Literacy Today November/December 2018

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21st-Century

Students

• What it means to be a literacy

learner in today’s classroom

• Cultural competence as a

21st-century literacy

• Becoming more effective

researchers, writers, and

communicators

November/December 2018

Volume 36, Issue 3

LITERACY TODAY

Contents

LITERACY TODAY

Volume 36, Issue 3

November/December 2018

EDITORIAL STAFF

Managing Editor Colleen Patrice Clark

Editors Christina Lambert & Alina O’Donnell

ILA LEADERSHIP

Executive Director Marcie Craig Post

2018–2019 BOARD MEMBERS

Bernadette Dwyer, Dublin City University,

President; Kathy N. Headley, Clemson

University, Vice President; Douglas Fisher,

San Diego State University, Immediate Past

President; Juli-Anne Benjamin, Marion P.

Thomas Charter School; Wendy Carss,

University of Waikato; Beverley E. Harris,

Mico University College, University of the

West Indies; Kenneth Kunz, Middlesex Public

Schools; Stephanie Laird, Southeast Polk

Community School District; Susan Paasch,

Sauk Rapids Public School District; Stephen

Peters, Laurens County School District 55; Julia

Reynolds, Allendale Public Schools; Jennifer

Williams, Calliope Global Education Initiatives

ADVERTISING

For information, contact Megan Ferguson at

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 2411-7862, Print; 2411-

7900, Online) is included in the cost of ILA

membership. To join, visit literacyworldwide

.org. POSTMASTER: Send address changes

to Literacy Today, PO Box 8139, Newark,

DE 19714-8139, USA. CANADIAN GST:

Registration number R-129785523. Publications

Mail Agreement No. 40033039. Return

undeliverable Canadian addresses to PO Box

503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill,

ON, L4B 4R6.

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

EDITOR’S NOTE

4

LIT BITS

6

ILA UPDATE

LITERACY LEADERSHIP

8

Developing Habits of Mind for Evaluating the

Credibility of Online Information

10

How a Blogging Project Created Meaningful Learning Partnerships

12

Establishing Communities of Practice as an Ongoing, Job-Embedded,

Diff erentiated Approach to Teacher Learning

14

Three Perspectives Concerning New Literacies

FEATURES

16

Developing an Ethic of Care for the 21st-Century World

20

What It Means to Be a Literacy Learner in the 21st Century

THE ENGAGING CLASSROOM

24

Inspiring Student Activism Through Literacy

26

Creating a Classroom Environment Where Students Are Comfortable to

Speak and Write Their Mind

28

Integrating Literacy, Research, and Content Across Disciplines

32

Speaking Digital: Becoming Fully Literate in the 21st Century

34

Multigrade Reading Buddies: A Pathway to Equity, Motivation, and

Literacy Growth

THE ILA NETWORK

36

Bringing Access to Books to Rural Areas of China

38

How Advocacy in Literacy Education Remains a Priority in Texas

40

EVENTS

42

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

20

Colleen Patrice Clark

Managing Editor

cclark@reading.org

EDITOR’S

NOTE

his issue focuses on the central question:

What does it mean to be a learner in the

21st century?

Although the digital world has

drastically altered the way students and

teachers alike take in information, we

know that 21st-century learning is about

more than learning through technology.

It’s about creating new opportunities to

collaborate and problem solve, making

more meaningful connections in the

classroom community and the world,

and exercising the critical literacy and

responsible citizenship needed to thrive in

both digital and analog environments.

Fortunately, literacy educators are

uniquely positioned to create the 21st-

century classrooms and learners that

today’s world demands.

Through weaving new literacies

into all aspects of the curriculum and

focusing on the 21st-century skills

we know our students need, we will

empower students to become critical

thinkers and lifelong learners. But it’s

also important to acknowledge the fluid

nature of learning.

Our classroom environments, school

communities, and the world around us

continuously evolve, and so must our

teaching and learning. Welcome that

change, embrace risk taking, and model

the lifelong learning habits you aim to

instill in your students.

The complex problems of tomorrow

will be solved by the creativity of the 21st-

century students before us today.

Warmly,

21ST -CENTURY

LEARNING

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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Recognizing Distinguished Programs

That Prepare Reading/Literacy Specialists

The International Literacy

Association Certificate of

Distinction for the Preparation

of Literacy Professionals (ILA

CoD) recognizes outstanding

licensure, certificate, and

endorsement programs that

prepare reading/literacy

specialists.

Earning an ILA CoD

demonstrates that the institution

adheres to a rigorous set of

standards, setting it apart from

similar programs. This seal

of approval shows that the

program meets or exceeds ILA’s

high standards for excellence.

WHAT ARE THE

ILA COD BENEFITS?

The benefits of the ILA CoD begin as soon as the institution starts

the review process and continues well after the designation is earned.

The review process helps institutions ensure each program is in

alignment with Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals

2017 (Standards 2017)*, which shows that its teacher candidates are

fully prepared to enter the profession.

