Twice every year we have the opportunity for a fresh start. Obviously, one time in is August. But, we also have that opportunity when we begin a new semester in January. We reveiw assessment data from the end of the first semester and implement new ideas and strategies to meet each student's current needs.

  
I began the semester by reviewing December's assessment results. At the end of December, each student colored his/her personal bar graph to show personal results compared to the goal. We give both the STAR Reading Assessment as well as an Informal Reading Inventory, and each assessment has its own bar graph.

 We began January by reviewing our progress and looking at the reading level goals for third quarter, setting each student's goal for strategy use with the student, communicating it to all important parties, and tracking the use of that strategy on a daily basis. Even first graders are successfully self-assessing his/her strategy use when reading and then using this information to set a new goal for third quarter.

  
This process from Assessment for Learning has enabled us to achieve results that I have never seen before in my Reading Intervention classes over the course of my teaching career. This process also leads to implementing new strategies/ideas and is a part of the "begin anew" philosophy of a new year/new semester.

The following are a couple of the new ideas/strategies that I am implementing this semester:

Reader's Theater groups
to improve fluency and comprehension.
Check out the strong research base from a short compilation of the research or Tim Rasinski's website.

  
Independent reading partners
for students to capitalize on the social aspect of reading. In one fourth grade classroom, we have two or three students partnering to each read and chat about the same book for independent reading.

I wish you a productive and happy new semester!
 

The Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award will be presented on January 19, 2012 at the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) international conference in Miami Beach, Florida. The intermediate/young adult award will be presented to Kathryn Erskine, author of Mocking Bird and Beverley Brenna, author of Waiting for No One. In the picture book category, the awards go to Rebecca Elliott, author/illustrator of Just Because, and Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete (authors) and Shane W. Evans (illustrator) for My Brother Charlie.

Dolly Gray Award – 2012 Award Winner

2012 Dolly Gray Award Winner

Mockingbird

by Kathryn Erskine

Presented at the CEC-DADD's biennial conference in Miami Beach, Florida, January, 2012.

Disability: Asperger Syndrome

Publisher: Penguin

Dolly Gray Award – 2012 Award Winner

2012 Dolly Gray Award Winner

Waiting for No One 

by Beverley Brenna

Presented at the CEC-DADD's biennial conference in Miami Beach, Florida, January, 2012.

Disability: Asperger Syndrome

Publisher: Red Deer Press

Dolly Gray Award – 2012 Award Winner

2012 Dolly Gray Award Winner

My Brother Charlie

by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete (authors) and Shane W. Evans (illustrator)

Presented at the CEC-DADD's biennial conference in Miami Beach, Florida, January, 2012.

Disability: Autism

Publisher: Scholastic

History of the Dolly Gray Award

Dolly Sharpe Gray was born September 20, 1971 in New York City with severe cerebral palsy. Not quite 18 years later she died in her sleep of a respiratory infection. Dolly's life was in many ways the life of any little girl and young woman. To an extent that one might not have anticipated, she participated in the world that we all share. Literature had a lot to do with it. Like many young people, she loved books. Perhaps because she could not walk and she could not speak, the messages of books about diverse people and places were all the more important to her. Books opened the world to her and promoted something called "awareness."  With the power of words and the realism of story, books tell us about the lives of others, including persons with disabilities. Throughout her life, Dolly was greeted with much acceptance, and benefited from that understanding for which literature is partly responsible. When we can identify with characters and stories we learn to know ourselves better and to become more accepting of those around us. Books offered Dolly something precious as she enjoyed stories showing figures with whom she could identify. The issue was that there were limited books with which she could relate. Without powerful and accurate depiction of persons with disabilities, literature itself is diminished. Today there are many more books for young people which give substance to "inclusion."

The Dolly Gray Award recognizes high quality fiction/biographical books for children, adolescents, and young adults that authentically portray individuals with developmental disabilities. The award was developed by the DADD in 2000 in response to a growing body of children’s literature that includes characters with developmental disabilities, and to assist in dispelling harmful myths and stereotypes portrayed in the media. Special Needs Project, a worldwide leader in the distribution of books related to disabilities, co-sponsors this award. 

A list of all books considered for the award, procedures, and submission guidelines are available on the DADD website:  http://daddcec.org/Awards/DollyGrayAwards.aspx.

