Literacy Now

The following was written by William H. Teale, a past president of the International Literacy Association, to provide an international perspective on reading education for the Japan Reading Association (JRA). It will be included in a commemorative book later this year produced by JRA to mark their 60th anniversary.

It is reprinted here with JRA’s permission. Teale passed away unexpectedly in February 2018 shortly after completing it. It is the last piece he authored.

2018 marks my 49th year as a reading teacher. I have experienced many developments in reading education in my home country of the United States during that time, and I have observed many other developments as a result of my opportunities to participate in conferences and work with ministries of education and literacy scholars in 25 other countries around the world, including every continent except for Antarctica. This range of experiences I have been fortunate to have was no doubt influenced by my involvement not only in reading education but also in the fields of library and information science, children’s and young adult literature, and adult education. It was also the result of my involvement as an academic and teacher in the field as well as an officer of the International Literacy Association (board member, vice president, president, past president) over a period of six years and an editor and editorial board member of numerous literacy journals in the field.

I list this range of experiences so that you might better contextualize my remarks that follow, remarks intended to provide one international perspective on reading instruction. In doing so, I have not attempted to cover the past 60 years of reading education history which the Japan Reading Association is commemorating, but I do provide some historical context for what I see as major issues confronting us as reading educators who help build our societies by supporting our students in reading and writing so that they might participate as fully as possible as citizens of their countries and of the world.

Thinking both in contemporary terms and historically, I believe it is fruitful to consider that some issues related to reading education are similar across international contexts while others are quite different. In addition, some issues that are important today have been on the minds of reading educators for decades, while other have emerged over the years as a result of social, technological, or political developments.

Reading engagement (motivation to read)

I begin with the topic of reading engagement because it serves as the foundation of reading instruction—at all levels of schooling and in every country in the world. If we are to have any hope at all of succeeding in literacy education, we must get this piece right. It has been well documented for many years that students who spend more time reading achieve better in reading (Anderson, et al., 1988). Why is it that some students read more? Because they are engaged by reading; they get satisfaction from it and find the time that they spend reading to be rewarding.

Many people may think of this issue of engagement as “soft science” or touchy-feely. But you may be familiar with PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment, the quantitatively rigorous international assessment that measures 15-year-old students’ reading, mathematics, and science achievement in 64 countries in the world (OECD, 2016). What PISA found about reading engagement is that students who enjoyed reading the most performed significantly better in achievement than students who enjoyed reading the least. This is strong evidence that backs up what all good teachers have seen time and time again in their classrooms: If we pay attention to instilling in students the love of reading, the task of teaching students how to read is made so much easier.

The importance of quality literature

This discussion of reading engagement brings us face to face with the issue of what students are assigned to read for school and what they read on their own. To promote reading engagement, we should be helping our students interact with quality literature—from preschool through high school. That means employing quality literature in the lessons we teach, making sure our school and classroom libraries are stocked with quality literature, recommending quality literature for students’ out-of-school reading, making homework assignments that involve quality literature, and providing parents with recommendations of quality literature that they can obtain for their children.

Think of this as a dietary issue. Children and teenagers grow up healthy when they have a balanced diet of a variety of nutritious foods that supply needed vitamins, minerals, and proteins. Thoughtful minds are fed with a balanced diet of quality literature which includes stories, informational books, and other genres like concept books and poetry; print, digital, and audio books; books about people like them and situations that are familiar as well as books about people from other countries around the world who face a range of life circumstances different from their own; books with spectacular writing; and books with outstanding illustrations or photographs. In one essay I wrote, I went so far as to argue that without a literacy curriculum that includes high-quality literature, it is essentially impossible for students to become fully literate (see the May/June 2017 issue of the International Literacy Association’s publication Literacy Today).

And though the books themselves may differ from country to country or perhaps even from region to region or city to city within a country, the need to have quality literature as an integral part of the literacy curriculum and instruction is universal. Quality literature should play an indispensable role in teaching children to read, no matter who the students are, how old they are, or where they come from.

