Literacy Now

The International Reading Association honored our international affiliates at the awards ceremony on Sunday, April 30, 2012, at the IRA 58th Annual Convention in Chicago. Victoria Risko, Amy Kushner, Carrice Cummins, Marcie Craig Post, and Maureen McLaughlin present awards to members of IRA’s International Development Coordinating Committee accepted awards on behalf of the international affiliates and grant recipients. This year’s ceremony marked the start of a new tradition of including international affiliates in this annual awards ceremony. 

International Affiliates Grants and Awards

Anastasia Reva, Russia, Volzhskiy Literacy Project

Jacqueline Leigh, Sierra Leone, Seli River Writing Project

Jessie B. Fagans, Liberia, Liberian Books for Liberian Children

Heidi Baer-Postigo, Bolivia, Kids Books Bolivia

Dr. Ann Nkechi Iheonu, Nigeria, Establish Reading Centers in Owerri

Nwigwe Ngozi, Nigeria, Developing Teachers’ Capacity for Teaching Pupils Initial Reading Skills

Samuel Andema, Uganda, Promoting Digital Literacy in Ugandan Education: An ICT Laboratory and Community Resources

 

Constance McCullogh Award

Jackson Mukasa Kizza, Uganda, Empowering the Ugandan Child through Reading

 

International Membership Awards

Africa: Reading Association of Nigeria

Asia: Reading Association of the Philippines

Caribbean: Trinidad and Tobago Reading Association

Eurasia: Kazakhstan Reading Association

Europe: Reading Association of Russia

Latin America: Consejo Puebla de Lectura, Mexico

Oceania: Australian Literacy Educators’Association

 

Longest Standing International Affiliate Awards

Africa: Reading Association of Nigeria

Asia: Japan Reading Association

Caribbean: Jamaica Reading Association

Eurasia: Kazakhstan Reading Association

Europe: Læsepædagogen Danish Council of International Reading Association

Latin America: Sociedad de Dislexia Del Uruguay

Oceania: Australian Literacy Educators’ Association.

 

Photo by Chuck Fazio Photography.

This article is reprinted from the June/July 2012 issue of Reading Today. IRA members can read the interactive digital version of the magazine here. Nonmembers: join today!

The International Reading Association (IRA) has published hundreds of books over the past 50 years, but did you know that we also publish e-books? IRA offers electronic versions of 14 texts that customers can download to digital devices, such as computers, laptops, iPads and other tablets, and iPhones and other smartphones.

14 E-Books Available

IRA is dedicated to producing books in a variety of formats to make texts and their enhancements accessible to all learners. IRA determines whether to create an e-book title based on the book’s popularity and suitability for electronic versions.

To purchase an IRA e-book, consult the current e-books roster on the IRA website. On each title’s linked s webpage, click on a “Buy This E-Book” button to purchase the e-book through outlets such as IRA, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks (an Apple iTunes application). The following IRA e-books can be purchased and downloaded now:

• After Early Intervention, Then What? Teaching Struggling Readers in Grades 3 and Beyond, 2nd edition edited by Jeanne R. Paratore and Rachel L. McCormack
• Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, 3rd edition by Doug Buehl
• Creating Strategic Readers: Techniques for Developing Competency in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension, 2nd edition by Valerie Ellery 
• Developing Essential Literacy Skills: A Continuum of Lessons K–3 by Robin Cohen 
• Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines by Doug Buehl
• In a Reading State of Mind: Brain Research, Teacher Modeling, and Comprehension Instruction by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp
• R5 in Your Classroom: A Guide to Differentiating Independent Reading and Developing Avid Readers (PDF e-book) by Michelle J. Kelley and Nicki Clausen-Grace
• Read, Write, Play, Learn: Literacy Instruction in Today's Kindergarten by Lori Jamison Rog
• Small-Group Reading Instruction: Differentiated Teaching Models for Intermediate Readers, Grades 3–8 by Beverly B. Tyner and Sharon E. Green
• Sustaining Strategic Readers: Techniques for Supporting Content Literacy in Grades 6–12 by Valerie Ellery and Jennifer L. Rosenboom 
• Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp
• Understanding and Using Reading Assessment, K–12, 2nd edition by Peter Afflerbach
• What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 3rd edition edited by Alan E. Farstrup and S. Jay Samuels 
• What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 4th edition edited by S. Jay Samuels and Alan E. Farstrup 

At least three more e-books are slated for publication this summer, so check the e-books list regularly. E-mail publications@reading.org to let us know which IRA books you’d like to see converted to e-book format!