At a recent staff meeting, our principal moved every teacher into a team of two and asked each person to write a personal goal that we would like to accomplish this year.  Our goal sheet included spaces for not only the goal, but also the steps that one would take to accomplish this goal and how specific people could help us. At future staff meetings, we will check in with our partner to share our progress towards meeting this goal.  Also, he challenged us to think of ways to track our progress towards completion.  The principal introduced this activity by saying that he wanted to model for us how we might include our students in goal setting.

 This activity was very timely.  Most teachers in our school are close to finishing their initial assessments of students.  For me, assessments are finished and my Reading Intervention classes are beginning.  Last year, my Reading Intervention team experienced great sucess in improving our students' reading due in part to implementing the specific Assessment for Learning practices of student self assessment and goal setting.  (This student involvement piece of Assessment for Learning is so often forgotten.)  Using the results of informal reading inventories shared with students, goals were chosen by students and communicated to parents and classroom teachers on goal sheets along with the steps to completing the goal.  Goal cards were created and posted on desks or in folders to remind students of his/her goal. Progress was tracked on generic graphs that were personalized for each student.

 
Listed below are the resources I have posted to help you implement the often forgotten student piece of Assessment for Learning.

Goal Setting and Tracking
Click here to see goal setting sheets, goal cards for posting on student desk, and goal tracking charts that you can personalize for the needs of your students. 

Thank you to Sarah Valter for sharing her goal card for the desk.  If you have resources that have worked well in your classroom for goal setting or tracking, please share them. I will post them in the next e-newsletter.

To  prepare your students for goal setting, read aloud Salt in His Shoes by Michael Jordan.

To read more about involving students in assessment for learning, google "assessment for learning stiggins."  Look for the article titled "Classroom Assessment for Learning" in the September 2002 edition of Educational Leadership by Chappuis and Stiggins.

To extent your learning, attend Sarah Valter's session on this topic at the MO Early Learning Conference on November 3-4 at Tan Tar A. Learn more about her session and other speakers at http://muconf.missouri.edu/moearlylearning.  Register for the conference at http://muconf.missouri.edu/moearlylearning/Registration.html.

BUILDING COMMUNITY!

A few of our members have shared the activities that they have found successful in their own classrooms for building community from the very first day of school! 

WHO AM I? (Gr 1 and Up)

By Wendy Bopp, Rockwood School District

Each student writes numerous T/F statement about self. Classmates try to answer. Student reveals true answers. Process begins with the teacher (click here for teacher example) and is repeated for each student. Class averages their score on how well they know their classmates. A clean copy of all questionnaires is kept. At the end of the year, all students answer all questionnaires again. Once again, the class average is computed and compared to the fall score. Then, students write a reflective essay about how they learned more about their classmates and how /why it impacted our classroom community.

For Gr 1-2 — Guess Who's Who? (Really Good Stuff #157716)

Same idea but involves more picture drawing. Students decorate the border of the paper and complete the information about themselves in each of the squares. Classmates read the information on the mats and guess who each belongs to, then open the mat to see if they were right! On the inside of the mat is a self-drawn portrait of the author.

POETRY AS A PROMPT FOR GETTING TO KNOW STUDENTS  (Gr 3 & Up)

By Alyssa Barker, Ritenour School District

On the first day of class, I will use the attached poem by Matt Fatchen. As students read it, they think they are reading about Halloween because of the scary events described in the poem. However, it is written about the night before the first day of a new school year. After reading it, I ask students to write how each felt the night before school started. (Now, I also have a writing sample from each student.)   Click here for this poem and others to use in the first few days of school.

Next, we do a Four Corners activity. I have the following words posted in each of four corners around the room: Scared, Worried, Ambivalent, Excited. (Of course, we talk about each of these words and their meanings, especially ambivalent.) I ask the students to stand in the corner that best describes their feelings about starting school today. The students in each corner share with others in the corner why they chose this word. Then, each corner shares out to the whole class as to why they chose this word to describe their feelings about starting school today.

Finally, I turn the Four Corners activity into a Human Continuum – a line of emotions with the word "Excited" at the far right and the word "Scared" at the far left. We discuss where "Worried" and "Ambivalent" might fall on the line. Then, each student goes to stand on the line at the place where his/her emotions would land between "Excited" and "Scared." The students share out with the person to the right then to the left.