Effective methods for teaching reading

We have now discussed two issues crucial to reading education that I have argued apply equally across societies and school systems. But, this issue—effective methods for teaching reading—is something that needs to be considered context by context. In the United States, for example, there has been much discussion over the past two decades about research-based, or evidence-based, methods for reading instruction. National panels have been convened by the U.S. Congress to have scholars review the research literature and determine empirically the most effective methods for teaching beginning reading (National Reading Panel, 2000), early literacy (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008), and English language learners (August & Shanahan, 2006). Each of these efforts resulted in conclusions about how to teach reading. But even these rigorous efforts to answer the question of what works instructionally for teaching reading have been questioned by other scholars who point out the failure of such conclusions to take into consideration findings from rigorous qualitative literacy research or contextual factors that have been shown to impact reading instruction and therefore student reading achievement (e.g., see the 2010, vol. 39, no. 4 issue of Educational Researcher).

Now, consider the fact that this much dissension has occurred with respect to reading instruction in one language—English—and in one country. Small wonder, then, that when one looks at different languages, different writing systems, and different societal contexts, there can never hope to be consensus on what the most effective method is for teaching reading.

Much of the research that I conduct focuses on how young children—ages 3 to 6—learn to read and write and can effectively be taught to read and write in an alphabetic language, English. With respect to reading, the most difficult (and therefore the most researched) phase of that process is beginning reading, the time when children learn to “crack the alphabetic code” and understand how the sounds of language relate to the letters and letter combinations of the English alphabet. I’ve even written a chapter for teachers on the complexities of these relationships (see chapter 2 of McKay & Teale, 2015). But I distinctly remember the first time I spoke with a group of Japanese teachers and parents about that work. They were surprised that this was an issue of concern in the United States. To them, that early phase of learning to read was easy. In their experience, even 4-year-olds and most 5-year-olds could figure out how to “decode” the words in simple picture books. But, of course, they were coming from the perspective of a culture with a very different orthography. Hiragana makes it much easier for young children to “crack the code” because it is based on the syllable, not on the much more—for young children—abstract phoneme, as many alphabetic orthographies are. The harder part of learning to read in Japanese comes with Kanji, which occurs much later developmentally for students in Japan than for students in the U.S.

This is but one example illustrating the fact that, for reading educators, the issue of effective methods for teaching reading will always be inextricably tied to the national and local contexts in which the teaching is taking place. There is not, nor will there ever be, one right way of, or a most effective way of, or one best program for teaching reading and writing. Effective literacy instruction depends upon the wisdom of teachers applying what research indicates is effective and what their local classroom context dictates is needed to reach the children they see in front of them every day.

Family involvement/community involvement

The research is clear, consistent, and convincing: When schools succeed in working cooperatively with families, children experience academic and social benefits (Hill, et al., 2004: Jeynes, 2010). And these benefits include enhanced language and literacy for children. The strongest school–family partnerships work both ways. On the one hand, schools communicate with parents about their children’s literacy activities in school and about their progress in literacy. It is also important for the school to engage parents in discussions of how parents can support their children’s literacy learning at home. In the other direction, parents are welcomed into the school for the funds of knowledge and insights that they can bring. This may be special skills a parent has or knowledge about the community that would contribute to studies the children are engaged in or volunteer help in the school or classroom.

But it is also clear that in different societies there are vastly different relations between parents and the schools their children attend. In the United States, most elementary schools are not very successful at working collaboratively with the parents of the children who attend their school or with the larger community in which the school is located. And, the higher up the grade levels one goes, the less parental involvement one finds. Compare this to the types of relations between the school and parents in Japan. This is an important conversation for the school to have: What are the most productive ways that we can engage our families and community? And such a conversation is most successful when both the teachers and the school leaders take part together.

Digital literacies

Computers have been used for instruction in schools for several decades now, but it is only within the past 10 years that digital technologies have profoundly affected reading and reading instruction. What has made the difference is the proliferation of multimedia texts—texts that contain not only print or print and illustration, but also sound and moving images. And our students not only “consume” these texts; they also produce them because of the widespread availability of multimedia authoring tools. I believe it is fair to say that these developments in digital technologies have literally redefined literacy itself and what it means to be literate (NCTE, 2013), significantly changing the way students read, write, and access information.
Furthermore, I also believe that—ultimately—digital technologies will change human thinking. This change will happen in the way that the invention of writing changed human thinking. Before humans had writing, memory was a much more central—and needed—cognitive process. But with writing we had a system that enabled us to store ideas in a permanent way that accurately represented the message of the writer. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the changes in human thinking engendered by the invention of this tool—writing—took place over generations. And so it will be with digital literacy tools; we are only now at the very beginnings of their impact on literacy and on human thinking.

