IRCILLINOISREADINGCOUNCIL

In This Issue:

Board BriefsPresident's Column. . . . . . . .1IRAStateCoordinator.. 2

IRC ActivitiesIllinois Reading Recovery. . 430th Day of Reading. . . . . . . 42007 Conference Update. . 12New IRC Website. . . . . . . . 12

Forms(CARE Conference with

Prairie State Winner. . . . 3Program Proposal Form. . .6-8

FeaturesReading Coach. . . . . . . . . . 5IRC Literacy Projects. . . .9-10Cool Studies. . . . . . . . . . . .11

Save the Date!

2007 ConferenceMarch 15-17, 2007Springfield, Illinois

IRCPresidentPam Nelson

I have a dear friend who has now moved back to Nashville, Tennessee. I miss

her for many reasons, but I especially miss her because of her phone calls. I canno longer pick up the phone and hear her say, "Paaam, Paaaam, Ah amovahwhelllllllllllllllllmed!" It was uncanny. She would call with that southerncry at exactly the point that I too was feeling overwhelmed. We needed eachother. We'd talk it out, and as a result of our conversation we could get back tothe task that seemed so overwhelming a few minutes before.

At this point in August, we may all be feeling overwhelmed at the thought ofbeginning at a new school/university/clinic or at the same school/university/clinic but with new classes, materials, duties, or roles. I am feeling that way asI begin my time as President of IRC. While it is a great honor, it is also a bigresponsibility. I am comforted because I know that, while my friend Cynthia isin Nashville, she is still only a phone call away. I am also comforted because Iknow that there are others within IRC who are there to offer support, suggestions,and additional perspectives. I am comforted because I know that there are manynew local and special interest council presidents who are in the same positionthat I am-just a little scared at the prospect of filling some very big shoes.

As I have reflected on this task, I am reminded of Steve Layne's column andSusan Cisna's column in the May Communicator. Both promoted the idea ofservice to local councils, IRC, IRA, and most importantly to our students andcommunities so that we could make a difference-so that we could give back.At our IRC Leadership Retreat, Susan, Steve, and many others gave counsel anddirection to those of us who are beginning in new positions. I thank them fortheir work to strengthen the Council. I thank each of you who have agreed toassume leadership positions in local and special interest councils. I especiallywant to thank our members who have made a commitment to continued

professional development so that they can better serve the residents of Illinois.

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

The second book that is a real necessity for teachers is Re-lax for Success - An Educator s Guide to Stress Manage-ment by Jeffrey Glanz. I jokingly picked up this book atthe IRA Convention in Chicago this past May, telling myfriend that I was in great need of this book. As usual, Icarried it home, placed it on the shelf, and fell back intothe routine of ending school. After having a particularlystressful month of May, I remembered the book and pickedit up to read one night. I was hooked with the first page -"Educators experience stress uniquely" and "There is noway to control the world, but you can have control overyourself." Not only did I find that the author was describ-ing most teachers at this time of year, but he knew withouta doubt how stressful a life most of us lead. Glanz not

only defines the problems we as educators have, but heprovides very practical methods for applying stress man-agement ideas to daily life. The book is easy to read withsimple techniques to relieve stress through changing yourattitude, changing what you say about your stress, and bypracticing several easy energy-enhancing and stress reliev-ing techniques.

-~---

IRCState

CoordinatorSusan Cisna

"All teachers can lead: Most teachers want

to lead. And schools badly need their ideas,invention, energy, and leadership. "

ROLAND S. BARTH

As the new school year begins, I would hope everyone hashad a restful summer and is approaching the new schoolyear with re-energized enthusiasm, and I hope you all en-vision yourselves as literacy leaders. I am sure there is littleneed to tell you all again how important you are to yourstudents and to your school districts.

To help you start your teaching year, I would like to rec-ommend three great books for you to read. The first, Lit-eracy Leadership by Donald A. McAndrew, is publishedby the International Reading Association. It can be orderedfrom IRA through their website or from your IRA mem-bership packet. At first I considered this book useful toonly council leaders and planned on using some of the in-formation at our Leadership Retreat; however, as I beganto read, I realized that the information it contained wasmeant to inspire all reading teachers and educators involvedwith literacy. The six strategies recommended in the bookfor literacy leaders help educators to develop a path in theirown personal lives through which they can promote lit-eracy. McAndrew's "Six Strategies for Peoplework" be-gins with educators developing their own personal visionfor literacy. What do you see as your vision for literacy?Once you develop the vision, McAndrews recommendsfor you to find ways to communicate your vision to thosearound you, then to follow this with modeling your visionfor both your students and your colleagues. Readers areencouraged to take risks and experiment with new ideasinvolving literacy and their visions. Not only is this bookenthusiastic and great reading to get you into the state ofmind needed to begin a new teaching year, but also it wouldbe great reading to encourage teams, clubs, or organiza-tions to become leaders involved in literacy.