Throughout these activities, we are looking for common feelings. Students always find that there are other students who feel similarly to them. In eight years, no one has ever chosen "excited" to show how they feel about the first day of school in middle school.

SUMMER PICTURE OF FUN (Gr K and Up)

By Marcia Strickland, Rockwood School District

Probably my most favorite thing I do to build community is that I send each student a postcard as soon as lists are posted and ask each one to bring a picture of something fun they did over the summer. They share what they did, and we do other activities with the picture. The picture gives them an easy way to share with the class and a focus for what to say when they share.

INCLUSION ACTIVITIES

By Courtney McAllister, Northwest R1 School District

This year we have an advisory group that meets everyday for the first 20 minuntes of the day. We will be doing inclusion activities like Stand If … Examples: Stand if you like to play sports. Stand if you are the oldest child in your family. This will enable students to see commonalities with other students.

We will also do an activity where students are asked to write about themselves from the point of view of what other people see of them on the outside and then what they know of themselves from the inside. We will share to show that what we think we know of others may not always to true. It will also enable students to learn what they have in common with others.

By Carol Lloyd Rozansky, Ph.D.

When adolescent students have difficulties reading, we have traditionally focused on identifying and remediating the skills and strategies they do not have and simultaneously place them in low-level academic courses. However, learned skills and strategies in remedial reading classes rarely transfer to academic courses. This paper suggests a application of content area literacy strategies that are framed in schema theory, culturally relevant pedagogy, motivation to read, and liberatory education. Examples from various content areas are included.

To read more abstracts, click here.

Learning occurs when we have the opportunity to think WITH others.  (Peter Brunn)  "Thinking with others" usually comes in the form of talk … talking to learn.   Want to make a big difference in student achievement with a subtle change in your instruction?  Maria Nichols offers us just that.  She encourages us to have our students "think and talk with others in purposeful ways as a means of generating ideas and constructing understanding."

While reading this, one may be thinking, "Hey, I do that."  But, let's clarify exactly what is meant by that statement.  Do you have your students share ideas with a peer?  Do you have your students talk to other students during a lesson to make one's thinking clear to others?  Well, that is simple communication.

The purposeful talk that is described in the first paragraph is also called "dialogue" by David Bohm (1996).  Bohm describes dialogue as "a coming to an intellectual exchange willing to see and hear something new in the exchange, and actually creating a newer, stronger understanding because of the exchange. … participants achieve a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts – ideas that are bigger and better thean any individual might have conceived on their own."  Nichols says "these learners depend on each other's thinking to enrich their understanding and construct meaning."

How do we create such an environment in our classroom?  Nichols points out several supports and strategies that will enable each teacher to accomplish this in his/her own classroom.

1. Change your wording when sending students off to talk with a partner.

Old:  "Tell your partner what you are thinking."

New instructions:  "Build a conversation with your partner about your thinking."

2. Teach with more small group and less whole class lessons.  This will offer more opportunities for dialogue.

3. Post charts around the room to support the student's use of language in their talk with the partner.  For example, these may be sentence starters that help students to disagree with another person's ideas or add on to another person's ideas.

4. Build a strong classroom community to enable students to take risks with sharing their thoughts and feelings.

5.  Value ideas more than right answers.  Allington and Johnson in their research into the classrooms of highly effective teachers found that dialogue includes "large amounts of "tentative talk" which they define as open-ended talk that proposes possibilities and allows others to build off the thinking, complete the ideas, or contribute in other ways." 

6.  Teach students to "say something meaningful" to advance the dialogue by referencing the text and pushing their construction of meaning.

7.  Keep lines of thinking alive by continuing to develop a topic to the full extent possible before moving off in a different direction.

8.  Teach students to "learn to listen to the ideas of others, value their thinking, be flexible and willing to let go of ideas in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary, and be interested in understanding other points of view even if, in the end, they are not swayed."

Talking to learn is a powerful strategy that can be used across the curriculum to increase student achievement.  Could it be the change to your instruction that will yield huge benefits for your students this year?

