May 2010 IRC Communicator

IRC President

Christine Boardman Moen

ommunicatorCVolume 33, Number 4 May 2010

In This Issue:

Board BriefsPresident’s Column . . . . . . . . . . 1IRA State Coordinator . . . . . . . 2

IRC ActivitiesRtI Committee Update . . . . . . . 3IRC Literacy Projects . . . . . . . . 4IRC Awards & Grants . . . . . . 6-7Conference 2010 Highlights . . . 72011 Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . 92010 Hall of Fame . . . . . . . . . . 13IRC Publications . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Forms2011 Program Proposal for IRC Conference . . 10-12

Features34th Day of Reading . . . . . . . . . 3Meet IRC Researchers . . . . . . . 5Member Receives IRA Award . . 5Illinois Authors’ Corner . . . . 8-9How Would I Know That . . . . 13The Classroom Teacher and Educational Reform . . . . . . . 14Literature for All of Us . . . . . . 15Grant Funds New Projects . . . 15Story Hour with Santa . . . . . . 16Read, Rhyme, Good Time . . . . 16 Battle of the Books . . . . . . . . . . 17Lightning Strikes Twice . . . . . 18Summer Reading Program . . . 18Cool Studies . . . . . . . . . . . 19-20

Plan now to attend the 2011 IRC Conference

March 17-19, 2011

Writing the final column for my term as IRC president is certainly not comparable to, say–writing an acceptance speech for a Pulitzer Prize or even an Academy Award. But for some reason, this column has become one of the most difficult things I’ve been asked to write—which is saying a lot from someone who has cranked out a lot of books and articles over the years!

I guess this task is difficult because there is so much to say that I’m afraid of overstepping my topic or “under-representing” the magnitude of my gratitude for having been given the privilege of serving as president of such a vibrant, enthusiastic, thriving organization.

Soon I will be past-president, and I will be knocking on several people’s “pro-fessional” doors asking if they wish to serve IRC as members of the Executive Board. If I ask (or if I fail to ask and you are interested), please carefully think about serving IRC in such a capacity. I’m not going to tell you that it’s easy; it isn’t. At the same time, however, serving on the Executive Board is not difficult. It takes commitment, thoughtfulness, and a willingness to put the organization ahead of yourself. Granted, serving in such a capacity is not for everyone, but it may just be for you! And if serving on the IRC Executive Board is not your “thing,” how about serving on your local council’s board? Is it time for YOU to be a leader?

And now for the good byes and good lucks. A thank you to all who helped IRC in any capacity, especially at the council level, which is the heart of IRC. A thank you to the other members of the Executive Board for helping me work my way through my presidency. A thank you to all of the staff at the IRC office who are remarkable individuals who live the creed of service on a daily basis.

Another year, another board, another president and off we go! Striving for IRC excellence never stops (or even slows down!) so BEST WISHES to all the new officers and all others in any type of leadership capacity! Thank you once again for letting me be a small part of IRC and you!

Read On!Christine Boardman Moen

IRA State Coordinator

Roberta Sejnost

2 May 2010

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

“The hard work done by councils has also been

recognized by the IRA as they have awarded NIRC

the Local Community Service Award...”

“Nothing great was ever achieved

without enthusiasm.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The quote above re-ally sums up this year and the work of our local councils! Ev-erywhere I traveled I saw enthusiasm and

greatness! The leaders of our local councils have worked extremely hard to provide quality programs, terrific community service projects, and wonderful teacher support systems within the local council areas. Although all of our thirty-two councils have made tremendous strides to promote literacy this year, sixteen councils (see list on page 6) have earned the distinction of IRC’s Council of Excellence. Those councils re-ceived their certificates and checks at the President’s Breakfast during our outstanding March conference. “Hats off” to these IRC Councils of Excellence.

And, the hard work done by councils has also been recognized by the IRA as they have awarded Northern Illinois Reading Council the Local Community Service Award for the council’s donations of bookcases and new books for 36 children and at least one resource book for their parents in two Habitat for Humanity homes in Ogle County, one in Boone County and ten in Winnebago County-Rockford during 2008 and 2009. NIRC plans to extend this literacy outreach into DeKalb County in the future. IRA has also granted Chicago Area Reading Association and Lewis and Clark Reading Council the distinction of being IRA Honor Council recipients! These awards were presented at the IRA Convention in Chicago in April. We’re proud of you, NIRC, CARA, and Lewis and Clark!

As we end this year of council activities, I want to remind you all to volunteer as an officer in your local council for next year. Once again Leadership Training for all

new and returning officers will be held at Grand Bear Lodge in July. With the support of your Regional Direc-tors and the entire IRC Executive Committee and all the committee chairs, your council officers will have time to plan and organize the council activities for 2010-2011.

Councils that had full slates of officers who attended last year’s training are flourishing. These councils are reporting that the retreat gave them time to get to know each other both socially and on a working basis. Many of these councils received benefits in the form of grants, half-price conference registrations, prizes, and extra Speakers Bureau grants. Your IRC Executive Board feels that the training is so beneficial to councils

that we are once again offering the training at no cost to the local council. The training opportunities will be developed to provide coun-cils with everything they need to have a successful, productive year. There will be breakout sessions for each office; training on develop-ing programs, membership drives, available grants, council awards, Council of Excellence, Honor Council and much, much more.

And, because planning time is so critical, this year the time for planning will be increased so you will have even more time than before to meet with individual council members and to work with neighboring coun-cils. In addition, our keynote speaker this year will be Topper Steinman, an educator from Champaign, Illinois with over 30 years experience as a teacher, counselor, and educational consultant. Topper blends humor and ideas from a “reality” basis to give audiences a practi-cal yet hopeful look at today’s schools, families, and communities, topics that are integral to all of us as we face the challenges and opportunities of enthusiastically leading our councils into greatness.

Finally, I want to thank all IRC members for welcom-ing me into their council activities this year. I was able to visit a little over 1/3 of our councils, and next year I will visit the rest of our councils. Have a terrific end of the school year, and as the year winds down and we look forward to the 2010-2011 school year, remember to keep taking “Literacy Out of the Box.”


May 2010 3

MissionThe mission of the

Illinois Reading Council is to provide support and

leadership to educators as they promote and teach lifelong literacy.

Illinois Reading Council1210 Fort Jesse Road, Suite B2

Normal, IL 61761Phone: 888-454-1341

Fax: 309-454-3512E-Mail: [email protected]

Website: www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org

RtI Committee UpdateBy Deb Hays, IRC RtI Committee Chair

Recently, the IRA RtI Commission presented a series of webinars to introduce the new brochure, Response to Intervention: Guiding Principles for Educators. You can download the brochure, as well as learn more about the information presented in the webinars at www.reading.org.

The final three webinars are scheduled in May and June:

May 11, 8:00 P.M. EST, Assessment•May 18, 8:00 P.M. EST, Expertise•June 2, 8:00 P.M. EST, Secondary•

Plan to register and watch the informative webinars.