Now With Video

IRA launched a new publishing project last month: e-books enhanced with embedded video. Now customers have the option to purchase In a Reading State of Mind: Brain Research, Teacher Modeling, and Comprehension Instruction by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp as a print text with a DVD or as an e-book with the videos included within the e-book interface. This e-book allows readers to read the text and watch the videos on the same electronic device. The seven videos are placed in the e-book where the text refers to the lessons they illustrate. 

Due to the current status of enhanced e-book technology, this new, enhanced e-book is available through iBooks, but it is not yet available through Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. 

To discover more about this resource, view a free sample video clip and listen to the authors’ podcast. IRA has also created a free Professional Development (PD) Guide for this book, available for download from the book’s webpage.

Supplemental Resources

IRA has begun developing free, downloadable PDFs of PD Guides and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Connections Guides to accompany select books. Free PD Guides are available for:

The International Reading Association gave awards to many state and local councils and affiliate organizations from around the world during the ceremony on Sunday, April 29, at the IRA 57th Annual Convention in Chicago. Below is a list of some of those awards.

Exemplary Reading Program Award Winners

The following schools were given these awards through their state councils.

Cullman City Primary School, Cullman, AL, Patricia R. Culpepper, Principal

Fountain Lake School District, Hot Springs, AR

Woodrow Elementary School, Modesto, CA, Vickie Briscoe, Principal

Staffordville School, Staffordville, CT, Dr. Maureen Ryan, Principal

Wilder Elementary School, Wilder, ID, Jeff Dillon, Principal

Augustus H. Burley Elementary School, Chicago, IL, Barbara Kent, Principal

Maize South Elementary School, Wichita, KS, Tyler Ewert, Principal

A. A. Songy Kindergarten Center, Luling, LA, Claire P. Brauninger, Principal

Wicomico Early Learning Center, Salisbury, MD, Maria Marshall, Principal

Anna Ware Jackson School, Plainville, MA, Anne M. Houle, Principal

Burke Elementary School, Kansas City, MO, Deborah Fortner, Principal

Pringle Elementary School, Salem, OR, Linda Dougherty, Principal

Elizabeth Scott Elementary School, Chester, VA, Joan Temple, Principal

 

Local Council Community Service Awards

First Place

Jefferson County Council, Arkansas, Susan Bitely, President

Second Place

Moore County Council, North Carolina, Mary Ellen Skidmore, President

Advocacy Awards

Connecticut Reading Association, Marilyn Scanlan-White, Legislative Chair

Illinois Reading Council, Mike Ellerman, Legislative Chair

Louisiana Reading Association, Gerri Settoon, Legislative Chair

State of Maryland IRA Council, Dr. Suzanne Clewell, Legislative Chair

Michigan Reading Association, Cynthia Clingman, Legislative Chair

Oklahoma Reading Association, Pamela Hammon, Legislative Chair

Virginia State Reading Association, Marilyn Schempf, Legislative Chair

 

Membership Achievement Awards

Gold

Alabama Reading Association

Alberta Provincial Council

British Columbia Literacy Council

Diamond State Reading Association

Georgia Reading Association

Idaho Council

Illinois Reading Council

Iowa Reading Association

Kansas Reading Association

Manitoba Reading Association

Michigan Reading Association

Minnesota Reading Association

Mississippi Reading Association

North of Sixty Council

Oklahoma Reading Association

Saskatchewan Reading Council

South Carolina State Council

Tennessee Reading Association

Utah Council

Vermont Council on Reading

Silver

North Carolina Reading Association

Virginia State Reading Association

Wisconsin State Reading Association

Bronze

Indiana State Reading Association

Ontario Reading Association

State of Maryland IRA Council

 

Student Membership Achievement Awards

Gold

Massachusetts Reading Association

Ohio Council

Rhode Island State Council

South Dakota State Council

Utah Council

 

IRA also congratulates the state councils who were given Awards of Excellence and the hundreds of local councils that were named Honor Councils, whether it was their first year or their 30th year! Read about these award winners in the article entitled "2012 IRA Award of Excellence and Honor Council Recipients" on Reading Today Online. 