A useful distinction can be drawn between digital skills and digital literacies (see http://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2016/02/03/knowing-the-difference-between-digital-skills-and-digital-literacies-and-teaching-both). Digital skills focus on how to use technological tools, whereas digital literacies are about the why, when, who, and for whom of such tools. What our students most need today is competencies related to digital literacies: to be able to critically assess digital texts (e.g., does that website contain credible information or is it biased and not factual?) and to compose digital texts that take into consideration the words, images, and sounds that will most effectively communicate with the audience they are addressing.

The impact of digital literacies on school reading instruction first took hold with older students and has gradually affected younger and younger grade levels. Now even preschool and kindergarten children are involved regularly in digital literacies because the biggest game changer of all for younger children—the tablet and its touchscreen technology—has enabled them to participate in ways that keyboard access never did. There is much being debated about “screen time” for young children (Council on Communications and Media, 2016), but the reality is that children today are growing up in their home and school environments interacting with digital technologies on a regular basis.

What this means is that teachers must now respond to the need to ensure that attention to digital literacies is embedded in all levels of literacy education and all curriculum subjects from preschool through high school. And, with respect to this topic, we need to think deeply about the different kinds of reading and writing that students do. When students need to read something deeply, many prefer to read print rather then something on screen. But, digital devices seem to be preferred for “quick” reading—news stories, social networking, looking up a piece of information. But, some texts are only available digitally. And more “buts” can be added as we think through the realities and educational implications of students’ literacy activities, considering also their reading and writing preferences. In the end, though, digital literacies is one of the most important instructional issues related to literacy, as well as being regarded by teachers as a “hot” topic (see results from the International Literacy Association’s 2018 What’s Hot in Literacy Report).

Conclusion

I believe that the preceding five issues—reading engagement, quality literature, effective methods for teaching reading, family and community engagement, and digital literacies—are currently of universal importance to literacy educators and literacy scholars the world over. But they are also local issues in that the literacy educators of Japan need to address them in conjunction with their own contexts, which will inevitably be different from those in Poland, Argentina, Finland, or the United States. Moreover, the contexts within Japan—Urasa, Osaka, Takayama, Sapporo, Tokyo, and so forth—need to be taken into account in thinking about these topics of literacy education. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to literacy education that will serve our students well. High-quality literacy education that helps students be contributing citizens is today, as it has been for the past 60 years and many more, teaching the children we have in our classrooms, rather than any literacy curriculum.

References

Anderson, R.C., Wilson, P.T., & Fielding, L.G. (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly, 23,285–303.
August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Council on Communications and Media. (2016). Media and young minds. Pediatrics, 138(5), 1–6.
Hill, N., et al. (2004). Parent academic involvement as related to school behavior, achievement, and aspirations: Demographic variations across adolescence. Child Development, 75(5), 1491–1509.
Jeynes, W. (2010). Parental involvement and academic success. New York: Routledge. 
McKay, R. & Teale, W. H. (2015). Not this but that: No more teaching a letter a week. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishing Company.
National Council of Teachers of English. (2013). The NCTE definition of 21st century literacies. Available from http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentdefinition.
National Early Literacy Panel (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the national reading panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: NICHD & NIH.
OECD. (2016). PISA 2015 results (Vol. 1: Excellence and equity in education. Paris: OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10/1787/9789264266490-en 

William H. Teale, a past president of the International Literacy Association, was a professor of education, a university scholar, and the director of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Literacy (CFL). His contributions to the field were immeasurable. Read two of ILA’s tributes to Teale here and here.

Instead of relying on the latest device or app, administrators should leverage the expertise of teachers to sustain classrooms that reflect the contexts of learning encountered in the real world, according to ILA's latest brief, Improving Digital Practices for Literacy, Learning, and Justice: More Than Just Tools.

In our increasingly technology-driven and globalized world, literacy instruction should prepare students to “produce, communicate, interpret and socialize with peers, adults and the broader world.” These skills require a mastery of written and spoken language as well as a familiarity with literary devices and rhetorical structures and must translate across digital and analog worlds.

“Intentionally building time for these online and offline literacy practices allows students to see themselves as agents of change across settings,” says the brief.

The brief discusses the importance of designing digital instruction that mirrors the kinds of work environments students will eventually encounter in their personal and professional worlds. This means a shift away from rote instructional practices, rooted in individual tools, and toward digital resources that inspire students to “make, play, design, hack and innovate.”  