RTI Resources:

Download the brochure, RTI: Guiding Principles •for Educators at http://www.reading.org/Libraries/Resources/RTI_brochure_web.sflb.ashxDownload materials from the webinars at • http://www.reading.org/Resources/ResourcesByTopic/ResponseToIntervention/Overview.aspx#webinarRegister in advance for the webinars by emailing •[email protected].

4 May 2010


IRC Literacy Projects Across Illinois!The Illinois Reading Council awarded over $60,000 for the 2009-10 IRC Literacy Support Grants. The projects below are just a few of the many IRC grants that are helping to support literacy across the State of Illinois.

Roaring ReadersBy Stacy Baker

Roaring Readers was a lunchtime reading book club for students in grades 3-5 at Pleasant Hill Grade School in Peo-ria, Illinois. The program was held at lunchtime once each month from September through March except for the month of December due to the busyness of the month. The purpose of this book club is to encourage reading among all students and to provide feedback and incentives to students who read the books and come to the book club. We were hoping that the good readers and their discussions would give confidence to the struggling readers. The reason for holding it during lunchtime was to allow all interested students to participate. This project has gone over very well with our students. They especially liked the craft project such as a bookmark that we included with each book. The books read were Pirates Past Noon, Wait Til Helen Comes, The White Giraffe, Silver Fox, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, and Red Dog. The students who participated in at least 3 Roaring Reader lunches received a Roaring Reader t-shirt and were allowed to be in the year-book picture. In May, we are planning an end of the year ice cream lunch for the students who participated in at least 3 discussions. Each month after a student completed the reading they were also given a small incentive.

“Clubbing it” at KingBy Jennifer Young

Thanks to two grants from the Illinois Reading Council, the students at King Elementary School in Galesburg, Illinois were able to take part in two new book clubs. The Breakfast Club was open to second graders in order to help build a love of reading as well as comprehension skills using this year’s Monarch Award books. Over half the second grade students signed up for a chance at joining the club. The students met weekly before school and were treated to donuts and juice as they listened to a book. After the story was read, the students were able to do various follow-up activities. They then rated the books and one student per meeting was given an opportunity to offer a quote of their favorite part. The information was then written on a card and posted on a bul-letin board for all to see. At the end of February, the students participated in the statewide voting for their favorite book and each child was able to choose one to keep. The Books for Boys Club was open to 4th and 5th grade boys in order to help get boys interested in reading. There were 23 boys who signed up for the club! The club meets once a month with each boy getting their own copy of a book by such authors as Andrew Clements and Gordon Korman. The boys, led by their sponsor, Mr. Kyle James, get to discuss their favorite parts and do follow-up activities with each book.

Book Bee Celebrates ReadingBy Gail Grabins

Every March at the German Valley Grade School we cel-ebrate reading with our annual Book Bee. This year we were fortunate to have an IRC grant that paid for part of the celebration. For our Book Bee, the students read grade level books ahead of time. Then on Book Bee day, they stay after school and answer questions about the plot, setting, charac-ters and themes of their reading. For every correct answer, the students get a book buck that can be redeemed in our prize room. Prizes are books (of course) and other literacy related items. The students all receive ice cream sandwiches to eat and goodie bags to take home. We hold Book Bee as an opportunity for children and their parents to get involved in reading and enjoying books together. Thank you to the Illinois Reading Council for offering the chance to write grants to help support our reading activities.

Books Build FuturesBy Mindy Ghere

I work in a high poverty school. Because of the level of poverty, buying books is often not a top priority in the students’ homes. With this grant, I wanted to provide families with an incentive to attend school functions and family nights as well as get books into the students’ hands and the hands of their younger siblings and relatives at home. My grant was titled Books Build Futures, because any student who attended a school family night or function such as Open House received a free book of his/her choice to keep. I ordered a variety of books from a well-known book club and allowed the students to pick a book of their choice. Many of the students were surprised to find out that they never had to return the book. My favorite comment was, “My brother will love this book too. We have been asking our mom to buy it but she lost her job.” That is exactly why I applied for the grant!


May 2010 5

IRC Member Receives IRA Certificate of Recognition

Doris Marie Claypool Aimers-Voss, longtime IRC mem-ber, recently received a Certificate of Recognition from the International Reading Association for her dedication and hard work in the field of Reading. Doris taught for 29 years in Wauconda District 118 and continued to serve as a substitute upon her retirement in 1994. Doris is a member of the Illinois Language and Literacy Council of IRC. She has been a long-time supporter of the Young Authors Conference. She has published articles in the IRC Journal and has presented at the annual IRC confer-ence. She has received numerous awards, including the governor’s Master Teacher Award in 1984. Please join IRC in congratulating Doris on her IRA Recognition.

Meet IRC ResearchersBy Elizabeth Goldsmith-Conley, IRC Studies and Research Chair

In our efforts to continue building and publicizing a support-ive network of researchers, the IRC Studies and Research Committee is conducting a series of interviews of IRC mem-bers engaged in research and submitting summaries of these interviews to the IRC Communicator. Each write-up includes both a description of the project and an indication of who might benefit from the findings as well as e-mail addresses for readers who would like to contact these researchers and a wiki page site for any readers who wish to join the network. This is our third installment.

Sue Sokolinski’s commitment to family literacy, which started eight years ago when she studied at NIU, is continuing to grow. As a first grade teacher in Batavia, Sue developed LIFE, a successful 10-week literacy program aimed at first graders and their families. Her data showed that the program did increase comprehension (IRC Journal, Spring 2008). Now that Sue is working with third graders, she has created another family involvement program entitled Reread, Retell. Sue has taken each story in her basal reader and created a retelling sheet for it which she put onto her website for parents to access. Through using these sheets, parents learn effective strategies for promoting their children’s reading comprehen-sion. They learn that highlighting particular story elements in reading and retelling leads to deeper understanding.

Sue’s colleague, Pam Ciway, another 3rd grade teacher in the Batavia district, has replicated Sue’s impressive outcomes by teaching the program to her own parents and students. Pam feels that the program has not only strengthened her student’s comprehension skills, it has also strengthened the school-family bonds, the very heart of Sue and Pam’s edu-cational philosophy.

The results of this project, which Sue and Pam have been sharing at conferences, workshops, and write-ups, will be of interest to primary grade teachers, administrators, and, of course, parents. Sue can be contacted at [email protected] and Pam at [email protected].

Frances Steward, a full professor in Curriculum & Instruction at WIU, heard her preservice teachers telling her they felt unprepared to deal with the families they would encounter when they were given their own classrooms. To remedy this she began a project in 2000 entitled The Impact of Family Practices: Parent Involvement Across Generations (Ages 20 through 80). Students who take her Parent and Com-

munity Involvement Course must engage in research that requires them to interview a range of people, all of whom must be parents. Interviews involve administering a set of 8 questions that range from methods of discipline to parental involvement in their child’s schooling. Before students can participate in research they must be trained in CITI (Col-laborative Institutional Training Initiative). This is a training program in human research subjects’ protection developed by the University of Miami and a partner in 2000 and now required by many institutions both nationally and internation-ally. Students who do these interviews find themselves more aware of the variety of parental assumptions and practices they will encounter in their schools. Over the years Frances has seen several trends in changing discipline practices and parental expectations. Her project and its conclusions are of interest to pre-service and practicing teachers. For more information email Frances at [email protected].

