultural
legacies that shape who we are and how we live
in the world.”
Over the past three years, I have proudly
served as a member of the ILA Board of
Directors. I have witnessed ILA’s transformation
in adapting to the evolving landscape to meet
your needs as we navigate the unintentional and
often exhausting consequences of the COVID-19
outbreak on our communities. With grit and
perseverance to push through, we have tackled
tough conversations, unpacked the science of
reading, explored reading and writing strategies
to promote student growth, investigated book
access in the COVID era, and held roundtable
talks on censorship. Our beloved community
has provided a safe (and socially distanced)
space to be vulnerable, take risks, and explore
our emotions. These exchanges promoted
connection, compassion, and transformations
that seep into every aspect of our professional
and personal lives.
In this issue of Literacy Today, we will
continue the conversation, exploring the role
of literacy and literacy educators and advocates
as our schools and communities move toward
policies and practices aimed at COVID-19
A Beloved Literacy
Community
ILA UPDATE
recovery. Before reading, ask yourself the
following questions:
“How am I creating a beloved literacy
community for students and families?”
“How am I participating in a beloved
professional community?”
At ILA, as we look to the future, we are
creating more opportunities to empower and
give greater agency to our global constituency
to achieve our mission—to improve the quality
of literacy learning across the world in ways
that are respectful, responsive, and ethical.
This includes
■ Increasing collaboration with affiliates and
highlighting amazing projects and events
from around the world, such as the Reading
Association of Uganda’s involvement
in developing curricula for children in
refugee camps and the Rift Valley Reading
Association’s advocacy to decolonize Africa
■ Providing more impactful free and reduced-
cost professional learning experiences
■ Diversifying representation of our journal
editorial teams and peer-reviewed research
The dynamic and dedicated ILA staff,
Board of Directors, past presidents, and
membership continue to generously give
their time, talents, and resources to connect
research and practice to improve the quality
of literacy learning.
We hope this issue will inspire you to mobilize,
seize new opportunities, and reconsider the
possibilities of collective agency to impact the
literacy lives of every student, every day as
COVID-19 moves from pandemic to endemic.
As a proud new officer of the ILA Board of
Directors, I thank you for your commitment to
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