The brief also explores technology’s potential role in perpetuating power structures and widening achievement gaps. When students do not have access to digital tools and resources, they are denied valuable forms of production and amplification that help spotlight areas of necessary advocacy.

“When school administrators take away students’ phones or tell them to put them away during class time, they are teaching implicit lessons about the kind of work environments these students are expected to enter. In this light, digital literacies are a matter of social justice.”

Instead of trying to disrupt inequality with “expensive devices,” the brief suggests that administrators invest in teacher knowledge of the contexts of literacy learning. This approach empowers students to participate in authentic learning activities that prepare them for real-world demands.

The brief closes with a list of limitations to what digital resources can do (i.e., act as a cure-all for legacies of inequity) and a set of next steps.

Access the full brief here.

Alina O'Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.

If we learned anything at the ILA 2018 Conference, it’s that changemaking work is fueled by two feelings: hope and frustration. This year’s theme, Be a Changemaker, was about identifying a problem, and finding the tools, connections, and strategies needed to drive a solution.

And there’s perhaps no greater harbinger of hope than 14-year-old Marley Dias, the face of the next generation of changemakers. 

The inaugural Children’s Literature Day opened with a message of hope when Dias took the stage to deliver the opening keynote. Dias reflected on how she turned her frustration about the books she was seeing in school, which offered no mirrors but rather windows that “only opened up to one place and one type of experience”—that of white boys and their dogs—into a movement. She started the #1000BlackGirlBooksProject, a campaign to collect 1,000 books with black girl protagonists that she would then donate to libraries around the country.

“That singular and exclusive experience frustrated me, and I decided to do something about it,” she said.

She has since collected more than 12,000 books, appeared on the Ellen Show, interviewed Hillary Clinton, and written her first book, Marley Dias Gets It Done. Dias spoke about the importance of diverse books, inspiring activism in young people, and embracing difference.

“Reading allows us to see the humanity in others who are not like us,” she said. “Embracing difference is essential if you want to be a changemaker.”

“Each of us has a magic inside of us that we can use to make the world a better place.”

The New York Times bestselling-author Kwame Alexander joined her onstage for a Q&A session that was equal parts funny and poignant. The two discussed their new books, their shared love of poetry, and the age-old war between Nigerian and Ghanaian jollof rice.   

Attendees then dispersed for the morning session of author meetups, panels, and signings. Four categories of meetups (Early Reader, Middle Grade, Early Young Adult, and Older Young Adult) featured a mix of up-and-comers and well-established veterans, including Megan McDonald, Carole Boston Weatherford, and Peter H. Reynolds.

During a new event, the Latinx panel, moderator Oralia Garza de Cortés, cofounder of the American Library Association's Pura Belpré Award, lead a discussion with four authors whose works celebrate Latinx family culture. They tackled questions of identity and stereotyping, authentic cultural voice, and “the single story.”

After attendees reconvened at noon for a formal lunch, former ILA Board member Julie Scullen took the stage next to present the ILA Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards. Following was a keynote by fifth-grade teacher and Nerdy Book Club founder Colby Sharp, who made the audience laugh and cry as he shared videos from his mock Caldecott unit, which showed students’ celebratory cries and looks of defeat when the actual award winners were announced. 

He spoke about how to inspire a lifelong love of reading in young people, the value of family and community engagement; and the importance of leading by example.

“We have a responsibility to make sure a kid never feels like a level, to make sure kids feel like readers, and to make sure kids have all the books,” he said. 

After an afternoon of more meetups, panels, and signings, Alexander returned to the stage to deliver a dynamic closing keynote. He recited original poetry and shared videos of his first poetry workshop held in a juvenile detention center, an experience that showed him how language can empower and effect change. 

Alexander brought the message of hope full circle when he shared the fruits of his own changemaker work: the Literacy Empowerment and Action Project, a health clinic and library in the rural village of Konko, Ghana, that facilitates student scholarship opportunities, literacy training for teachers, girls’ empowerment workshops, and career development projects. He closed ILA 2018 on an inspiring note.

“Read the change. Be the change. Share the change. Make the change.”

Alina O’Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.

ILA announced the winners of the ILA Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Awards on Monday at the ILA 2018 Conference in Austin, TX.