In contacting her about such changes, IRC members might also want to ask her about Capstone Action Research Project she is connected to at WIU, in which practicing teachers learn to be action researchers submitting their responses online.

The IRC Studies and Research Committee would also like to invite you to join our network or read about other members doing research by visiting our new wiki page at ircresearch-network.wikispaces.com. Click on “join this wiki” on the menu at the left side of the page.

6 May 2010


Awards & Grants at the IRC ConferenceMarch 18-20, 2010

Adult & Family Literacy Grants Fox Valley Reading Council – Maureen Jakubowski Fox Valley Reading Council – Ladislava Khailova Lewis and Clark Reading Council – Juliann Caveny Suburban Council of IRA - Jay Einhorn Two Rivers Reading Council – Tamara Springer

The IRC Adult and Family Literacy Committee will award up to $750 to local councils to develop and implement projects to help address adult literacy issues. Literacy projects that involve adults or adults with their children will be considered for funding.

Barack Obama Literacy Fund Award Joni Hatfield, Joe Howell, and Tom Anderson 5th Grade Team, Nicholson Elementary School

This award was established from a $40,000 donation from Senator Barack Obama. An endowment was established with the interest allocated to an annual literacy award given to cre-ate classroom libraries for African-American middle-school students to have access to “culturally relevant” books. Aurora, Illinois was chosen as this year’s target area.

Runner-up Libraries were awarded to: Jan Strauss, Rollins Elementary School Lindsay Newman, Gombert Elementary School Joyce Jeewek, Benedictine University

Hall of Fame Award Steven L. Layne

This award recognizes significant contributions to reading or reading education.

Illinois Reading Educator of the Year Award Beth Gambro and Jean Davenport

This award recognizes outstanding teachers who make contri-butions in promoting literacy among students, colleagues, and school communities.

Legislator of the Year Award Representative Mike Boland, District 71 Congressman Aaron Schock, 18th District

This award recognizes outstanding contributions toward advocating literacy and education in Illinois.

Parents & Reading Award Roxanne Owens

This award recognizes an IRC member who promotes and sup-ports parent involvement in children’s reading.

Prairie State Award for Excellence in Writing for Children Laurie Lawlor

This award recognizes an Illinois children’s/young adult author whose body of work demonstrates excellence, engenders a love of literature, and promotes lifelong literacy.

Council of Excellence Award Blackhawk Reading Council Chicago Area Reading Association (CARA) East Central-EIU Reading Council Fox Valley Reading Council Illini Reading Council Illinois Valley Reading Council Lewis & Clark Reading Council Northern Illinois Reading Council Northwestern Illinois Reading Council Prairie Area Reading Council South Eastern Reading Council South Suburban Reading Council Starved Rock Reading Council Two Rivers Reading Council Western Illinois Reading Council Illinois Council for Affective Reading Education

This program recognizes local and special interest coun-cils that organize and conduct well-rounded programs serving the council members, the community, and the state association.

Hall of Councils 1st Place – South Eastern Reading Council 2nd Place – Illinois Valley Reading Council 3rd Place – Northwestern Illinois Reading Council

The Hall of Councils at the conference allows the councils an opportunity to advertise their activities and accom-plishments and to promote membership with a display.

“Lighthouse Game” Winners Rae Brill, Woodstock, Illinois Mary Fernandez, Loami, Illinois Maureen Hart, Marengo, Illinois

Thanks to the many participants! The winners were ran-domly chosen and received a Gift Card.

Council Anniversaries 50 Years: Southern Illinois Reading Council

40 Years: Central Illinois Reading Council Sauk Valley Reading Council Councils Awarded Speaker Grants South Suburban Reading Council


May 2010 7

Other Awards Announced 2010 Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 2010 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn

2010 Monarch Award 1st Place - Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt 2nd Place – Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest 3rd Place – Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Static Stick Decal Design Contest 1st Place – John Harrell, 6th Grader, Columbia Middle School, Columbia 2nd Place – Sara Elizabeth Saey, 6th Grader, Churchill Junior High School, Galesburg 3rd Place – Julianna Encisco, 6th Grader, Hannah Beardsley Middle School, Crystal LakeHonorable Mention Winners were: Logan Miller, 6th Grader, St. Joseph School, ManhattenLaureen Wessel, 4th Grader, Teutopolis Grade School, Teutopolis Becca Ruger, 4th Grader, Worth Elementary School, Worth Olivia Kohlenberger, 6th Grader, Columbia Middle SchoolMichael Friel, 5th Grader, St. Agnes School, Chicago Heights

Ilinois Reading CouncilIllinois Council for Affective Reading Education

Conference 2010 HighlightsBy Susan Cisna,

2010 IRC Conference Chair

A huge “thank you” to everyone who worked to help make the 2010 Conference: “Lighting the Way to Literacy” such a success. The weather was good, the speakers were terrific, and the attendance exceeded our expectations. From the wacky world of Judith Schachner to the exciting adventures of Andrew Clements and Will Hobbs and culminating with the awesome Jan Brett, the conference was jam packed with authors and speakers for all ages. Our core sessions given by those of you who volunteered your time and expertise were excellent, and we all came away refreshed and filled with new teaching ides.

Pictured (L to R): Andrew Clements, David Wiesner, Joan Bauer

Pictured (L to R): Avi, Sarah Weeks, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Brian Selznick after performing at the Authors Reader’s Theatre

Pictured (L to R): Will Hobbs, Jan Brett, Hedgie with Ruthie and Roxanne Owens

Welcome to the “Illinois Authors’ Corner,” showcasing new releases from our fabulous Illinois Authors and IRC members. If you’d like to include your new release, please visit the IRC website to find out how to submit information.

8 May 2010


A Declaration of Readers’ Rights: Renewing Our Commitment to Students

Written by J.A. Bass, S. Dasinger, L. Elish-Piper, M.W. Matthews, and V.J. RiskoAllyn & Bacon May 2007Category: Professional Grades: 5-12Chances are that you went into teaching because you care deeply about your stu-dents and want to support their learning, growth, and success. Maybe you have felt frustration in recent years as educational mandates have pressured you to take at-tention away from your students and place it on high-stakes testing and prescribed curricula. The Readers’ Rights approach offers a research-based framework to help you refocus your teaching on your students, while still balancing the demand of standards-based teach-ing. With letters from students and teachers, practical activities, and specific suggestions for making the rights a reality in your classroom, this book offers everything you need to put the focus of your teaching back where it belongs–on your students.

I Fooled You: Ten Stories of Tricks, Jokes, and Switcheroos

Edited by Johanna Hurwitz Illustrated by Tim NihoffIncludes a story written by Carmela Martino and 9 other authorswww.carmelamartino.comCandlewick Press March 2010Category: Short Story Collection Ages: 9-12Judy Moody dreams up her best-ever prank to play on her brother Stink. An arrogant prince tries to bluff his way out of paying the bridge troll’s toll. And two clever chimps outwit their scientist caretakers on a trip to the moon. Edited by acclaimed children’s author Johanna Hurwitz, this collection includes a humor-ous story of sibling rivalry written by Illinois author Carmela Martino. How many different ways can ten leading middle-grade authors tell a story including the line “I fooled you”? Prepare to be surprised!