 

This article is reprinted from the June/July 2012 issue of Reading Today. IRA members can read the interactive digital version of the magazine here. Nonmembers: join today! 

 

 

 

The submission period is now officially open for program proposals pertaining to the International Reading Association’s 58th Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas, April 19-22, 2013. All interested persons should go to https://www.aievolution.com/ira1301/ to create a profile and submit their proposals via the submission site’s fielded format. The deadline for submitting proposals for the San Antonio Convention is August 6, 2012.

Important information concerning the one-appearance rule, and the exceptions thereto, is set forth on the submission site, as well as a proposal submission fact sheet and revised submission guidelines. The list of authorized session types includes:

• Institutes
• Research Poster Sessions
• Sessions / Spanish Sessions
• Symposia
• Workshops

Each of these formats includes specific requirements concerning purpose, duration, and presenters. Additional requirements have been established for Institutes. These pertain to registration limits, meeting room setup, and audio visual equipment.

Presentation Categories

All submitters must select a category for the peer review process. For the IRA 2013 Convention the established categories are as follows: Adolescent Literacy/YA Literature; Assessment; Children’s Literature; Common Core Standards; Early Childhood/Head Start; English Language Learners; International; Literacy Leadership; RtI; Struggling Learners; Technology; and Title I.

Review Criteria

Except for Research Poster Sessions, proposals will be assessed in light of four major criteria, namely applicability, effectiveness, differentiation, and ongoing learning.

Applicability means the extent to which the proposal demonstrates evidence that case studies or real-life examples will be used to illustrate the lessons learned.

Effectiveness means the extent to which the proposal demonstrates the content, strategy, or intervention (as described) has proven to raise achievement and/or improves teaching.

Differentiated means the extent to which the proposal demonstrates how this session will help teachers meet the needs of students who learn in different ways and who come from different socioeconomic environments.

Ongoing Learning means that the extent to which the proposal demonstrates that audience members will be able to connect learning from this session with local work assignments.

Research Poster Sessions

All proposals for Research Poster Sessions must be formatted as such. Each research poster session will include up to 16 individual posters grouped by category, and each will have a prominent researcher as a chair. Each presenter will be introduced and allowed a brief (one minute) introduction of his or her research. The audience will be invited to move between and among posters.

Research Poster Sessions are exempt from the one-appearance rule.

With respect to Research Poster Sessions, the evaluation criteria are as follows:

1. Significance of the topic to the literacy/research evaluation
2. Evidence base for the proposal acknowledges relevant learning theories
3. Evidence base for the proposal is based on research that is recognized and acknowledged by the profession as high quality
4. Quality of scholarship as judged within the research tradition
5. Quality of the theoretical and conceptual rationale
6. Clarity and coherence
7. Overall quality

Notification of Acceptance

Notification of acceptance or non-acceptance of all submitted proposals will be sent via email in October/November 2012 (Pending).

Registration and Other Expenses

Expenses associated with the submission and presentation of a proposal are the responsibility of the presenter. Except for Institute presenters, all presenters are responsible for paying appropriate registration fees. IRA will also reimburse Institute organizers up to $350 for photocopying, mailing, and shipping costs of materials to the location of the institute.

Questions

Questions about submitting a proposal for presentation at IRA San Antonio can be forwarded by email to ConventionProposals@reading.org. Questions related to the research poster sessions can be forwarded to research@reading.org.

 

 

The following prestigious honors were given at the International Reading Association 57th Annual Convention in Chicago.

 

IRA Arbuthnot Award