30 Under 30:
The Next Class
• Meet Deborah Ahenkorah
Osei-Agyekum and 29 other literacy
champions changing the world
• How AUA is mentoring the next
generation of leaders
• The U.S. Teacher of the Year:
“Stories are your sword”
September/October 2016
Volume 34, Issue 2
LITERACY TODAY
BECAUSE ALL
TEACHERS ARE
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Contents
LITERACY TODAY
Volume 34, Issue 2
September/October 2016
EDITORIAL STAFF
Managing Editor Colleen Patrice Clark
Editors April Hall & Christina Lambert
Intern Samantha Brant
ILA LEADERSHIP
Executive Director Marcie Craig Post
Associate Executive Director Stephen Sye
2016–2017 BOARD MEMBERS
William Teale, University of Illinois at Chicago,
President; Douglas Fisher, San Diego State
University, Vice President; Diane Barone,
University of Nevada, Reno, Immediate Past
President; Gwynne Ash, Texas State University;
Donald Bear, Iowa State University; Julie
Coiro, University of Rhode Island; Catherine
Collier, Chesapeake Public Schools, Virginia;
Lori DiGisi, Framingham Public Schools,
Massachusetts; Rachel Karchmer-Klein,
University of Delaware; Stephanie Laird,
Southeast Polk Community School District,
Iowa; Stephen Peters, Laurens County School
District 55, South Carolina; Jennifer Williams,
Calliope Global Education Initiatives, Florida
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 e-mailing
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© International Literacy Association
20
2
EDITOR’S NOTE
4
LIT BITS
6
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
8
ILA UPDATE
10
OUR VIEW
LITERACY LEADERSHIP
12
Barbara Comber on the Importance of Teacher–Researcher
Collaboration
14
How Classroom Culture, Language, and Literacy Can Foster Self- and
Global Awareness
16
One Professor’s Story of the Life-Changing Decision to Come Out of
Retirement
18
The 2015 U.S. Teacher of the Year on Lessons She Learned as an
Educator Advocate
THE ENGAGING CLASSROOM
36
Gaining Valuable Insight Through Literature Circles and Response
Journals
38
Ideas for Fully Incorporating the Arts Into Your ELA Classroom
40
Encouraging a Love of the Classics Among Today’s Reluctant Readers
THE ILA NETWORK
42
What ILA’s Honor Society Students Are Doing to Mentor the Next
Generation
44
How Advocacy Eff orts in Texas Are Paying Off in Award-Winning Ways
GLOBAL IMPACT
46
Celebrating International Literacy Day in Jamaica and Around the World
48
EVENTS
50
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
ILA’s 2016
30 Under 30 List
EDITOR’S
NOTE
Colleen Patrice Clark
Managing Editor
cclark@reading.org
here’s nothing quite like the energy that
a new school year brings. It’s so full of
possibilities. So full of promise. For me, it
brings to mind something author and poet
Kwame Alexander said during Opening
General Session at ILA 2016 in Boston.
There are questions all teachers should
ask themselves, mainly, what are you doing
here and why are you doing this? If you know
the answers, he said, the success of your
students will soar.
This is the time of year when those
answers should be clearer than ever. As
Shanna Peeples, the United States’ 2015
National Teacher of the Year, so powerfully
states in her article on page 18, you are not
“just a teacher.” You are a warrior. You are
the difference between hope and despair for
your students.
You are a leader whose service and
dedication impacts the classroom, the
school, and the community—and it doesn’t
go unnoticed.
With this issue, we salute you and
celebrate all literacy leaders. Along with
featuring some of ILA’s most inspiring
researchers and educators, this issue also
includes our second annual 30 Under 30
list, which honors the next generation of
literacy champions who are carrying on
our mission to advance literacy around the
globe. You’ll also find contributions from
recent ILA award winners and get a peek
into some of the empowering messages you
might have missed if you couldn’t join us
in Boston.
Let all the teachers, researchers,
volunteers, and advocates featured on
these pages be a reminder of who you are,
what you’re doing here, and why you’re
doing it.
Warmly,
WE SALUTE YOU
Save on
Top PD
& Research
Titles!