Fluency: Differentiated Interventions and Progress-Monitoring Assessment (4th Edition)

Written by Jerry L. Johns and Roberta L. Berglundwww.kendallhunt.com/fluencyKendall Hunt Publishing Co. March 2010Category: Professional Grades: PreK-8This book gives teachers a solid founda-tion for understanding fluency, as well as 31 strategies for incorporating flu-ency into their existing classroom and individual instruction. Each strategy is organized for easy usage with goals, ma-terials needed, reader type, description, step-by-step procedures, and evaluation. A quick reference chart shows how the strategies can be differentiated for six types of readers.

Improving Reading: Interventions, Strategies and Re-sources (5th Edition)

Written by Jerry L. Johns and Susan Lenskiwww.kendallhunt.com/irKendall Hunt Publishing Co. October 2009Category: Professional Grades: PreK-12The new edition of Improving Reading has been updated to include reading strategies for intervention and response to intervention (RTI). This easy-to-use resource package provides reading educators and classroom teachers with step-by-step instruction for over 200 research-driven reading interventions and strategies for all students in grades K-12. In addition, there are more than 425 practice and reinforcement activities that expand the strategies and interventions to enhance student learning. This book includes all of the supportive material nec-essary for implementing the strategies, and a CD provides over 200 reproducible pages for classroom use, student activities, and expanded teacher resources.

?

Do you want to know what is in the box?

Find out at the2011 IRC Conference

Literacy Outside the Box!March 17-19, 2011Springfield, Illinois

Come explore Literacy Outside the Box! at the 2011 IRC Conference. Many featured award-

winning authors and prominent literacy leaders will help you find literacy in new places including:

And Many More to Come!Watch for the Preliminary Program in October 2010!

Jeff AndersonM.T. Anderson

T.A. BarronDanny Brassell

Marc BrownPatrick Carman

Ruth CulhamMordicai Gerstein

Barry Lane

Marion Blumenthal LazanJacquie McTaggart

Donalyn MillerVaunda Micheaux Nelson

Tim RasinskiJohn Rocco

Frank Serafini David Schwartz

Jane Yolen


May 2010 9

Spanish Reading Inventory (2nd Edition)Written by Jerry L. Johns and Mayra C. Danielwww.kendallhunt.com/sriKendall Hunt Publishing Co. March 2010Category: Professional Grades: PreK-8This new edition will help teachers and other professionals determine a student’s reading proficiency in Spanish. By using the Spanish graded word lists and graded passages, teachers can determine a stu-dent’s reading level, evaluate strengths and weaknesses in word recognition and comprehension, and assess fluency. It is also a helpful tool in planning responsive instruction and interventions for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners.

I Was Born on 9/11Written by Cindy L. Rodriguez www.CindJoyBooks.comIllustrated by Joyce L. ElliottPublishAmerica November 2009Category: Children’s Ages: 9-12Who would have dreamed that the exact same day on which they were born would be the same day that one of the most world-changing, history-making events ever occurred? In poetic rhyme and bril-liant colors, the narrator in this book, I Was Born on 9/11, shares what happened on September 11, 2001. The reader sees the events in New York, how America pulled together, how our people realized the value of their country, and how we as a nation can have hope for a safer tomorrow. One is left with a sense of patriotism, cooperation, passion, and a deep respect for those who gave their lives to help keep our country safe that day, and for those who continue to do so even today.

FlyingWritten and Illustrated by Kevin Luthardt www.kevinluthardt.comPeachtree Publishers March 2009Category: Picture Book Ages: 4-8

August 2010 IRC Communicator and Illinois Authors’ Corner

deadline for submissions is June 1, 2010!

PROGRAM FORMATProposals may be submitted for small group sessions.• SMALL GROUP SESSIONS will be scheduled for 60 minutes. Presenters desiring more time may request a double session.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION• Proposals that emphasize interaction across disciplines, interaction across roles, new issues or topics, innovative

or novel ways of viewing traditional issues, topics, materials or methods and evidence of familiarity with current practice and/or research will be given priority.

• Proposals that promote commercial materials or programs will not be accepted.• Proposals that contribute to the achievement of an overall program balance in the range of topics, the grade

levels covered, and the professional and geographic distribution of the participants will be given priority.• Proposals must be typed, legible, and complete. The Program Committee reserves the right to disqualify

incomplete or late proposals.

GENERAL INFORMATION• Teachers, researchers, librarians, administrators, and others interested in promoting reading and related literacy

areas are encouraged to submit program proposals.• As a professional, nonprofit organization, the Illinois Reading Council is unable to provide honoraria to program

participants nor to reimburse for materials, travel, meals or hotel expenses.• All presenters whose program proposals have been approved must pre-register and pay conference fees no

later than the last day designated for pre-registration (February 1, 2011). If not, name and presentation may be removed from the final 2011 Conference program due to printing deadlines.

• The person submitting the proposal must receive advance consent from each listed presentation associate. • Only an overhead projector and screen will be provided. All other audio-visual equipment is the responsibility

of the presenter(s). LCD Projectors are not provided. • Proposals must be submitted online at www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org or postmarked no later than September

1, 2010. Each person submitting a proposal will be sent an acknowledgment by email when the proposal is received. Future correspondence will also be sent by email.

• All applicants will be notified of the Program Committee’s decisions by December 1, 2010. It is the responsibility of the person submitting the proposal to relay the committee’s decision to each presentation associate listed on the program.

Individuals seeking conference information should contact:


Normal, IL 61761

Phone: 888-454-1341 (toll-free) Email: [email protected] Fax: 309-454-3512 Web: www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org

Submit Program Proposals Online at www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org!

2011 PROGRAM PROPOSAL Illinois Reading Council Conference March 17-19, 2011

2011 PROGRAM PROPOSAL Illinois Reading Council Conference March 17-19, 2011

Please type or print all information.I. PERSON SUBMITTING PROPOSAL

Name(Last)___________________________________ (First)_________________________________________

Address_____________________________________________________________________________________

City________________________________________ State______________ Zip_______________________

Telephone: Work____________________________ Home________________________________________

Position and/or Title___________________________________________________________________________

School/District/Professional Affiliation____________________________________________________________

Work Address______________________________________ City___________________ State___________

Email______________________________________________

II. PRESENTATION ASSOCIATES Please list the names, complete addresses (including zip code), telephone numbers, and institutional affiliations

and addresses of the presentation associates. Please secure advance permission from each individual. A separate sheet with this information may be attached.

