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Engaging Learning Through Disruptions

ILA Staff
 | Mar 16, 2020

Girl sitting on bed on computerTo slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), hundreds of K–12 school districts across the United States are closing for anywhere between two weeks and two months (or longer). This comes on the heels of similar closures of higher education institutions, many of which opted for early spring breaks and transitioning to online learning to finish out the semester.

The problem? Not all schools are equipped for distance learning.

This extends beyond the availability of devices and into communities where internet access isn’t guaranteed. Students who in the past have relied on the free Wi-Fi many public libraries offer may soon lose that resource, as more and more libraries temporarily halt operations.

Some challenges are addressed more easily than others; the Comcast Corporation, for example, is offering free Wi-Fi for low-income residents with increased speeds and removing restrictions on data plans temporarily. But that doesn’t lessen the burden for educators who have limited or no experience in teaching remotely.

In response, there’s been an outpouring of support from companies, organizations, and individual educators. Below you’ll find a list of resources now available to teachers, students, and their families and caregivers. We will update the list as more resources become available, so check back frequently. Help us grow the list by sharing new resources with us on Twitter, Facebook, or by email.

Resources from ILA

Children's Choices, Teachers' Choices, Young Adults' Choices reading lists

From the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy and The Reading Teacher

These resources are always available online to subscribers; however, we’ve made them open access to all educators during these school closures.

From ILA E-ssentials

We have also made these members-only resources open access to all educators during the school closures:

From Literacy Daily

Additional resources

Resources for educators

Resources for families and caregivers

Remote learning for educators

  • Starting on Monday, March 16, 3:00­–3:30 p.m. ET, Kylene Beers is running Facebook Live events each day for at least a week or two. Each day will include a special guest speaker. Connect with Kylene on Facebook for more details.

Coronavirus information

  • Children and Coronavirus: 4 Questions Answered”—With the incidence of the coronavirus on the rise, understanding the ramifications this virus has for educators' students is important.
  • nCoV2019.live—Want to keep up to date with the latest data about the coronavirus? Look no further than this site, created by a high school junior in Washington State.
  • The New York Times is providing free access to articles containing the most important news and guidelines about the coronavirus outbreak.
  • The Washington Post has a created a free email newsletter that sends subscribers a compiled list of all breaking news stories about the coronavirus outbreak.

This post was updated May 4, 2020, to reflect addition of the 2020 Choices reading lists.

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