NEW ILA MEMBER BENEFIT
With the Professional Books Discount Program, ILA members can now order
popular professional development and research titles from leading publishers
such as Routledge, Stenhouse, and Wiley/Jossey-Bass at discounts of up to 35%.
Start saving at literacyworldwide.org/probooks
2
September/October 2016 | LITERACY TODAY
Couldn’t make it to Boston for our annual conference? Take a look at just some of what you missed, and be
sure to mark your calendars for the ILA 2017 Conference & Exhibits in Orlando, FL, July 15–17.
ILA 2016 Edition
LIT BITS
4
September/October 2016 | LITERACY TODAY
Did you hear?
“I now realize education alone is
not enough.” —Adora Svitak, adding
literacy and love must go together to
foster empathy and understanding
and to end hate.
“The reality is that failure is essential. It’s not just
inevitable….You have to regard failure as something
that actually is just a necessary step toward
success.” —Steven Duggan on failing forward
“The mind of an adult begins
with the imagination of a child.”
—Kwame Alexander
“Kids deal with dark and scary things all the time. What
they really need is books that will help them navigate
to safety, and trustworthy adults who are ready to
walk the path with them.” —Laurie Halse Anderson
“
“
“
“
Tell-A-Vision performing at the end of Closing General Session
Showing off the Exhibit Hall loot
Author/poet Kwame Alexander
Checking out the PD materials at ILA Central
Microsoft’s Steven Duggan
BY THE NUMBERS
8,861
ILA 2016 app
users
Pallets full of books
donated by runners
and conference-
goers to Boston-
based Reach Out and
Read, representing
thousands of books,
learning materials,
and teaching aids
444
Registrants in the
Steps to Advance
Literacy 5K
Seven
Events that were sold
out (Literacy Night
at the Ballpark, First-
Timers Gathering,
New Member Meetup,
Author Meetup, and
all three Literature
Luncheons)
20,000+
Tweets with the
#ILA16 hashtag
LITERACY TODAY | September/October 2016
Book fi nds in the Exhibit Hall
The start of ILA’s fi rst Steps to Advance Literacy 5K
Participants in the free Edcamp Literacy event
Waiting for Opening General Session to begin
Adora Svitak
Ana Dodson
Literacy Night at Fenway Park
Laurie Halse Anderson
PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE
The Power of Literacy
6
September/October 2016 | LITERACY TODAY
fter listening to Kwame Alexander and Adora
Svitak speak at the Opening General Session
of the ILA 2016 Conference & Exhibits in
Boston in July, I heard that some people wondered
if ILA was becoming more political. In different but
complementary ways, both speakers talked about the
role of literacy in building just societies for all and in
helping individuals achieve insight into their lives and
the lives of others.
For everyone who heard Laurie Halse Anderson
speak at the Closing General Session about her
work and the issues it addresses for today’s youth in
societies struggling to achieve social justice, a similar
question might have arisen.
Is ILA “being political”? I hope so, and I hope you
think this is a good idea because literacy is inherently
political.
Who can and cannot read and write is intimately
related to power in any society or cultural grouping.
Literacy has always frightened totalitarian regimes
because it helps us think and gives us insight into the
world outside of our immediate situations. We are what
we read and write as much as we are what we eat.
Literacy literally means freedom. Literacy opens
doors—to educational and career choices, but,
even more important, to personal enlightenment
and satisfaction. Of course, what literacy is now is
significantly different from what literacy was in the
18th or 12th centuries, in 800 BCE, and even in
the 1990s. What we have as reading materials and
what adults and children can now author has both
expanded and evolved in unprecedented ways over
a short period of time. The impact on literacy is
nothing short of revolutionary.