Name(Last)____________________________________ (First)__________________________________________


City__________________________________________ State______________ Zip_________________________

Phone______________________________________ Email________________________________________

Name(Last)___________________________________ (First)_________________________________________


City__________________________________________ State______________ Zip_________________________

Phone______________________________________ Email________________________________________

III. STRAND NUMBER ________________________ All proposals should relate to one of the strands below:

8. Adult Education 9. Collaborations (inclusion, teaming, literacy coaching, RtI)10. Research-Based Practice11. Standards, Assessment, and Evaluation12. Early Childhood and Emergent Literacy13. Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum14. Administration15. Title I16. Family Literacy

1. Literacy Skills (fluency, word identification, comprehension, vocabulary) - ISBE Standard 1 2. Literature Studies - ISBE Standard 2 3. Extending Literacy through Speaking and Listening - ISBE Standard 4 4. Extending Literacy through Writing - ISBE Standards 3 and 5 5. Technology in the Classroom 6. Diversity (multicultural, multiple intelligences, gender issues, ESL, gifted, at-risk) 7. Coordinating/Administering a Reading Program

IV. SESSION LENGTH: Sessions will be 60 minutes in length. Presenters desiring more time may request a double session.

VI. AUDIO VISUAL EQUIPMENT: Overhead projectors and screens are the only audio visual equipment available to presenters. Other equipment must be supplied by the presenter. LCD Projectors are not provided.

VII. TITLE OF PRESENTATION (as you wish it to appear in the program book; please be succinct)

VIII. ABSTRACT Describe the content of the program in 20-35 words. The abstract must be clearly stated and reflect the actual

presentation. Please remember that your session may not promote specific products or packaged programs.

In accordance with IRA and IRC policy, program participants will not be reimbursed for any expenses by the Illinois Reading Council. I understand that presenters must pre-register for the conference by February 1, 2011. If not, names and presentation may be removed from the final IRC conference program due to printing deadlines. I also understand that only an overhead projector and screen will be provided and that the printing of handouts is the responsibility of the presenters.

_______________________________________________ ______________________________ Signature of Person Submitting Proposal Date

Proposals may be submitted online at www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org or mail one copy of completed proposal postmarked no later than September 1, 2010 to:


Normal, IL 61761

To help prevent scheduling conflicts, please identify all presenters listed in this proposal who are also included in other proposals.

Name Person Submitting Other Proposal

____________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ____________________________

V. INTENDED AUDIENCE (Check each category that applies.) _______ Educators of Pre-Schoolers (PreK-K) _______ Educators of Special Needs Students _______ Educators of Primary Students (K-3) _______ Educators of Adults _______ Educators of Intermediate Students (4-6) _______ Administrators _______ Educators of Middle/Junior High Students (6-9) _______ Librarians _______ Educators of High School Students (9-12) _______ All


May 2010 13

“How Would I Know That If You Weren’t My Mom?”

By Sue Sokolinski, Co-Chair, Adult and Family Literacy Committee

After reading out loud to my eight-month-old grand-daughter, Lilly, from a book of nursery rhymes, I shared information with her mother about how listening to books with rhymes promotes early language and literacy development. Lauren wondered aloud how most young parents learn how to promote their young children’s early literacy development. “How would I know this if you weren’t my mom?”

Many parents know that reading out loud to young children will prepare them for school-based literacy achievement; however parents may not know how to select developmentally appropriate books or how to en-gage babies in language and literacy activities. Lauren was surprised when I suggested that she and her husband start reading to Lilly from the day of her birth. “She can’t really understand anything right now, can she?” my daughter asked.

By the time a baby is born she has 12 weeks of actual lis-tening experience (Shaywitz, 2003). A strong link exists between listening comprehension and later reading com-prehension (Aarnoutse, van den Bos, & Brand-Gruwel, 1998); early efforts to promote listening have long-lasting results in terms of early reading development.

Efforts to share information about early language and early literacy development with parents of infants and toddlers are increasing. Batavia teacher Maureen Jakubowski developed Born to Read-Naci para Leer, a program that puts books in the homes of children at birth. “Having all children enter school with strong literacy skills benefits the whole community,” contends Jakubowski.

I urge you to consider creative ways to promote family literacy programs in your communities. Lauren’s ques-tion is valid. How do parents learn how to promote early literacy development?

Aarnoutse, C. A. J., van den Bos, K. P., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (1998). Effects of listening comprehension training on listening and reading. The Journal of Special Education, 32(2), 115-126.Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level. New York: Knopf.

2010 Hall of Fame AwardBy Roxanne Owens, IRC Past President

There are many words to describe our 2010 Illinois Reading Council Hall of Fame recipient. He is a son, a husband, a father, a loving family member, a teacher, a colleague, a writer, a motivator, a cherished friend, a former IRC President, an arm twister, and the kind of man who believes if you get knocked down 7 times, you get back up 7 times.

At the annual conference in March, the Illinois Reading Council was pleased to award Steven L. Layne the 2010 Hall of Fame. Steve, an active member of the IRC for over 10 years, is an award-winning author, a professor at Judson University, and a past president of the Illinois Reading Council. “Under Steve’s guidance, the Illinois Reading Council grew in membership, participation, and in commitment to outreach,” wrote Pam Nelson in her nomination of Steve. Pam also stated, “Steve Layne has supported and enhanced the mission of the Illinois Reading Council to provide support and leadership to educators as they promote and teach lifelong literacy as a teacher, author, parent, and university professor.”

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” And those are the words that best describe our recipient. He is a believer in the beauty of dreams. He believes in the dream that teachers will be recognized for the true heroes they are. He believes in the dream that all children deserve to be well educated, cherished, and loved. He believes in the dream that reading for pleasure will one day be honored as important, necessary, and a very good, legitimate use of school time. He has dedicated his work and his life to these dreams.

Nominations for the 2011 IRC Hall of Fame Award are due November 1, 2010

14 May 2010


“It is time to focus on teaching and

instruction in classrooms and

improving school-level literacy leadership.”

The Classroom Teacher and Educational ReformBy Mike Ellerman, IRC Legislative Committee Chair

There have been many reforms in education, but this year the importance of the teacher in these reforms has been recognized.

“The International Reading Association believes that many education reform efforts have missed the mark by emphasiz-ing lock-step accountability, assessments that provide little or no information to improve instruction or lead literacy reform efforts and curricula that reflect effectiveness under some but not all conditions. It is time to focus on teaching and instruction in classrooms and improving school-level literacy leadership. The classroom is the place where teacher knowledge, resources, and students come together to make a difference.”

Student achievement is positively cor-related with teacher participation in professional development.

Here are the talking points, which were given to our senators and representatives in Washington, D.C.:

Establishing clear literacy standards for each grade.•Establishing literacy leadership teams for shared deci-•sion-making.Establishing a school wide assessment system to inform •reading instruction.Implementing a school wide core instructional program •of validated efficacy.Implementing a school wide plan to allocate sufficient •literacy instructional time.Adjusting group size, instructional time, and instructional •programs according to learners’ assessed needs.Providing resources and personnel to support reading •instruction for all students.Providing ongoing professional development to sup-•port teachers in the implementation of effective literacy instruction.

