Literacy Now

The prevalence of school shootings in the United States underscores an urgent and, so far, unmet need of devising comprehensive measures that protect students, teachers, and staff in education spaces.

While the specifics of those measures are, and ought to be, open to fair debate, the notion that arming teachers is the best answer to preventing recurrences of this type of tragedy is preposterous.

We are already seeing action. State lawmakers across the country have introduced legislation specifically prohibiting classroom teachers from carry guns, such as in New York. And, earlier this week, the Florida state Senate took action to halt the movement toward arming classroom educators. 

Teaching and security enforcement are two different roles. Combining them is impractical and unwise, even if proposed with the best of intentions. The challenges of effective literacy instruction for students are formidable enough. Neither teachers, nor students, should have to wrestle with the distraction of gun-equipped classrooms.

Everyone deserves to feel safe in the classroom. Teachers need to give their full attention and effort to each day’s learning. They need schools unfettered by violence. What we are hearing from our members and other educators is that introducing weapons into the teacher-student relationship shatters any shared sense of safety and security.

Talk to literacy teachers and you will quickly find out how precious a commodity their instructional time is, and how demanding a preparation is required for them to be at their most effective in the classroom. Asking teachers to learn how to use weapons, arm themselves, and undertake security enforcement roles while teaching is not only burdensome, distracting, and education-impairing, it’s downright dangerous.

To place on teachers the additional responsibility of having to use deadly physical force against an armed assailant who has managed to enter school grounds with lethal ordinance distorts and perverts the teaching function. It further puts teachers and students at risk as shown by instances where weapons have accidently or, at times intentionally, been misused.

It also gives would-be assailants the ultimate and undeserved victory of making schools a weapons-based environment.

This is hardly the legacy that teachers and students at schools which have had to contend with episodes of gun violence would wish for. We owe it to them and to ourselves to do much better than that.

The International Literacy Association denounces the very idea of arming classroom teachers. Yes, we should talk about how we can increase safety of school perimeters. Yes, we should talk about resources to help early identification and treatment for mental health issues. And yes, we need better communication and coordination between the agencies we have in place to protect us.

That’s why ILA calls upon government officials, federal and local authorities, and school officials to fashion security measures for the nation’s schools that preserve safe learning spaces by keeping the instruments of violence out of them, save for those possessed by law enforcement officers.

Many commentators on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy have noted the maturity and eloquence of the school’s students whom they have spoken with on the air. The students are indeed striking examples of the poignancy and power that literacy education instills.

We’re proud of these students and proud of their teachers. We want to see a solution for school security that supports without diminishing the focused learning opportunities they have enjoyed and leveraged to such an impressive effect.

Marcie Craig Post is the executive director of the International Literacy Association (ILA).

Educators, and especially literacy educators, are uniquely positioned to be changemakers. Alongside tangible reading and writing skills, literacy educators can teach social awareness and critical reflection—powerful tools for personal and social change. These skills and mindsets empower children to question the world inside and outside their classrooms, to stretch their thinking and broaden their understandings, and to take action toward a more equitable society.

Although educators are the face of these conversations, they cannot lead positive change alone. To do this difficult work, they need support from scholars, administrators, and school-based specialists and professionals who are passionate, knowledgeable, and advocates for literacy. This is the focus of the International Literacy Association 2018 Conference, where research, policy, and practice will converge to deliver strategies for fostering positive change in literacy education.

As we gear up for ILA 2018 with its theme of Be a Changemaker, we want to know, “How do you define a changemaker in literacy education?” We posed this question to our Twitter community, and their responses gave us a window into what literacy education for a changing world looks like.

“To me, being a changemaker means being mindful of my actions and understanding how interconnected our school community is to the world outside our gates. It means taking the time to understand and process the issues my children face and being supportive.” —Brianna Maxwell, third-grade teacher, China

“When reading a text about an African American boy whose father was put in prison for decades, I discussed with my students about breaking generational curses—poverty, addiction, incarceration, teenage pregnancy. It got real!” —Frankie Santoro, eighth-grade ELA teacher, North Carolina

“A changemaker is that person who applies the acquired knowledge and skills or who initiates a new idea geared towards making a difference. To be a changemaker means to see a need and decide to respond to that need. In literacy circles, it means to apply the skills and knowledge we have acquired in our classrooms, neighborhoods, and communities to bring about a difference in developing the reading and writing skills of our children.” —Siaffa Korkoyah, president of Liberia Reads - Association of Literacy Educators, Liberia

“Being a changemaker means being comfortable with asking tough questions, standing up for what is right, daring to be different, making mistakes, and believing that fighting the good fight is worth it!” —Kristin Rice, fourth-grade teacher, California 

“Literacy teachers ARE changemakers! We model it and expect it of ourselves, our students, and our colleagues. Literacy is ever-changing and ever-fulfilling. We must challenge ourselves, our students, and colleagues to continue pushing for literacy growth and a love of literacy for life, which definitely requires the attitude and heart of a changemaker.” —Mary Kramer, third-grade ELA teacher, Mississippi

“It means finding ways to help students become critical consumers of the waves of information available to them. Read, think, and intelligent responses through multiple means of expressions. Need to go way beyond reading and answering questions.” —Kimberly Kuhlman, reading specialist, Pennsylvania

“Having the courage to do new, positive, creative, and beneficial activities for the benefit of your library users and colleagues or community at large.” —Muthoni Kibandi, university librarian, Kenya 

The ILA 2018 Conference, with the theme Be a Changemaker, will take place July 20–23 in Austin, TX. Learn more and register here.