Elementary

  Making Connections: Color-Coded Chains from the book Interactive Think-Aloud Lessons by Lori Oczkus

Reciprocal Teaching in Whole-Class Sessions from the book, Reciprocal Teaching at Work by Lori D. Oczkus

Creating, Organizing, and Managing Comprehension Centers from the book, Guided Comprehension in the Primary Grades (Second Edition) by Maureen McLaughlin

Teacher-Directed Whole-Group Instruction from the book, Guided Comprehension in Grades 3 – 8 (Second Edition) by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen

Vocabulary from the book Creating Strategic Readers (Second Edition) by Valerie Ellery

Activities to Build Vocabulary Knowledge and Word Skills from the book Fun-tastic Activities for Differentiating Comprehension Instruction, Grades 2-6 by Sandra K. Athans and Denise Ashe Devine

Middle / Secondary

The Writing Workshop: A Predictable Structure from the book Marvelous Minilessons for Teaching Intermediate Writing, Grades 4–6 by Lori Jamison Rog

Basic Footwork: Learning Technique from the book Going Bohemian (Second Edition) by Lawrence Baines and Anthony Kunkel

Making Inferences and Predictions from the book Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6–12 (Second Edition) by Jeff Zwiers

Self-Questioning Taxonomy from the book Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning (Third Edition) by Doug Buehl

Alternative Texts and Practices to Engage Male Readers from the book To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader (Second Edition) by William G. Brozo

Successful Teachers Share Advice for Motivating Reluctant Adolescents by Cheryl Taliaferro and Sheri R. Parris from the book Adolescent Literacy, Field Tested edited by Sheri R. Parris, Douglas Fisher, and Kathy Headley

By Kenna Wiggins

Literacy competence is the goal of communication arts education. Traditionally, girls outperform boys in literacy pursuits (Kleinfeld, 1998; Park, Pearson, & Reckase, 2005). In recent years, girls have also been receiving more attention in matters of education, as their needs have been considered to have been

shortchanged in favor of boys’ educational requirements (Kleinfeld, 1998). However, now educators are viewing with alarm the discrepancies between boys and girls in reading and writing skills. Books and courses abound, all full of recommendations for remedial strategies. Still, boys’ scores fall behind (Costello, 2008).  The correct approach to take with boys is a subject of much debate.

However, with what we know about achievement in reading in general, a remedy for boys’ literacy would seem to lie in increasing amount of time spent reading.

The read aloud does that and much more.  This article details a study conducted by the author to determine the impact of a teacher reading aloud to a group of male students.  The results prove beneficial when the read aloud is constructed with certain components.  This is a “must read” for every teacher concerned with the reading achievement of boys.

Abstract  from Wiggins, K., (2010, Fall), After-School Read-Alouds for Middle School Boys, 

The Missouri Reader, Volume 35, Number 1, 63-75.

Vocabulary Strategies for Increasing Comprehension

By Summer Holmes

Vocabulary development is a key concept in reading comprehension. In order for students to understand the text they are reading, they must know the meaning of the words. “Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts” (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985, p. 7). According to Daneman (1991), vocabulary knowledge can be an effective predictor of reading success. Vocabulary instruction is an essential element in all content areas; however, vocabulary instruction is, for the most part, “tedious and ineffective” (Richek, 2005, para 1). This article will explore the connection between vocabulary

development and reading comprehension using existing literature and provide vocabulary strategies for teachers to increase student engagement and reading comprehension. Instruction that uses words in games, makes word connections, and manipulates words in a creative way results in more successful student learning (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002).

Abstract  from Holmes, S., (2010, Fall), Vocabulary Strategies for Increasing Comprehension, The Missouri Reader, Volume 35, Number 1, 76-80.

To read more abstracts from the Fall 2010 The Missouri Reader, click here.

the 2011 Missouri Early Learning Conference

(formerly known as the Primary Conference)

November 3-4, 2011 

Tan Tar A Resort 

Register online at http://muconf.missouri.edu/moearlylearning/Registration.html

Featured Speakers:

Katie Wood Ray, Laureen Reynolds, Valerie Ellery, Audrey Penn, Mike Artell

A New Endeavor for MSC-IRA

As you know, MSC-IRA did not hold an annual conference this past year. For the past two years, MSC-IRA has teamed up with Educational Solutions International to co-sponsor the Write to Learn Conference.