It was noted that Secretary Arne Duncan referred to No Child Left Behind as ESEA, www2.ed.gov/news/pressre-leases/2009/09/09242009.html, www.ed.gov/. NCLB has been a national goal since 2001 when President George Bush initiated the NCLB plan. www.isbe.state.il.us/nclb/default.htm. It is believed the name change back to ESEA may be

due to the negative publicity of NCLB, but it is also believed that the Adequate Yearly Progress will continue, particularly for subgroups. It is believed that there will be a reward for successes made, since so many schools have difficulty meet-ing the standards.

It is also believed that the states and districts will determine how to meet the goals. Those not making the goals will have a prescriptive process, which will help them. It is

believed that they would like Title 1 to be competitive and would measure teacher success by student successes, which would then be used to identify colleges/universities where they were trained.

The Race to the Top, www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html, www.isbe.state.il.us/%5C%5C/arra/pdf/race_to_the_top_draft.pdf, will probably continue. They could take the school improvement ideas on how

to put money in failed schools so they could succeed. They would use a “systems approach.”

There are School Improvement Innovation Grants to the tune of 650 million dollars for private schools and colleges. They are looking at technology; perhaps students could go to the web and get assignments. Some of these programs can tell what students are doing. It could be adjunct to teachers, but must be relevant instruction. www.isbe.state.il.us/sos/htmls/improvement_process.htm The Learn Act, sites.google.com/site/iralatupdate/Home/current-legislative-update, is being proposed, and it is recommended that educators contact their representatives and senators to support or co-sponsor the bill.

The Striving Readers, www2.ed.gov/programs/strivingread-ers/index.html, could be used to develop state literacy teams. It would use the same formula as LEARN. It is a budget proposal and would provide effective teaching and learning for a complete education.

There is much going on in education right now and it is im-perative that we keep our eyes on it all. Congress makes the funding decisions. Talk about what is needed by your school and the profession to make a difference for students. IRA’s recommendations center around professional development.


May 2010 15

Literature for All of UsBy Kateri Routh

Literature for All of Us strives to bring the rewards of read-ing and writing to teen mothers and other young people in underserved neighborhoods through book group discussions. We build communities of readers, poets, and critical think-ers. We open worlds by opening books. Each year, we serve 500-600 struggling and reluctant readers aged 12-21 living in Chicago and nearby Evanston. The majority served live in impoverished neighborhoods, disproportionately impacted by teen pregnancy and parenting, infant mortality, violence, gangs and drugs. Many read from 4-6 years below grade level and are at risk for academic failure. Literature for All of Us seeks to connect at-risk young people to their strengths through literature, engaging them in book groups where they read and discuss books and write poetry.

Our book groups meet weekly onsite for 90 minutes and are facilitated by professional Book Group Leaders. A typical book group meeting includes opening and closing rituals, round-robin reading and discussion, a poetry writing exercise, and sharing the writ-ing with the group. We choose authors and poets whose writings include settings, language, themes and experi-ences that directly relate to the lives of the participants.

The program offers opportunities for teens to experience a high quality education in the literary arts. With the guid-ance of professional book group leaders, students are able to have articulate and interactive discussions of the literature presented. Through carefully planned discussion questions, and the comfort of the book group circle, students are able to share their personal and aesthetic responses to the texts, to comprehend and evaluate select texts, to work out text meaning as a group, to learn to support and challenge dif-ferent points of view, and to hone their critical thinking and communication skills.

The primary impact for Literature for All of Us book groups is making reading and writing essential to participants’ lives. Program evaluations are significant and include positive changes in reading frequency, increase in reading enjoyment, increase in writing to gain understanding of feelings, increase in perspective-taking and empathy and an increase in posi-tive coping skills. The majority of students report that being in book group changed the way they viewed themselves or their lives.

IRC awards financial grants for the purpose of promoting literacy.

Literacy Support Grants for 2012-13 will be due

May 1, 2011.

Grant Funds New ProjectsBy Pamela Ciway and Susan Sokolinski,

IRC Adult and Family Literacy Committee Co-Chairs

The 2009-10 Adult and Family Literacy Grant Review Com-mittee awarded a total of $3500 that will fund five diverse projects that aim to support the literacy development of adults and families in Illinois. Jay Einhorn, a member of SCIRA, believes that “magical things happen” when parents and children read together. Jay and his team will select bilingual books to use in Parents and Children Reading Together, a family literacy program designed to engage Hispanic parents and their children in North Lake County in shared reading activities. Maureen Jakubowski, an elementary teacher in Batavia and member of Fox Valley Reading Council and Joann Zillman, director of the Batavia Public Library Youth Services developed a program, Born to Read-Naci para

Leer that provides books and informa-tion about early reading development to local newborns and their families. Juliann Caveny’s project, Literacy Fun Night, will provide books to low-income middle-school students and their parents/guardians in an effort to increase student reading and parent involvement. Juliann is a member of the Lewis and Clark Reading Council. Dr. Ladislava Khailova, a professor at Northern Illinois University and mem-ber of Fox Valley Reading Council,

will get Hispanic children from birth through five years old “off to a good start” in a two-part family literacy program. The goal of Off to a Good Start: Enhancing Hispanic Parental Involvement in Home Literacy is multifaceted: to provide parents with read aloud strategies, to teach parents how to involve their young children in engaging family literacy activities, and finally to show parents how to access and use books in the university’s juvenile book collection. Tamara Springer, a member of Two Rivers Reading Council will facilitate Parent and Family Reading Nights: Bridging Home and School, a four session family literacy program intended to promote lifelong reading practices by teaching low-income children and their families how to select and access age ap-propriate and high interest books. Congratulations to these IRC members who have actualized their plans to promote family literacy in their communities.

A diligent team of IRC members patiently maneuvered their way through a newly developed rubric and revised Adult and Family Literacy Grant Criteria. We extend a sincere and resounding note of appreciation to Elaine Dugan, Leslie Fors-man, Kristen Stombres, Sandy Swanlund, and Joy Towner.

16 May 2010


More information about IRC Literacy Support Grants is available at

illinoisreadingcouncil.orgunder “Awards &

Grants.”

Story Hour with SantaBy Mary Stayner

What is in a dream? Well…in 1998 at 2:00 in the morn-ing, I woke up, sitting straight up in bed, and said, “Santa can READ.” This made no sense to my husband, Jack, but he asked the next day what I was dreaming about. Dreams really do come true…thanks to good friends like Santa Claus.

This dream became a reality and for the past 12 years, the Northwestern Illinois Reading Council has sponsored a program known as Story Hour with Santa through a Literacy Support Grant issued by the Illinois Reading Council. Its roots were in the Freeport Lincoln Mall in Freeport, Illinois and have relocated in local libraries. Since that time, the program has evolved to what has become a very rewarding and successful venture in supporting literacy in our area.

This year the program reached out to seven libraries in Carroll, Jo-Daviess, and Stephenson counties – Elizabeth, Freeport, Mt. Carroll, Pearl City, Savanna, Stockton, and Thomson. Word is getting out and we will be expanding to two more libraries next year. Several of the libraries welcomed Santa Claus himself, while others received visits from Mrs. Claus, Father Christmas, and even a few elves. Each visit was filled with holiday cheer and excitement as children gathered to hear stories read by their beloved Santa and friends. Each child was warmly welcomed to share their Christmas wishes and have a holiday snack or treat. The children were invited to choose a book from Santa via Northwestern Illinois Reading Council. This year 272 children received books from Santa. Their little eyes just sparkled as they enthusiastically chose a book…from Santa. What a joy it is to share the love of reading! Northwestern Illinois Reading Council is committed to supporting literacy efforts in its little cor-ner of the state and is very appreciative of the guidance and encouragement received from the Illinois Reading Council. Check out our schedule of appearances for next year and make plans to visit the library to see a wonderful role model in action.