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

Each year, states, districts, schools, and classrooms across the United States and around the world hold thousands of events to celebrate Digital Learning Day (DLD). Created by the Alliance for Excellent Education in 2012, DLD offers educators an opportunity to collaborate with peers, exchange ideas, experiment with new digital tools, and showcase innovative practices that are improving student outcomes.

At the heart of Digital Learning Day is an emphasis on equity—ensuring equitable access to high-quality digital learning opportunities. The event was started as a way to “actively spread innovative practices” to all schools and students.

The event website provides digital tools, resources, lessons, and webinars to power your DLD activities. For more ideas, check out the links below:

• ILA’s Technology in Literacy Education-Special Interest Group contributes weekly blog posts on topics in technology and literacy.
• ReadWriteThink houses a collection of classroom activities, websites, lesson plans, and related resources to help classrooms celebrate DLD.
• Edutopia published a piece on why and how we can engage parents in DLD.
• Common Sense Media’s K–12 Digital Citizenship Program features lesson plans, student-facing videos, interactive games, and teacher-training and family education materials. Use the "Scope & Sequence" tool to find the perfect lesson.
• ILA published several resources, including a brief, blog series, and Twitter chat, that explore how educators can foster digital equity for all students.
• The Teaching Tolerance Digital Literacy Framework addresses seven key areas in which students need support developing digital and civic literacy skills.
• “Digital Tools Aim to Personalize Literacy Instruction,” an article published by Education Week, shares edtech tools that are “rapidly expanding the ways in which teachers can differentiate their literacy and reading instruction.”

Follow @OfficialDLDay on Twitter for updates and learn more at digitallearningday.org.

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

Despite ongoing debates over how to teach reading, research has proven that phonics instruction is an essential element of a comprehensive literacy program, according to ILA’s latest brief, Explaining Phonics Instruction: An Educator’s Guide. Phonics helps students to learn the written correspondences between letters, patterns of letters and sounds, leading to word knowledge.

“Because phonics is often students’ first experience with formal literacy instruction,” states the brief, “families might be anxious about their children’s learning.” Educators can assuage these concerns by answering families’ questions and by providing effective at-home learning activities.

The brief shares research-based insights to explain the what, the when and the how of phonics instruction to noneducators, providing guidance on phonics for emerging readers, phonological awareness, the layers of writing, word study instruction, approaches to teaching phonics and teaching English learners.

Key takeaways include the following:

• Students should have acquired phonological awareness, concepts of print, concepts of word of text and alphabetic principles before beginning to learn phonics.
• Most phonics programs incorporate both analytic and synthetic activities.
• Word study is an approach to teach the alphabetic layer (basic letter–sound correspondences) and pattern layer (consonant–vowel patterns) of the writing system by including spelling instruction that is differentiated by students’ development.
• Phonics instruction depends on the characteristics of a specific language; students who learn to read in multiple languages apply phonics that fit the respective letter–sound, pattern, and meaning layers.
• Emergent bilingual readers and writers use their knowledge of one language to learn other languages.

To read more, visit the brief here. 

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

Registration is now open for the ILA 2018 Conference, which will be held in Austin, TX, July 20–23. Thousands of literacy educators, professionals, and advocates from around the world will gather to connect with and learn from leaders in the field.

Amid widening socioeconomic disparities, changing student demographics, and an increasingly technology-driven workforce, equity in literacy education has never been more important. With the theme “Be a Changemaker,” the conference will focus on strategies for fostering positive change in literacy education.

This year’s conference is comprised of three components: Institute Day on Friday, July 20, the Core Conference on Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22, and Children’s Literature Day on Monday, July 23. Registration packages offer discounts and special incentives for bundling events.

ILA 2018’s new format is designed to deliver a more customized learning experience. Three learning tracks will be offered: Administrators as Literacy Leaders, Literacy Coaching, and Literacy Research.

The two-day Core Conference kicks off Saturday with an ILA General Session fueled by the changemaker theme. Three keynotes will draw on their own experiences of overcoming adversity, sharing stories of impact about how they’re changing the system from within.

Nadia Lopez, the founding principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, will discuss how administrators must serve as literacy leaders for their schools and districts. Lopez’s story went viral when the popular Humans of New York (HONY) blog featured one of her students, who cited Lopez as the most influential person in his life. A fundraising campaign ensued, collecting more than $1.4 million  for Mott Hall, a middle school in one of the poorest and most violent neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Lopez’s vision for the school—which she says she opened to close a prison—was to give the youth in her community a way up and out.

Frequent ILA speaker and lead staff developer at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Cornelius Minor takes the main stage at ILA 2018. In previous years, Minor has moved and inspired conference attendees with his talks on digital literacy and access, confronting difficult topics in the classroom, and literacy as a social and political tool for building equity in education. This year, Minor will continue to speak frankly on issues of race and educational equity, challenging attendees to confront their own biases and work toward creating truly inclusive schools and classrooms. 

Finally, there’s Adan Gonzalez, the son of Mexican-American immigrants living in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Dallas, TX. Gonzalez, the recipient of a Gates Millennium Scholarship that funded both his undergraduate and graduate degrees, created the Puede Network when he was a sophomore at Georgetown. The organization’s charge is to mentor students and break cycles of under-education. After earning a master’s from Harvard Graduate School of Education, Gonzalez returned to his childhood school, James Bowie Elementary, to teach third grade.

Learn more and register for the ILA 2018 Conference here.