So you’ve booked your trip to Texas and you can all but feel that San Antonio sun on your face. Now you have to make some decisions— what sessions, author panels, and symposia will you attend?

You’ve got a wealth of options, and to make your choice a bit easier, we’ve put together this list of Convention speakers and panelists who have appeared on the Engage blog. Read up on your favorites and discover some new names before San Antonio!

Teaching Tips:

Lawrence Baines—Learning By Ear [Session presenter, Learning by Ear: Sound Principles for Teaching Reading and Writing]

Danny Brassell—The Reading Makeover [Invited Speaker Symposium]

Jan Miller Burkins—Stretching into a New Year [Institute 10: The Common Core Literacy Block: What Will It Look Like In My Classroom? and session presenter]

Mary Cotillo—Six Buses: The Quest for School-Wide Reading Begins! [Author panel moderator, The Future's So Dark: Why Readers Can't Get Enough of Dystopian Fiction]

Ruth Culham— When Giants Unite: The CCSS Meet the 4Ws of Writing [Invited Speaker Symposium]

Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey—Text Complexity: Thinking about Scope and Sequence [Teaching Edge]

Diane Lapp—Language Frames Support Literacy in Science [Institute 12: Meeting the Needs of Our Many Diverse Children in Early Literacy Development Using the Common Core State Standards' Assessment and Instruction]

Lori Oczkus—Best Ever Literacy Survival Tips: 5 Super Practical Ideas for Motivating Kids to Read More Challenging Texts in the Age of CCSS! [Session presenter, Best Ever Literacy Survival Tips: 72 Lessons You Can't Teach Without]

Columns:

Julie D. Ramsay—Plugged In [Session presenter, 'Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?' Collaborating in Class and Online]

Aimee Rogers—Putting Books to Work: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson Series [Session presenter, Graphic Novels 101: Everything You Need to Know to Start Reading and Teaching Graphic Novels Tomorrow]

In Other Words (guest blog posts):

Richard L. Allington & Anne McGill-Franzen [Presenters, Summers and the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap]

Tom Angleberger—A Book for Every Reader [Author panelist, And Then What Happens?! The Enduring Appeal of Series Fiction; and session presenter]

Annie Barrows—Reading, Not Rules [Author panelist, And Then What Happens?! The Enduring Appeal of Series Fiction]

Joan Bauer—It's All About the Story [Young Adult Literature Luncheon]

Douglas Fisher—Adding Attention to Evidence through Teacher Modeling [Research session presenter, Research Into Practice: What’s New in Language Arts Research?]

Jessica Goodrow—Texas Educator Asks, 'What Common Core?' [AC13 attendee and Texas educator]

April Henry—Write What You Want to Know [Co-presenter, Mystery Reading and Writing]

Kirby Larson—Digging for Details that Make Historical Fiction Delicious [Co-presenter, IRA Teachers' Choices Committee Symposium]

Teri Lesene—Building Communities in an Online Environment [Symposium presenter, Scaffolding Students’ Independence and Teachers’ Professional Development through Authentic Reading Communities]

Lesley Mandel Morrow—The Common Core State Standards for Literacy: How Do We Make Them Work? [Institute 12: Meeting the Needs of Our Many Diverse Children in Early Literacy Development Using the Common Core State Standards' Assessment and Instruction]

Susan Beth Pfeffer—Paneling [Author panelist, The Future’s So Dark: Why Readers Can’t Get Enough of Dystopian Fiction]

Colby Sharp—In the Classroom, Whose Taste Matters? [Moderator, The Serious Business of Writing Humor: The Importance of Funny Fiction in the Classroom]

Debbie Silver—Reflections of a Former Alliterate Reader [General Session Speaker]

Seymour Simon—Blazing a Digital Trail with a Streaming E-book Platform [Co-presenter, Focus on Engagement: Celebrating An Active Stance with Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, and Viewing]

Cris Tovani—The Power of an Authentic Audience [Invited Speaker]

April Wulber—Desire to Read? Why You Should Join the Teachers’ Choices Committee [Co-presenter, Teachers' Choices Books: Making a Difference by Enriching the Curriculum with Award-Winning Trade Books for Students in Grades K-8 ]

5 Questions With…

Denise Brennan-Nelson [Co-presenter, Children's Literature Makes a Difference: Award Winning Authors and Notable Books for 2013]

Michael Buckley [Author panelist, The Serious Business of Writing Humor: The Importance of Funny Fiction in the Classroom]

Matt de la Peña [Presenter, The Cyber Connection: Multi-Platform Texts to Engage All Readers]

Laurie Keller [Author panelist, The Serious Business of Writing Humor: The Importance of Funny Fiction in the Classroom]

Katherine Paterson [Author panelist, National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature]

Chris Raschka [Author panelist, Celebrating 75 Years of the Caldecott Medal]

Devin Scillian [Author panelist, The Serious Business of Writing Humor: The Importance of Funny Fiction in the Classroom]

Ruta Sepetys [Author panelist, Putting Books to Work: Pairing Literature Authors with Classroom Teachers]

Steve Sheinkin [Co-presenter, Making a Difference: Presenting Authors Whose Nonfiction Books and Biographies Inform, Engage, and Inspire Students for a Lifetime of Reading and Learning]

Chris Soentpiet [Book and Author Luncheon]

David Ezra Stein [Author panelist, Celebrating 75 Years of the Caldecott Medal]

Ellis Weiner [Author panelist, And Then What Happens?! The Enduring Appeal of Series Fiction]

Salina Yoon [Co-presenter, IRA Teachers' Choices Committee Symposium]



Guide to Convention Resources on READING TODAY ONLINE

IRA 58th Annual Convention in San Antonio, TX