To Read, To Rhyme, To Have a Good Time

By Mary Clark

The halls were lined with student examples of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, synonyms, antonyms and homophones when the big day finally arrived. In Lin-coln, Illinois, Washington-Monroe kindergarten through fifth grade students participated in Wacky Word Week to prepare for the visit of poet Brian P. Cleary. Cleary writes many entertaining books such as How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear? (homonyms and homophones) and Hairy, Scary, Ordinary (adjectives).

Students worked with book buddies from different grade levels (kindergarten with third, second with fourth)

to think of examples of parts of speech and illustrate them. Brian P. Cleary books were read feverishly throughout the week as our grant from the Illinois Reading Council not only allowed us to bring the poet to our school, but also to purchase sets of his books for each of our classrooms.

On the day Cleary visited, he first met with the kindergarten, first and

second graders along with our Special Needs class. He explained much to them about writing poetry and used hands-on participation to get students involved in the writing process. Next Brian met with our third, fourth and fifth graders as a large group. He talked to students about the importance of reading and explained how other authors had influenced his writing. He had students read poetry along with him and demonstrated the importance of thinking of just the right words to use to convey mean-ing. In the afternoon Brian met with two third grade and two fourth grade classes individually to help students write a poem of their own. Students will remember Cleary’s visit each time they pick up one of his books during independent reading. We believe that his visit helped inspire our students to embrace writing and to consider poetry as a genre to be enjoyed. Thanks very much to the Illinois Reading Council for granting us the funding necessary to offer this program for our students.


May 2010 17

Battle of the Books and Book Buddies

By Cara Schuster

This is the second year that IRC has graciously provided Mooseheart Child City and School with grant money for Middle School Book Clubs. These clubs have created many positive changes in the literacy community of the school and beyond.

This year’s book clubs were separated by ability. The first group was the Battle of the Books Clubs and the second group was Book Buddies. The Battle Clubs read the same books as the students in Battle groups from Rotolo Middle School. In February, these students opposed each other at Rotolo. This was a motivating experience for the Mooseheart students. They were excited to present another Battle in front of their entire middle school and to include their peers in this Battle as ‘lifelines’ if they read the book.

Book Buddies were struggling readers who were to read the same books as struggling readers at Rotolo. They were to write to each other about the books and meet each other in April. Although this was somewhat motivating to our students we found that their writing abilities were too low to communicate on a regular basis. Towards the end of January we struck a new approach. The students would create artifacts from the books they were reading and meet up at the end of April to present posters, timelines, and short summaries.

The impact of the grants on these book clubs cannot be overstated. The grants were supportive for the students, the schools, the teachers, and the communities. The students’ motivation for reading increased as well as their stamina, vocabulary, and comprehension. There was also a feeling of belonging to a community that is bound by literacy and wider than their own schools. Through the book clubs, students became aware of me as a reading teacher and the teachers became more aware of me as a reading leader. This opened many avenues to the improvement of literacy school-wide. The teachers and administrators began to build relationships between the two schools and this will continue to provide op-portunities for students in the future. Thank you IRC for supporting a wide-reaching reading initiative.

IRC PublicationsThe Illinois Reading Council offers many resources to their members. Take advantage of these great materials to share with organizations, parents, or teachers! The items listed below can be ordered from the IRC Office by phone at 888-454-1341. Prices and order forms are available at www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org/ircservices/ircpublications.

Some ABC’s for Raising a Reader

Parents are their child’s first teachers, and it’s never too soon to introduce your child to books. By reading aloud to your child, you provide the sounds of written language, demonstrate book handling skills, develop your child’s expectation that the print and pictures carry a message and build positive attitudes toward reading. Use this ABC listing of ways that you can encourage a love of reading and make reading fun for your child.

Attempting Unknown Words: Suggestions for Parents

As the parent of a young child, you are a very important person for your child’s reading and language development. You are your child’s first teacher! This tri-fold brochure will provide strategies to aid your child as s/he attempts unknown words.

Help Me Grow To Be A Reader

This little 16-page booklet helps parents understand how children grow to be readers, as told from the child’s point of view. Strategies for helping young readers develop their reading skills are outlined in a fun format.

Reading Strategy Bookmark

This bookmark lists strategies for young readers to use when they come to words they don’t know. On the back side of this bookmark, students can list their personal strategies. Use this in classrooms or with parents as a tool to assist their efforts at home!

18 May 2010


When Lightning Strikes TwiceBy Alan Holtz

Have you ever noticed how a book becomes super popular just before a movie comes out? And then it drops off the face of the Earth… Lightning Can Strike Twice was a reading program based on Rebecca Caudill award-winner The Lightning Thief and its movie that premiered in February. Our goal was to grab onto the Hollywood hype and create a literary event at our school. We planned to do a building-wide reading of the same book across all classes and to have the sequels in the school’s library. It was a simple plan that couldn’t go wrong. Really, what could go wrong with a building-wide reading of such a book?

What Could Go Wrong 101 is what we developed. Talk about backfiring correctly. When the book order of 50 copies of The Lightning Thief and 15 to 20 copies of each sequel arrived, we processed the books and placed them on the shelves of our library. This was our greatest error; the students found the new copies of the book and checked them out. Almost immediately, all 100 copies were read over and over again by our 1,300 students.

What Could Go Wrong 102 was what happened to our classroom teachers. Our teachers started to read the story aloud as planned. We discovered not only did one student read the book… Entire classes read the first book. Most of several classes read the second book. Our building-wide read aloud was already read. Our kids read the book on their own, just like the studies said they would.

What Could Go Wrong 103 was the movie itself. Over and over students across the building came up to the library to complain about the movie. No Clarisse. Only one incredibly brief mention of Kronos, you know the main villain in the series. Where was Annabeth’s hat? What was Poseidon wearing? Why was the entrance to Camp Half-Blood in the middle of the woods and not on the hilltop? MRS. DODD TAUGHT MATH!!! What else could the movie have butchered?

When we looked back we noticed we had over 1,900 checkouts on the series. Rarely did we have more than five copies available on the shelves. The best plans of our teachers were ruined by adventurous readers! We had students that read, compared, and contrasted the book to the movie. We had real reading without trying. Well, at least we got the countdown right. Hopefully, we’ll learn from our experience when The Hunger Games and The Invention of Hugo Cabret premiere in 2011.

Summer Reading ProgramBy Culleen Siebert

With funding from Illinois Reading Council to support our Family Home Run Summer Reading Program we will be able to provide free books for ELL students and students receiving reading support throughout the school year. The purpose of the program is to encourage students and parents to continue reading over the summer and have weekly contact with a teacher to check in on student reading and support parents with literacy strategies.