Once your institution has earned an ILA CoD,

you will be able to use this designation to help you

� Market your program to potential students and the literacy profession

� Validate your status as an essential program in the university setting

and obtain new resources from your university/college

� Obtain new grant funding from foundations, the state, or federal

government

ILA will spotlight institutions who have earned

the ILA CoD with

� Recognition on the ILA CoD webpage

� Acknowledgement in an ILA press release

� An opportunity to present at a session at ILA’s annual conference

To learn more about the ILA CoD, visit ilacertification.org

Currently, programs that prepare reading/literacy specialists.

In the future, ILA will expand the certification to include programs

that prepare the following literacy professional roles:

� Pre-K/primary classroom teachers

� Elementary/intermediate classroom teachers

� Middle/high school classroom teachers

� Literacy coaches

� Literacy coordinators

WHO SHOULD APPLY

FOR THE ILA COD?

* To get more information about Standards 2017, or to purchase a copy, visit

literacyworldwide.org/standards2017

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LIT BITS

Children’s Rights to

Read Available in

Additional

Languages

Where We Stand

The following literacy leadership briefs from ILA are now

available at literacyworldwide.org/statements:

Released in August, Exploring the 2017 NAEP Reading

Results: Systemic Reforms Beat Simplistic Solutions,

unpacks the 2017 reading scores released by the

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

earlier this year and discusses systemic approaches to

improving reading comprehension.

Beyond the Numbers: Using Data for Instructional

Decision Making, published in October, discusses

how data can provide insights into student learning by

acting as a portrait, a highlighter, and a springboard.

ILA’s Children’s Rights to Read—a list of

10 fundamental rights ILA asserts every

child deserves—can now be downloaded

in all six of the official United Nations

languages: Arabic, Chinese, English,

French, Russian, and Spanish. In addition,

versions in Japanese and Maori are also

available.

Download the PDFs at rightstoread

.org, where you can also learn more

about the campaign, order the limited

edition poster of the Rights, and sign on

in support.

LITERACY TODAY | November/December 2018 | literacyworldwide.org

Membership Name

Changes

Two membership name changes went into

effect on October 15. Basic Membership

is now Regular Membership, and Emeritus

Membership is now Retired Membership. All

benefits and dues remain the same for these

membership types. Questions? Please

reach out to customerservice

@reading.org.

Submit a Nomination

for the ILA Board

The Board of Directors of ILA plays a critical

role in ensuring the financial health and well-

being of the organization. Do you know

someone who is dedicated to literacy and has

a passion for service? Maybe even you? We’re

currently looking for leaders to serve on the

Board, guiding ILA’s direction and enhancing

value for members. You can submit a

nomination for yourself or a colleague through

December 20 at literacyworldwide.org/get-

involved/leaders-wanted. Keep an eye out for

elections opening around the end of March.

#ShowUsYourBooks

We recently asked our Twitter followers to show off their

classroom libraries using the #ShowUsYourBooks hashtag, and

five lucky teachers were chosen at random to receive a copy of

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman.

Thank you to all who participated and to Random House

Children’s Books for making it happen.

shared by @primaryshannon

shared by @lissawheels

shared by @teacherdarden

The International Literacy Association (ILA) is

my resource for instruction, leadership, and

professional development. Along with providing

these resources, ILA also offers many opportunities

to get involved. For instance, along with my newly

elected role of vice president, I’m also completing

committee work that focuses on adolescent

literacy.

The Adolescent Literacy Committee embraced

the charges launched by Immediate Past President

Douglas Fisher to update the Adolescent Literacy

position statement published in 2012 when we

were the International Reading Association (IRA).

The extensive work of transitioning from IRA to ILA

has involved closely examining and updating past

advocacy and research pieces.

Joining me in updating the archived position

statement are my adolescent literacy colleagues

Jennifer Aragon, Gwynne Ash, George Boggs,

Anna Marie Bonafide, Heather Casey, Victoria Gillis,

Denise Morgan, Brian Murphy, Janine Nieroda, Evan

Ortlieb, Justin Overacker, and Jane Saunders. This

is quite a team!

Together, we have extensively researched

adolescent literacy to bridge the knowledge

base from the previous position statement to

the upcoming one that will serve as an up-to-

date advocacy document that can be used by

educators, schools, districts, and ILA’s chapters

and affiliates. Once approved by the ILA Board

of Directors and edited for publication, the new

statement will be available on the ILA website at

literacyworldwide.org/statements.

Until then, I thought I’d share some of the

wonderful ILA resources already available that

helped us as we dove into our research on

adolescent literacy. We explored recent journal

articles from The Reading Teacher, Journal of

Adolescent & Adult Literacy, and Reading Research

Quarterly, and our committee also accessed recent

Resources at Your Fingertips

ILA UPDATE

position statements and literacy leadership briefs

issued by ILA that informed our work. In particular,

we found the following useful:

Collaborating for Success: The Vital Role of

Content Teachers in Developing Disciplinary

Literacy With Students in Grades 6–12 (2015).

This position statement was developed

by ILA’s Common Core State Standards

Committee and provides a thorough look at

content area literacy and disciplinary literacy.

Instead of the expected debate over which

one is most important, the authors distinctly

describe the significance of each.