This year, MSC-IRA is expanding its partnership with Educational Solutions International by becoming the major co-sponsor of the Missouri Early Learning Conference. This conference, formerly known as the Primary Conference, has been in existence for six years. Starting with the 2011 conference, the name is being changed because the conference audience is being expanded to include pre-school teachers in addition to the traditional K-3 audience.

Conference Information

The Missouri Early Learning Conference

November 3-4, 2011

at the Tan-Tar-A Resort 

Osage Beach, Missouri.

Teachers can attend either day or both days.

Cost for one day is $159; the cost for both days is $259.

Each day will consist of an opening keynote address and three breakout sessions on a variety of topics. There will be breaks, refreshments, and exhibitors, as well. Lunch will be on your own.

About Our Speakers

Thursday, November 3

Audrey Penn

The day will begin with a keynote address from award-winning children’s author Audrey Penn. Audrey began her first career as a ballerina dancing with the National Ballet, New York City Ballet, and the Stuttgart Ballet. She also served as a choreographer for the U.S. Figure Skating Team in preparation for the Pan-Am Games in 1973 and for the 1976 Olympic Gymnastics team. But in 1980 she became ill with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and had to stop dancing.

Audrey had always enjoyed children’s theater and children’s literature, so she turned to writing children’s books as her creative outlet. She used material drawn from the journals she wrote as a child to write her first children’s book. Since then, she has published 18 books for children (including The Kissing Hand and the Chester Raccoon books) and young adult readers. In addition, she takes her one-woman educational program, The Writing Penn, into schools, libraries, and children’s hospitals, where she shapes and refines her story ideas in partnership with kids. Audrey will also do two breakout sessions following her keynote address.Valerie Ellery has devoted her professional career to the field of literacy. Over twenty years ago, she realized that her son had a problem with reading. This very personal experience launched her journey in the quest for understanding, "What do good readers do?" She spent over ten years watching, listening, and analyzing students as they learned to read. Along the way, she was certified as a National Board Teacher. Valerie became a district Curriculum Specialist in 2000, a role which allowed her to model effective literacy strategies for her colleagues while continuing to research and write about strategic reading.

Valerie Ellery

In 2004, Valerie returned to the classroom as a second grade teacher. A year later, her book Creating Strategic Readers was published, earning IRA’s book club selection and best-seller honor. Valerie continued to serve as a part-time Reading Coach while consulting internationally. The second edition of Creating Strategic Readers was published in 2009 with 35 new techniques. Once again, the book was named an IRA "Book Club Selection" and best seller. Her newest, co-published book, Sustaining Strategic Readers, has been named IRS’s April 2011 Book Club Selection. Valerie will present three breakout sessions on the first day of this year’s conference.Laureen Reynolds is a national education consultant and former classroom teacher who believes that bringing interactive activities and novel materials into classrooms inspires and engages learners while providing differentiation opportunities for their teachers. Her philosophy focuses on using classroom-tested management techniques and a large variety of activities to attract students and build their interest and independence as learners.

Laureen Reynolds

Laureen is the author of many teacher resource books, including Poems for Sight Word Practice, Centers Made Simple, Poems for Math Practice, Drill and Thrill, Catch Your Kids Before They Fall, and most recently, Number Facts and Jumping Jacks. Laureen has presented at conferences throughout the country where she shares her energy and passion for education. She served as the chair of both her local and district professional development committees and prides herself on providing educators with practical, ready-to-use activities and differentiation techniques. Laureen will present breakout sessions on a variety of topics both days of the conference.

Friday, November 4

Katie Wood Ray

We will begin with a keynote address from Katie Wood Ray, a former Associate Professor of language arts education at Western Carolina University who is now a full-time writer and researcher of the teaching of writing, as well as a highly accomplished keynote speaker. With a particular focus on the study of writing craft, she leads teacher workshops and summer institutes across the nation. Her professional background includes both elementary and middle school teaching experience and two years as a staff developer at the Reading and Writing Project, Teachers College, Columbia University. She has published numerous articles and book chapters, and is the former co-editor of the journal Primary Voices K-6, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Katie is the author of a number of professional books for teachers, including Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom; The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Parts (And They’re All Hard Parts); What You Know By Heart: How to Develop Curriculum for Your Writing Workshop; About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers; Study Driven: A Framework for Planning Units of Study in the Writing Workshop; Already Ready: Nurturing Writers in Preschool and Kindergarten; and, most recently, In Pictures and in Words: Teaching the Qualities of Good Writing through Illustration Study. In addition to her morning keynote, Katie will do three breakout sessions on Friday.

