What does Bill Kist, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Al Gore, Jerry Spinelli, Bruce Lansky, Richard Allington, Stephanie Harvey, Anne Goudvis, and countless others have in common with me? (Come on, use your inference skills. . . .)
Well, not only do we all value reading and writing, but we were all at the International Reading Association Conference to talk about it!
I had the unique opportunity to meet and/or hear many of these individuals speak of the importance of literacy. I found myself walking through hotel halls, often with my mouth hanging open, poking colleagues and whispering "Hey, did you see who that was?" I was in awe!!! I imagine it was like being on the red carpet in Hollywood, only it was the "read carpet" in the literacy world. (Pun intended!!)
Presenters from all over parts of the world were at the IRA Conference to show how literacy research could be put into practice; show findings on current research studies and to portray how literacy is being fostering in their part of the world. Clearly all participants and presenters had similar goals in mind-to help students find a love of reading that will carry them throughout their adult lives, as nearly everything we, adults, do involves literacy in some way.
Overall this was an experience of a lifetime. I arrived home Wednesday with countless ideas, samples, autographed books and memories. It has been wonderful working with Dr. Bintz, Liz, Petra, Rochelle and Lisa (even though she could not go with us to Chicago). This experience has truly shown the power of collaboration.
I am also attaching a link to an IRA webinar up and coming (May 8) about expository writing instruction-it sounds interesting. http://https//sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2009-11-15.0647.M.B39916033873709470BB66497EB58F.vcr
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment