Literacy Now

Kansas Reading Association President Donita Shaw shared the council's many activities—local to international—with Reading Today.

What are some exciting upcoming council projects?

At a state level, Kansas Reading Association has actually just finished several projects. The governor proclaimed January as Kansas READ month and we provided activities to promote literacy. We have a picture book award in honor of Bill Martin Jr., and members just voted for this year’s winner. We also have a newly designed website. Our 2012 journal will be forthcoming. Our future goals are to continue building on the work we’ve done during 2012-2013 with sponsoring service projects, providing professional development at our fall conference in Wichita October 13-14, 2013, and supporting local councils. Our local councils will hold their spring meetings in March and April. Some will focus on author visits, a spring tea, Dr. Seuss, and e-readers such as Nook, Kindle, and iPads.

What types of literacy outreach do your state and local councils do?

One of KRA's goals is to support an international literacy project, Ethiopia Reads, led by LeAnn Clark. Lives are being changed! This year our feature is Bring a Book Buy a Book (BABBAB). It is a program that any school can do—kids "run it." Children bring gently used books and donate one, and then buy one for a low price. The proceeds go to purchase books for Ethiopia- it even gives them the chance to support the book publishers in Africa and then we don't have to pay the shipping. See http://www.ethiopiareads.org. 

Local councils are very involved in their communities. For example, magazines are provided for children who stay at Hope House, books are provided to parents of young children, thesauruses are given to foreign exchange students, book writing contests are held, scholarships are given, and many other contributions have and will continue to be made. 

What are the benefits of joining your council?

There are many, many benefits of joining the Kansas Reading Association (KRA).

• KRA has become a strong voice and respected resource in Kansas Learning First Alliance.
• KRA strives to engage in a collaborative relationship with KSDE and be a natural advocate for all KRA is doing for the teaching of literacy.
• KRA is working to raise awareness of our organization and literacy issues among administrators.
• KRA is providing important professional development opportunities for teachers (preservice and inservice teachers too) through local councils and an annual fall conference.
• KRA is providing important professional development opportunities for teachers through the publication of Kansas Journal of Reading which is published annually. This is a premier resource for instructional strategies and discussion of research.
• KRA is providing community service through local and state programs.
• KRA provides leadership training that members can use in their local councils as well as their schools and communities.
• KRA offers the opportunity to associate with good, hardworking, earnest, dedicated professionals.
• KRA encourages literacy through its professional and volunteer awards to those individuals and businesses helping to promote literacy.
• KRA encourages literacy through its grants to councils that promote literacy projects.

How does one join or become involved?

To join, a prospective member may visit our website at www.kansasread.org. Click on the tab “join KRA” and the requested information will be provided there. To be involved please feel free to find a local council (tab on the left of the website) and contact the leaders. The Kansas Reading Association Executive Board is always happy to assist you in finding ways to be involved.

Is there anything else you'd like to share about your council?

We are so proud of Babs Tims, a veteran fourth grade teacher at Lakeside Elementary School in Pittsburg, KS! Babs was honored at the 2012 IRA Annual Convention as “Celebrated Teacher of the Year.” Thank you Babs, for inspiring young readers!

Our 2012-2013 year has been a year of growing visibly within our organization as well as in our communities. We are committed to serving our constituency by “promoting quality literacy experiences for all.”

"Celebrated Teacher of the Year" Babs Tims, a veteran fourth grade teacher at Lakeside Elementary School in Pittsburg, KS.

Institute 5: Vocabulary Instruction That Makes a Difference: Meeting Standards and Beyond with a Multiphase Comprehensive Vocabulary Instruction Program (MCVIP) in Grades 4-9 

Reading Today Online asked all of the Institute Chairpersons for IRA San Antonio to respond to three questions designed to give our readers and all prospective attendees a better understanding of the insights and benefits they will gain from attending these day-long programs.

What is the professional urgency that this Institute is designed to address?

Are you confused about how best to integrate vocabulary instruction into your curriculum? Are you working on the kind of instruction in vocabulary that the Common Core State Standards and best-practices research calls for? Are you dissatisfied with compartmentalizing vocabulary in your curriculum with a free-standing program, workbook or other set of commercial materials?  Then this is the institute for you!