The books on this year’s list comprise a wide range of genres and styles, transport readers around the world to places such as Cuba and Iran, and explore edifying themes, including mental illness, family life and tradition, and racial prejudice and police brutality.

In its 43rd year, the awards program recognizes newly published authors who show exceptional promise in the children’s and young adult book fields. Awards were presented for fiction and nonfiction in each of three categories: primary, intermediate, and young adult.

"Notable authors like Laurence Yep (winner of the formerly named Laura Ingalls Wilder Award), Christopher Paul Curtis (three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award) and Lois Lowry (winner of two Newberry Medals for Number the Stars and The Giver) were recognized with this award early in their illustrious careers,” said teaching and learning specialist and past ILA Board member Julie Scullen, who presented the awards.

The 2018 award winners are:

Primary Fiction

Winner: The Book of Mistakes. Corinna Luyken. 2017. Dial.

Honor: Little Fox in the Forest. Stephanie Graegin. 2017. Schwartz & Wade.

Primary Nonfiction

Winner: This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids From Around the World. Matt Lamothe. 2017. Chronicle.

Intermediate Fiction

Winner: Train I Ride. Paul Mosier. 2017. HarperCollins.

Honor: The Notations of Cooper Cameron. Jane O’Reilly. 2017. Carolrhoda.

Intermediate Nonfiction

Winner: Marti’s Song for Freedom. Emma Otheguy. 2017. Lee & Low.

Young Adult Fiction

Winner: Words on Bathroom Walls. Julia Walton. 2017. Random House.

Honor: The Hate U Give. Angie Thomas. 2017. HarperCollins.

Young Adult Nonfiction

Winner: Obsessed: A Memoir of My Life With OCD. Allison Britz. 2017. Simon & Schuster.

“Congratulations to all of our award winners,” said Scullen. “I’m excited to get all of these books into the hands of young readers.”

Additional information on ILA’s awards can be found here.

Alina O'Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.

For the audience of ILA’s Equity in Education panel, Literacy and Our LGBTQ Students: Starting and Sustaining Schoolwide Transformation, which took place this weekend at the ILA 2018 Conference in Austin, TX, the message was clear: If you want to create a school climate where LGBTQ students feel comfortable, start with empathy.
 
Eliza Byard, executive director of GLSEN, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group focused entirely on K–12 education, delivered the opening keynote, weaving her personal narrative with statistics about LGBTQ risk factors.

“Today, I’m here as a lesbian who grew up in the U.S., whose life was saved by my relationship with books,” she said. “I simply want to say how much it means to be here with people whose work is dedicated to unlocking the incredible joys of literacy for children now, because it meant the world to me.”
 
Byard also discussed GLSEN’s recent initiatives in response to the wave of discriminatory legislation attempted to roll-back efforts for LGBTQ equity. The organization has been a leading advocate for the repeal of so-called “no promo homo laws” that ban teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics in a positive light. Texas is one of seven states where these laws are still in effect—a fact that Byard used to underline the urgency of their work.
 
“Change is possible; individuals can make a difference,” she said. “You cannot improve school climate if you don’t take these issues on.”
 
She then opened the conversation to the panelists: Kris De Pedro, assistant professor at the College of Educational Studies at Chapman University; Amy Fabrikant, staff developer at the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility; Courtney Farrell, founder of The Journey Project; Jessica Lifschitz, Heinemann Scholar and fifth-grade teacher; Kate Roberts, author and literacy consultant; Dana Stachowiak, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of North Carolina Wilmington; and Tim’m West, senior managing director of the LGBTQ Community Initiative at Teach for America. 

After introducing  themselves and stating their preferred pronouns, they spent the next hour unpacking and strategizing on a wide range of LGBTQ issues in education, from language to libraries.
 
The danger of staying silent
 
When asked about their first steps toward creating an LGBTQ-inclusive school climate, several panelists shared their own journeys of self-acceptance. 
 
Stachowiak spent much of her teaching career wearing dresses and heels, skirting questions about her personal life, and avoiding LGBTQ topics in the classroom. Ultimately, it was a conversation with a student that inspired her to embrace her authentic self at work. 
 
“A little girl in my classroom who had been really spunky and really gifted academically just started to go downhill and got quiet. I found out through her peers that she had been writing love letters to other girls in the classroom, and they were uncomfortable with that. I didn’t know what to do because I felt like if I supported her, I would be outed," she said. “I made it all about me at that moment—there was wanting to protect my student and there was wanting to protect myself, and that kind of overshadowed, unfortunately.”
 