Two teachers, an ELL teacher and a Reading Specialist, will meet weekly with students and parents for reading opportu-nities and vocabulary activities. Once a week at the local school, students and parents will be able to access a wide va-riety of books. The students will have an opportunity to read to a certified reading therapy dog and with teachers. From June 29th-July 27th from 5:00-6:00 p.m. families will be able to participate in literacy activities. For example each week 1 teacher will spend 15-20 minutes modeling a literacy strategy for parents using a variety of genre. While one teacher is modeling the strategy to the parents the other teacher will engage students in a similar literacy activity. These include paired reading, duolog, shared reading and vocabulary ac-tivities, increasing background knowledge, predicting and improving students’ oral language skills, to name a few.

After the twenty minutes the two groups will come together to practice the strategy together. One teacher will monitor the parents and students to answer questions and/or provide more modeling for the families. During this time students will have signed up and be able to come and read with a certified reading therapy dog. Research shows that reading to a therapy dog relaxes struggling readers and builds their confidence. The teacher, Smokey’s owner and trainer, will assist with any questions that may arise while reading is going on. The final ten minutes will be for an all group activity such as vocabulary bingo, Connect 2, and Trivia from Around the World, which will help our ELL students feel proud of their culture and heritage and to teach everyone else something new. Finally, two teachers, through these activities, will try to motivate students to find what researcher Stephen Krashen calls a “Home Run” book (the first book that really excites a child). We would like to be able to give each child a “Home Run” book for their own at the end of the six weeks.

This summer reading program for ELL students and strug-gling readers will hopefully help maintain their progress and will assist parents with information on helping their children improve their reading skills.

Cool Studies: Got Grit? By Lou Ferroli

“Did you ever wonder how you got through your first couple of years of teaching? What did it take?”

Continued on page 20


May 2010 19

The last couple months have been great, no? The ISATs ended. The IRC Conference was spectacular. And you’ve actually enjoyed the post-ISAT what-teaching-used-to-be-like months. Come fall, are you going back for another year of teaching? You know, about one in five teachers leaves the profession within a few years.

Did you ever wonder how you got through your first couple of years of teaching? What did it take? Patience? Ganas? (Rest in peace, Jaime Escalante.) Good kids? Luck? Corpo-ral punishment? Well, maybe forget that last one. According to a study in The Journal of Positive Psychology beginning teachers who are successful under the toughest circumstances have “grit”, which they define as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Respond to these statements on a 1 = not at all like me to 5 = very much like me scale. “I finish whatever I begin.” “New ideas and new projects some-times distract me from previous ones.” “Setbacks don’t discourage me.” “I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest.”

Angela Duckworth and her colleagues are searching for nontraditional indica-tors of teacher quality. Instead of look-ing at education level and certifications, they wonder about the importance of positive character traits like “grit” (Gritty individuals tend to work harder than equally able peers, and they remain committed to their chosen pur-suits longer.) and “life satisfaction” (Happy people experience frequent positive moods in which they work actively toward goals and develop skills and resources in the process.) and “optimism.” That’s why they developed the Grit Scale and have used it to predict adolescents’ grade point averages, cadets’ retention at West Point, and who might advance among Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants. Don’t you love it? Grit, satisfaction, and optimism in a publication named the Journal of Positive Psychology. Maybe the IRA should rename its journal “The Happy Reading Teacher”, or we should rename ours the “Illinois Reading Council Cool Journal.”

The researchers did their most recent study with novice teachers (first and second-year) in the Teach For America program. In the TFA program, individuals commit to teach

for two years in low-income communities. The researchers were examining the importance of positive personality traits in the face of adversity because our profession’s already high attrition rates are much higher in under-resourced school districts.

They used a definition of teacher effectiveness that was based on student achievement. Often teacher effectiveness is based on ratings teachers receive from students or supervisors, and those ratings can sometimes be just popularity indicators. Rather, they used TFA rankings where each teacher’s rank is “based on the academic gains of their students.” TFA used “a detailed rubric to make unbiased comparisons across teachers.” They estimated grade level gains, average student mastery of content, or both.

How’s that for a slick research design? Later in our careers, teacher effective-ness is attributable in good measure to extensive experience. But in this study they took teachers still wet behind the ears, put them to work under the toughest circumstances, and looked to see who got concrete, measureable results. Cool.

The first finding they reported was that results were different for different

groups of teachers. “Consistent with the premise that the first years of public school teaching in relatively poor com-munities can be demanding, second-year teachers were less satisfied with their lives than first-year teachers.” (Ouch! That didn’t take long.) Later in their discussion they said, “Our finding that experienced teachers were less satisfied with life corroborates vivid anecdotal evidence that despite the many rewards of teaching, concomitant challenges and setbacks can be demoralizing.” (There’s one of the reasons I am an avid reader of research. That’s beautiful prose.)

Elementary and SPED teachers had a greater impact on students than secondary teachers. And female teachers got better results than males. So, they statistically controlled for gender, experience, and teacher assignment in the remaining analyses.

As they had hypothesized, all of the positive personality

Illinois Reading Council1210 Fort Jesse Road, Suite B2Normal, IL 61761

Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDPermit No. 800Springfield, IL

Cool Studies continued from page 19traits (grit, life satisfaction, and optimism) predicted teacher performance. Then they constructed a regres-sion model. Researchers use regression when they have a group of variables, or measures, and they want to eliminate some that overlap in order to see which variables matter most. In the end, grit mattered. Their explanation was simple; grittier teachers persevered. They worked longer and harder toward their goals.

The other variable that mattered was life satisfaction. In fact, it was more important than grit. They con-cluded that teachers higher in life satisfaction may be more adept at engaging their pupils, and their zest and enthusiasm may spread to their students. They quote a first-year teacher: “These young children needed help with reading and mathematics, but they also needed much more in their lives. They needed imagination and self-confidence. So we sang, happily and frequently. We drew pictures and made up songs and stories injecting into the grimness of many of their lives small pockets of joy.”

The researchers suggested that one of the implications of their findings is that when recruiting and selecting teachers, schools should consider positive traits such as

grit and life satisfaction rather than traditional indica-tors of performance. I can see it now. You go to a job interview and somebody pulls out the 8-item grit scale. So, in case that ever happens, here are the rest of the items. “I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a dif-ferent one.” “I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete.” “I am a hard worker.” “I am diligent.”

There. Now you can take the whole thing and see how much grit you have. The average grit scale score from some of their other research was 3.21. If you want to increase your grit score, here is a strategy you can use. Respond with just 1’s and 5’s. Do not use 2’s, 3’s, or 4’s. It will work.

Oh, my goodness. What have I done? I have given you test-taking strategies so that you can inflate your score without actually being any grittier. We, in Illinois, usu-ally do that in the months leading up to March, not in May. I’m very sorry.

Duckworth, A., Quinn, P., & Seligman, M. (2009). Posi-tive predictors of teacher effectiveness. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 540-547.

May 2010 IRC Communicator

Documents

Transcript of May 2010 IRC Communicator