Mike Artell

Mike Artell is an award-winning children’s book author, illustrator, and TV cartoonist. Mike’s body of work includes nationally recognized picture books, wordplay books, how-to books, and non-fiction books. Mike has also written and illustrated teacher and parent resource books on subjects as diverse as ecology, parties, cartooning, and young authorship. In addition to his work as an author and illustrator, Mike also has extensive experience as a musician, a storyteller, a newspaper editorial cartoonist, a magazine and greeting card writer, a keynote speaker and humorist, and the host of his own television show.

Mike’s newest project is a CD of original Mardi Gras music for children and families (Calling All Children to the Mardi Gras) that has been awarded a Parents’ Choice Foundation award. Mike regularly speaks in schools, public libraries, and at conferences across the country. Mike also conducts regular "author/illustrator in residence" programs in schools, and he has personally guided more than 3,500 students through the process of writing and illustrating their own picture books. For this work, Mike was recognized by the Northshore, Louisiana chapter of the International Reading Association for "exemplary service in the promotion of literacy."

Many of Mike’s books have been named award winners. Most recently, Mike’s book, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, was named by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as its 2009 Read Aloud Book of the Year. Mike’s astronomy book, Starry Skies, was named a Best Science Book for Children by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Mike’s books have also been named "Pick of the Lists" by Publisher’s Weekly, "Top 100" by Curriculum Administrator magazine, and "Teacher’s Choice" by Learning Magazine. Mike will do three breakout sessions on Friday.

Breakout Sessions

In addition to sessions presented by the speakers above, Missouri master teachers will also do a number of presentations at the conference. Topics covered in conference sessions will include reading comprehension and fluency, book making, writing, math games and centers, science, oral language, fluency, motor skills—even cartooning!

You won’t want to miss this conference, so mark your calendars now for the Missouri Early Learning Conference, November 3-4, 2011. We will see you there!

 Wouldn’t it feel good to go back to school and tell your friends how you, Sharon Draper, Goldie Hawn, Tony and Lauren Dungy, and your colleagues had such a great time together? Many of you did just that if you attended the International Reading Organization Convention in Orlando, Florida, May 7-11. The Convention provided the special thrill that comes with from being with several thousand colleagues all there to participate in this professional development opportunity. The keynote speaker motivated those attending while many outstanding speakers shared the latest and best literacy practices.

A special thrill for Missouri State Council members was seeing President Jeanie Cozens accept the IRA Award of Excellence on behalf of the Council. In addition, Lee’s Summit Council, Northwest Missouri Council, Springfield Council, and St. Louis Suburban Council received IRA Honor Council Awards.

A new feature of the Convention was the Teaching Edge, a series of six two-hour sessions that provided connected professional development. The literacy superstars who presented the sessions in Orlando included Regie Routman, Beverly Tyner, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey, Valerie Ellery, Richard Allington, and Lori Ozkus. If you couldn’t make it to Orlando, you can get the professional development knowledge of the series through video recordings available through IRA. You can also access other presentations from the Convention at www.reading.org.

Do you want to be a part of this excitement next year in Chicago. April 29-May1? Start working now to secure permission and funding. The National Association of State Title I Directors, a participant at IRA's convention, has determined that convention sessions meet the definitions found in Section 2123, Local Uses of Funds of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Title II, Part A can support teacher professional development across all core academic subjects.

Also, a variety of grant making organizations fund professional development activities for teachers. These include:

• Governmental agencies: U.S. Department of Education, state education departments, school districts
• Private foundations
• Private corporations (usually from the charitable giving office) 
• Education associations, including NEA and AFTA

  Also, did you know that IRA members save $100 on convention registration?

Whether you can go to the IRA Convention in person or virtually through the www.reading.org, plan on enriching your professional knowledge of literacy with the many IRA resources available to you.