Welcome to a new year of teaching,
collaboration, and leadership.
Each of you participates in all of these roles
every day. You change mind-sets about the
content of your teaching, and your students
change their ideas about being learners. This
change might happen in subtle ways—through a
quiet comment, a recommendation of a special
book, or just a smile from you at the perfect time.
You are collaborators. You work closely with
faculty, principals, district leaders, and others. This
work is always guided by the need to improve the
learning outcomes for all of your students.
You’re a literacy leader in the classroom. You
offer professional development sessions. You lead
meetings. You model your professionalism each
and every day for colleagues and students alike.
You participate in International Literacy Association
(ILA) activities within your schools, communities,
states, countries, and internationally.
These responsibilities are enormous, so we
suggest that you don’t go it alone. Colleagues can
support the important work you do, and ILA is
there for you as well.
Here are just a few ways we can support the
valuable work you do every day this school year:
If you’re attending the ILA 2017 Conference
& Exhibits in Orlando, FL, in July, you will
get multiple ideas to bring back to your
classroom, school, and district. I think
the hard part here is reviewing all of the
ideas, and then coming up with a plan to
implement them. If you aren’t able to go to
the conference, follow along on Twitter by
searching the #ILA17 hashtag. Handouts can
also be found afterward on the ILA 2017 app
at ilaconference.org/app. Although there will
be many special events at the conference,
I suggest checking out details about the
current events panel, “Disrupting a Destructive
Cycle: How Literacy Drives Social Change,”
through our Literacy Daily blog coverage at
literacyworldwide.org/blog.
Another resource is ILA’s literacy leadership
briefs, which provide succinct information on
important topics. The following are the latest
updates, which will be published between
now and September at literacyworldwide
.org/position-statements:
Literacy Assessment: What Everyone
Needs to Know shares the importance of
summative and ongoing assessment. The
brief explains how summative assessment
has dominated public conversations about
student achievement and shares how
assessments need to be interpreted so
that student literacy learning is improved.
(Available now)
Characteristics of Culturally Sustaining
and Academically Rigorous Classrooms
uses the metaphors of a mirror, a window,
and a doorway to describe culturally
sustaining and academically rigorous
classrooms. Using the mirror, it is important
for teachers to prepare students for a world
requiring new technical skills. In order to be
successful with this preparation, students
need to be literate. The window allows
students to explore their world and learn
about the global community. And, finally, the
doorway showcases the need for students
to be aware of the world’s possibilities by
being engaged in rigorous, meaningful
curricula. (Available in July)
Overcoming the Digital Divide: Four
Critical Steps explores assumptions
surrounding digital literacies. The brief
suggests that the belief that all individuals
have access to digital technologies is a false
assumption and it offers ways to overcome
the divide. (Available in August)
Ready for a New Year
ILA UPDATE
6
literacyworldwide.org | July/August 2017 | LITERACY TODAY