As you will read in the following pages, ILA is
committed to setting the standard for how literacy
is defined, taught, and evaluated. This is a tall order,
especially when what it means to join or belong in a
professional sense is also being redefined. In addition,
these are not the easiest times to be a teacher. We all
regularly face challenges, whether it is
Struggling against the negative impacts of
overtesting and mindless testing that our
colleagues in the United States face
Developing appropriate educational
opportunities for children who have been
displaced from their homelands by war and
devastation, as our colleagues in so many
countries around the world are experiencing
Protesting against governmental policies that
threaten children’s education, as is the case for
our fellow educators in Oaxaca, Mexico
Figuring out what Brexit may mean for schools,
universities, and students in the United Kingdom
Simply trying to get good books—both print and
digital—into children’s hands
We have always faced challenges—and they won’t
be going away in the near future.
This edition of Literacy Today tells you about a
number of initiatives ILA is leading around the world
to set those standards for how literacy is defined,
taught, and evaluated. In fact, the following two
pages—called ILA Update—will be a regular feature to
help keep members informed about ILA, where it is
now, and where it is headed.
I think the keys to making our literacy initiatives
succeed are communication and collegial work.
Implementing high-quality literacy instruction
becomes more easily realized when we connect with
colleagues who are next door to us, down the hall,
in the school principal’s office, at the local university,
or from another province, state, or country online or
face-to-face at an ILA conference.
With such connections, we make it possible to
advance literacy for all. ILA is home to more than
300,000 educators across the globe who can serve
as literacy leaders to the world. Seeking to transform
our students’ lives through the power of literacy is a
political act—one that we should all aspire to and be
proud of.
William Teale
ILA President of the Board
See for yourself...discover ILA Bridges TODAY!
literacyworldwide.org/ilabridges
ILA BRIDGES are ready-to-go curricular units that
come complete with goals, teaching and learning
activities, print and digital resources, culminating
projects, and assessment guides—everything you
need to support your students’ acquisition of the
most critical literacy skills.
The modules are easily adaptable and useful for
inspiration or instruction for all educators—no
matter what standards are in place in your district.
Whether you follow them to the letter or use them
as a springboard, they’ll save you time on lesson
planning.
“It’s a wonderful resource for teachers. These
units are based on current literacy research
and standards, and they can enhance content
learning with meaningful literacy experiences.
The user-friendly unit design allows teachers to
clearly see the literacy standards and how they
relate to content.”
—Staci Kaplan, K–5 Literacy Coach
Summit, NJ
PLAN FOR SUCCESS
WITH ILA BRIDGES UNITS
How do
ILA Bridges
and highly
engaging, quality
instruction go
hand in hand?
ILA MEMBER BENEFIT
One year ago we held our annual conference
for the first time as the International Literacy
Association (ILA). A new name, yes, but one that
maintains 60 years of the International Reading
Association’s leadership in reading and literacy.
As you know, the change from “Reading”
to “Literacy” came about as a result of ongoing
discussions around who we are, what we do,
and where we are going. The gradual shifts
we have been making were borne out of both
necessity and opportunity. They are a reflection
of what will strengthen our position and ability
to build a network of advocates for literacy
worldwide.
The enthusiasm and energy from last year’s
conference was a key milestone in reinforcing
ILA’s standing as the leading global professional
membership association for literacy teachers
and leaders. It also served to remind us all of our
shared vision: making literacy accessible to all.
ILA’s Journey to
Advance Literacy for All
ILA UPDATE
Marcie Craig Post
Executive Director
William Teale
President
Douglas Fisher
Vice President
Diane Barone
Immediate Past President
A revitalized network, positioned
8
September/October 2016 | LITERACY TODAY
To advance literacy across the globe, we know that
action is needed at all levels—from educators to
government, philanthropic, and business leaders,
and especially the community at large. Through our
collective efforts, we need to
Accelerate instructional innovation and
adoption of best practices
Develop, gather, and disseminate high-quality
research
Translate research into classroom practice
Engage educators and policymakers to
advocate for students’ literacy rights
Inspire the broader community to support
ILA’s vision and mission
To do so, ILA serves as the global professional
network of literacy educators. We provide
support, evidence, and research, as well as
recommendations on what we know to be
effective when it comes to teaching literacy. ILA
is, and will continue to be, the literacy educator’s
hub for resources, including research in our
peer-reviewed journals and best practices for
literacy education such as Standards for Literacy
Professionals. These are currently being revised
and the draft standards pertaining to specialized