What types of literacy professionals is this Institute designed for?

This institute is designed for educational professionals (teachers, literacy specialists, interventionists, curriculum directors. professional developers) wanting to build strong, integrated vocabulary instruction in their schools and classrooms. Four nationally known experts on vocabulary—Michael Graves, author of The Vocabulary Book (2005); Jim Baumann, co-editor of Vocabulary Instruction, Second Edition: Research to Practice (2013); Camille Blachowicz, co-author of Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms (2010); and Patrick Manyak, former Reading Teacher columnist and conceptualizer of Character Trait Analysis (2007)—will present the foundations of research-based vocabulary instruction which has shown to make a difference in student performance. Their session will include keynotes to orient participants to the research on vocabulary and classroom instruction and 3 different breakouts with teachers and professional developers from their federally funded Multifaceted Vocabulary Instruction Project.  Participants will attend all three breakouts, with video examples of teaching, and then have a chance to Q & A with the experts and master teachers.

How will attendance at this Institute help those literacy professionals "make a difference" in their work?

This institute is designed by researchers, authors, professional developers and teachers with a deep commitment to teacher empowerment and professional growth.  They are passionate about what they have learned and developed together and want to share it with you, the school literacy professional. 

You will leave the institute with handouts and other resources reflecting all four essential components of a multifaceted program and with concrete, teacher-tested ideas that resulted in standardized test and performance gains for students.

You will have a chance to ask specific teachers, professional developers and researchers about what they have seen and experienced and will have time to network with other engaged and dedicated educators throughout the interactive sessions.

This is your chance to learn about vocabulary instruction that makes a difference. The institute is limited in size to maximize interaction so, if YOU want to make a difference in the vocabulary learning of your students, sign up soon.

Registration Information: This preconference institute will be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 19 before the 58th International Reading Association Annual Convention begins on Saturday, April 20. Register online for this or another institute and/or to register for the annual convention. Call 888-294-9167 or 415-979-2278 to find out how to register by phone, fax, or mail. To learn more about convention events in San Antonio, visit the annual convention website and the online itinerary planner (iPlanner), or read more Reading Today annual convention articles.

The good news is that IRA’s annual convention offers over 500 sessions, including full-day institutes, symposiums, and author luncheons. The bad news is that selecting which sessions to attend can be overwhelming!

That’s where the iPlanner comes in. The iPlanner (short for “itinerary planner”) is an online directory of the latest information about convention events. It includes three sections: the Itinerary Planner, the Program Grid, and the Event Search.

Create a Personalized Itinerary

The first screen you see when you visit /iplanner has information about the iPlanner and a place to login and enter your password. While everyone is free to browse convention offerings on the Program Grid and to use the Event Search, creating a login and password allows the iPlanner to “remember” sessions you save to your itinerary.

If you have never used the iPlanner, simply click the “Create Profile now!” link toward the bottom of the page. The login and password for the iPlanner are different than your member login/password and any other logins and passwords you may have set up with IRA, so new iPlanner users should create a profile. It’s an extra step, but it’s worth it!

Once you create a profile and login, it is easy to search for sessions and add them to your itinerary.

Browse the Program Grid

One way to find sessions you’re interested in is to use the Program Grid. Clicking on underlined links at the top of the grid page display different days or all days. Session times run along the left side of the grid.

The grid is divided into 13 columns: Adolescent Literacy/YA Literature, Assessment, Children’s Literature, Common Core Standards, Early Childhood/Head Start, English Language Learners, International, IRA Council Activity, Literacy Leadership, RtI, Struggling Learners, Technology, and Title 1. If you are interested in one of these topics, review the sessions listed in that column.

Click on the underlined link to open a window with more information about that session, including date, times, presenters, capacity, clock hours, and more. This window also has options to print this information or add it to your itinerary.

Add Sessions to Your Itinerary with One Click

Once you are logged in, an “Add to Itinerary” link appears on each session on the iPlanner. Click it, and then click “OK” to place the session listing on your personal online itinerary.

Searching for Specifics

If you are interested in a specific topic or are looking for a session from a certain presenter, use the Event Search.