Content Area and Disciplinary Literacy:

Strategies and Frameworks (2017). Principal

authors Amy Wilson-Lopez and Thomas

Bean continue the conversation about these

two approaches to literacy instruction.

Of particular instructional support is the

brief’s closing table, “Sample Combination

Approaches Using Literacy Strategies and

Disciplinary Literacy Frameworks.”

The Position Statements webpage on the ILA

website has an array of recent resources such

as these that are quick overviews packed with

references to other professional information.

From 2018 alone, you’ll find the following literacy

leadership briefs:

What Effective Pre-K Literacy Instruction Looks

Like

Explaining Phonics Instruction: An Educator’s

Guide

Literacy Coaching for Change: Choices Matter

Reading Fluently Does Not Mean Reading Fast

Democratizing Professional Growth With

Teachers: From Development to Learning

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Transforming Literacy Teacher Preparation:

Practice Makes Possible

Improving Digital Practices for Literacy,

Learning, and Justice: More Than Just Tools

Exploring the 2017 NAEP Reading Results:

Systemic Reforms Beat Simplistic Solutions

Although the position statement our committee

is working on updating primarily reports recent and

upcoming resources related to adolescent literacy,

ILA as an organization meets professional learning

needs for all ages. We have a vibrant group of

educators enthusiastically dedicated to young adult

learners. No matter your learner level, I encourage

you to explore the professional development and

professional learning resources and opportunities

ILA has to offer.

Which leads me back to our Adolescent

Literacy Committee efforts. Watch for the release

of our position statement and white paper in the

coming months, and for a preconference institute

at ILA 2019 based on our findings and practical

applications.

Kathy N. Headley

Vice President of the Board

© 2018

ISBN 978-0-87207-379-1

Nonmembers: $28.15

Members: $22.50

Standards for the Preparation of Literacy

Professionals 2017

INTERNATIONAL LITERACY ASSOCIATION

Developed by literacy experts across the United States, Standards for the

Preparation of Literacy Professionals 2017 sets forth the criteria for developing

and evaluating preparation programs for literacy professionals. These updated

standards focus on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effective

educational practice in a specific role and highlight contemporary research and

evidence-based practices in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and leadership.

ORDER TODAY! literacyworldwide.org/standardsbook

800.336.7323 (U.S. and Canada) | 302.731.1600 (all other countries)

Members

SAVE

20%

LITERACY TODAY | November/December 2018 | literacyworldwide.org

ecently, much attention has been placed on the need to help students develop

the ability to evaluate the credibility of online information. Students need such

an ability in order to be engaged citizens within a democratic-, information-,

and technology-based society as they research answers to both personal and

professional issues, a process that often occurs on the internet.

In online contexts, where anyone may publish what he or she wishes and little

information is vetted before it reaches readers, the ability to evaluate credibility

is especially important. So how should we go about teaching students to evaluate

credibility?

Although there are many skills, strategies, and habits of mind that go

into evaluation, developing the habits of mind—the ways of being, thinking,

and approaching text—can serve as the foundation from which to engage in

evaluation. Helping an online reader see herself as a “frontline judge,” responsible

for determining the extent to which information is credible, positions her to more

effectively evaluate.

Frontline judges of credibility take a critical stance, use flexible thinking,

triangulate evidence within and across texts, and view evaluation as an iterative

process. These habits of mind interact with and support one another throughout

the evaluation process.

Take a critical stance

Readers who take a critical stance, or attitude, toward text question the authority

of information as they use their own prior knowledge to construct meaning.

Thus, critical readers engage in parallel processes of questioning accuracy and

constructing meaning. Readers who take a critical stance analyze and evaluate

the meaning of text while considering how the author’s purpose, point of view,

and biases may impact this meaning, and while considering alternative points of

view. Because such a stance assumes that information is not necessarily all true,

or is not necessarily representative of multiple viewpoints, it allows readers to

approach text from a position of questioning credibility.

Use flexible thinking

Rather than viewing a single text as completely credible or completely

noncredible, viewing texts along a credibility continuum, as more or less

credible, may be helpful. Using flexible thinking also means considering multiple

credibility clues rather than forming conclusions about credibility on the basis of a

single clue alone.

For example, instead of concluding that a website is credible because it

uses a “.org” URL address—what we can think of as rigid, rather than flexible,

thinking—readers can use this as one of many clues. In fact, anyone may purchase

whatever type of URL address he or she wishes. Similarly, if readers generally

trust information from a certain publisher, they should still consider the

credibility of each new article they read, using multiple pieces of information from

Developing habits of mind for evaluating the credibility of

online information

FRONTLINE JUDGES

By Elena Forzani

Elena Forzani

(elenaforzani@gmail

.com), an ILA member since

2012, has taught students

in kindergarten through

12th grade. She is currently

an assistant professor in

literacy education at Boston

University in Massachusetts,

where her work focuses on

understanding how students

comprehend and evaluate

texts in online contexts.

Forzani is the recipient of the

ILA 2018 Timothy & Cynthia

Shanahan Outstanding

Dissertation Award.

LITERACY

LEADERSHIP

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