When the school counselor failed to take action and the student’s social and emotional well-being continued to decline, Stachowiak realized it was time for her to overcome her fears and focus on the needs of the student confiding in her. 
 
“I just said, you know what? I can’t just continue to watch this happen,” she said. “That was me, as a kid.”

Stachowiak’s story sparked a conversation about the dangers of silencing these topics in the classroom and addressed concerns about parent, administrator, or community pushback. 

“There are a bunch of schools where the adults haven't moved to the same degree as our young people have,” said Roberts. “And I think that’s because, and others will echo, we’re terrified of the parents, we’re so scared of parent communities complaining.”

Roberts reminded the audience that they can be loud, too.

“We can complain too, right? We can be the annoying flashing light that someone’s terrified of, being like, ‘Why don’t you have more books that represent all kids? Why isn’t your curriculum more inclusive?’ I don’t think we do become that squeaky wheel enough,” she said. “So the loudest person in the community is the bigoted one.”

Creating social-emotional benchmarks
 
Before coming out to his students, West had to overcome his own perception of what it means to be a role model, a responsibility he cherished as one of the few black, male educators in his district.
 
“Often when we talk about how our young boys need strong, black men [role models], there’s a lot of gendering and homophobia associated with that,” he said. “It may not be pronounced, but the assumption is that you’re masculine, of center, and heterosexual.”
 
West reached his tipping point when he heard his students using the word “gay” as an insult. Instead of reacting, he decided to use that moment as a learning opportunity; he asked the students to clarify what they meant and, as a class, they read aloud the dictionary definition of the word. 

His next step was to openly identify with that word. 
 
“The power of my own decision to come out in that setting was just remarkable. After that, the way that they treated each other, the way they dealt with things, was so much different,” said West. “We had created a culture, in that classroom, in that school—where being gay was really awesome.”

To West, this experience highlights the need for more social and emotional development work in the classroom. He wants to see more open, respectful dialogue around these topics.

“When we talk about teaching and testing, when we talk about benchmarks—where are people and where do we want them to grow—we have to do the same thing around social-emotional competencies—not only for our students, but for our teachers.” 

Students can be teachers, too  

There was a consensus among all of the panelists about the importance of trusting in students’ wisdom and opening spaces for them to lead inclusivity efforts.

“I think it’s important to remind ourselves that students come to school with incredible funds of knowledge,” said De Pedro. “In many ways, our students are more sophisticated and more involved than the teachers and the adults in our schools. Our students are teachers too; they can actually lead in these efforts.”

Farrell said educators should focus on demonstrating they are truly listening by turning students’ words into actions. 

“It’s learning what it is that the children need from us. Opening up spaces to say, ‘What would you like? What do you seek? What are your experiences?’” she said. “And whenever we open up spaces to hear, and they give us information, following it by action. So saying, “What you say matters, and here’s what we’re going to do about it.’”

You don’t know what you don’t know

Byard closed the panel by asking the panelists to share an action item for attendees to take back to their practices. 

“I would echo the idea that it starts with us, recognizing that we don’t know what we don’t know,” said Farrell. “To dig deep into spaces that we may not have personally lived ourselves. So, a lot of listening, a lot of research, a lot of introspection, a lot of reading.”

De Pedro similarly encouraged the audience to continuously challenge their assumptions and to seek new ways of knowing. 

“Admitting you don’t know something and admitting you’re wrong are the two most powerful things educators can—and should—do,” he said.

Fabrikant urged educators hold regular check-ins where students can discuss their feelings.

"Just to know what everyone is bringing into the room," she said. "I really do believe in having a space just to share what’s alive in us."

Panelists also discussed the importance of intersectional thinking, using conscious language, and fully integrating LGBTQ topics into the curriculum.
 
Stachowiak closed the conversation with a powerful call to action. 

“We need to be those voices to say, ‘Yes I can, and yes I will.’ Believe in yourselves that you can do this work and you’re not alone. Even if it’s just starting with you, just look around this room—this is a room full of accomplices,” she said. “This is where the revolution starts.”
 
The livestreamed conversation, sponsored by Heinemann Publishing, was archived on ILA’s Facebook page and can be viewed here. 

Alina O’Donnell is the communications strategist at ILA and the editor of Literacy Daily.