You can search by keyword (text search), speaker last name, date, category, event type (luncheon, symposium, Teaching Edge, etc.), and/or location. When your search results are displayed, click on the underlined link for a window with more session information and a link to add it to your itinerary. Or, simply add sessions to your itinerary using the “Add” checkbox on the right side of the search results webpage. Sessions that are already added to your itinerary will say “Added.”

Review Your Itinerary

To see items you’ve added to your itinerary, click on the “My Itinerary” link in the blue bar at the top right of the screen.

On your online itinerary, it is easy to review your convention plans and click on session links for more details. You can add one, two, or even three simultaneous sessions to your itinerary in case one is full or cancelled. Sessions can be removed from your itinerary at any time by clicking on the “Remove” link next to the session title.

Click on “View Day Planner” link at the top right of the “My Itinerary” page to see a colored chart of how sessions overlap.

Add Your Own Events

Having lunch with a colleague? Carving out time to visit the Exhibit Hall? Taking a side trip to the Alamo? The iPlanner has the option to add your own events to your itinerary. From the “My Day Planner” page, click on the “Add Personal Activity” link in the upper right. Personal activities that you created show in orange on your day planner.

Print and Go

The “My Itinerary” page gives you the option to produce a printer-friendly version of your schedule to bring to the convention. Simply click the “Print” link at the top right. You can also e-mail your itinerary to the address in your profile.

Adding Sessions Is Not Registering or Reserving Seats!

Please be aware of the room capacity for the selected sessions you wish to attend. The Itinerary Planner is simply a planning tool and is not used to register for sessions. Entry into each session at the meeting is on a first-come, first-served basis. IRA no longer issues tickets for sessions.

Payment is required for full convention or single days, pre-conference institutes and luncheons. Please note that placing these items in your itinerary does not constitute a paid registration. For more information or to register, please go to www.iraconvention.org.

The IRA 58th Annual Convention runs from April 19 to 22, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. Visit www.iraconvention.org and the iPlanner Program Grid and Event Search for details.

Maryann Manning, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Literacy, The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been elected as IRA’s vice president for 2013-2014.

Three new board members were also elected: 

Bernadette Dwyer, Lecturer in Literacy Studies in Education, St. Patrick’s College, Dublin, Ireland

Laurie Elish-Piper, Professor, Department of Literacy Education, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois

Julianne Scullen, Teaching and Learning Specialist for Secondary Reading, Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools, Anoka, Minnesota

Their terms will run from 2013 to 2016.

The entire IRA community extends best wishes to the newly elected vice president and board members.

by Amanda Lister

The International Reading Association is going big this year by offering convention attendees an exclusive opportunity. You could be attending IRA’s 58th Annual Convention in sunny San Antonio as our VIP, an experience you won’t want to miss!

IRA’s “VIP Experience” package* includes a $100 gift card to Boudro's, a crowd-pleasing Texas bistro where the guacamole is made for you table-side and a $100 gift certificate to Paesanos Riverwalk, an old-world meets modern Mediterranean eatery that has been a local favorite for decades. The package also includes four tickets to the Rio San Antonio Cruises River Tour, a can’t-miss water tour led by guides who not only point out the sites but give you the history behind them. We’ll also upgrade your room reservation at your official IRA Convention hotel, because after all, don’t you deserve an upgrade?

As if that isn’t enough, the VIP winner will also receive spectacular treatment inside the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, including prime, up-front seating reserved at all three General Sessions, which means no rushing to secure your spot before each session begins! The winner also receives a VIP meet and greet with select speakers, a $100 voucher toward the purchase of books and merchandise at the IRA Bookstore, and a one-year online membership to IRA (existing members will receive a one-year extension to their current membership.)

Register on or before March 22, 2013 for a chance to win this package. Enter promotion code AC1309G when prompted. If you’ve already registered and booked an IRA Convention hotel, you’re already entered into the VIP contest. Our lucky winner will be notified by March 28, 2013.

The IRA 58th Annual Convention runs from April 19 to 22, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. Visit www.iraconvention.org and the iPlanner Program Grid and Event Search for details.

Amanda Lister is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

* Prize package subject to change. Anyone who registers or has registered for IRA’s 58th Annual Convention and booked an IRA Convention hotel on or before 11:59PM PST, on March 22, 2013 will be entered to win. Enter promotion code AC1309G when prompted.