-

The final book recommendation is a picture book for bothyou and your students of all ages. My six-year-old grand-daughter brought this book to me to read to her before bed-time one night. I fell in love with it instantly. I must haveraved a bit too much because she graciously invited me totake it home for a few days so I could enjoy it more. Thebook is I Knew YouCould: A Bookfor All the Stops in YourLife by Craig Dorfman. And... since my granddaughter soavidly pointed out to me that the illustrator was also VERYimportant to a book, Cristina Ong illustrated it. The storytheme is much the same as the Little Engine that Could,but oh so much more!!! The train gives advice from hisexperiences, such as: There are so many tracks to choosefrom, but "you must find your own track" or when youfind yourself surrounded by dark in your life, remember"the track you took in must also go out." My granddaugh-ter easily associated the train's advice to things that hadhappened in her life, so younger children can benefit fromthe book, and I immediately envisioned my eighth graderswriting and discussing the life situations that the train couldbe discussing. The book finishes with the thought that lifewill teach you so much more, but to always think you canand "You will!"

I hope your school year gets off to a terrific start, and re-member to make plans to attend those great programs thatyour local reading councils have organized for you thisyear.

August 2006 2

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

The Illinois Council for Affective Reading Education (ICARE) Presents its Second Annual

Voices from the PrairieFeaturing Prairie State AwardWinner

Candace Fleming

October 27-28,2006

Candace FlemingWith Breakout Sessions Featuring

Maria Walther Christine Boardman Moen Anderson's Bookshop

Meet the Author ReceptionFriday, October 27 (7:00-9:00 p.m.)Hampton Inn & Suites2423 Bushwood DriveAurora, Illinois 60506

Meet Candace!

Purchase her books and get them autographed, enjoy the lightrefreshments and cash bar, socialize with other conference attendees(Attendees wishing to stay overnight can reserve a room at adiscount: 630-907-2600)

Saturday Morning ConferenceSaturday, October 28 (8:00-1:00 p.m.)Gary D. Jewel Middle School1501Waterford RoadNorth Aurora, Illinois 60542

8:00-8:30 Registration8:30-9:15 Continental Breakfast and Candace Fleming Presentation9:30-10:30 Breakout Sessions10:45-11:45 Breakout Sessions

12:00-1:00 Catered Lunch and Candace Fleming Presentation

Check ONE of the following: Please fill out ALL items requested:

_ICARE Member Full Conference $60 Name(Includes Fri. & Sat. and all meals)

_Non-Member Full Conference $75(Includes Fri. & Sat. and all meals)

Address

_Friday Only $25 City State Zip

_Saturday Only $60 Phone (-)

_Full Time Student Full Conference $25 Email(Please have school J.D. with you.) (Confirmation will be sent by email only)

Mail to: Larry Pennie, 1902 Quail Run Ct., Normal, Illinois 61761

August 2006 3

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

SAVE THE DATE!

Please mark your calendars for our

16thAnnual Early Literacyand

Illinois Reading Recovery Conference- January 11-12,2007

Chicago Marriott Downtown

**NEW THIS YEAR: Storytelling StrandAND Children:S Literature Strand**

For more information, please contact:Ellen Swengel, Conference Coordinator:

eswengel@insightbb.com or 217-359-7434or

Judy Fraker, Registrar:judyfraker@insightbb.com or 217-352-1132

www.illinoisreadingrecovery.org

MissionThe mission of the Illinois

Reading Council is toprovide support and

leadership to educators asthey promote and teach

lifelong literacy.

IRCILLINOISREADINGCOUNCIL

Illinois Reading Council1210 Fort Jesse Road, Suite 82

Normal, IL 61761Phone: 888-454-1341

Fax Number: 309-454-3512E-Mail: irc@illinoisreadingcouncil.org

Website: www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org

Coming in theNovember Communicator

. Reading Educator of the YearApplication

. Static Stick Decal Contest

. IRC Conference Registration Form

. IRC Housing Form

Start Planning Now!!!Forms also available at www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org!

August 2006

SECONDARY CONFERENCE

CONTENT AREAS GRADES 6-12November 18, 2006

The ONLY exclusively secondary literacy conference in IL

Luncheon address: Turning Real Life into FictionWorkshop I: Can "Bad" Words Do Good?Workshop 2: Banned: When Real Life Fiction

Meets the Censor

Keynote: Motivating Adolescent ReadersWorkshop I: Embracing Confusion: Moving

Students Beyond 1"1Draft ReadingWorkshop 2: Building Deeper Readers

All teachers of grades 6-12 should be hereInterdisciplinary & Instructional Teams / Content Teachers

Literacy Teams / ELL Teachers / Sp Ed Teachers / Title I

Librarians / Reading Teachers & Specialists /Media Specialists / School & District Administrators

the Secondary ~adino Lell8ue's

30th Day of Reading*No purchase orders

*Cash & checks only*No registrations by phone*Call Terry for team discountby 10-15-06

For information:Barb Chrz-White 847-699-0797 bchrzwhitc@comcast.netTerry McHugh 708-220-4544 tmchughfa!davofreading.org

www.davofreadinl!.orl!

4

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

Reading Coachby Mike Ellerman

Reading is the center of educational and political agendas vide professional development opportunities, including par-across the country. Excellence in reading education serves ticipation in reading specialist master's degree programs sostudents,parents and schools. The advent of concern regard- that they could meet the Association's standardswithin threeing reading is important but it can be fraught with dangers as years.well. Sincethe teaching of reading has become so importantthere are many more people in schools charged with helpingto improve students' reading. The problem can come whenpeople who are not trained in reading assume positions thatrequire reading expertise. The reading specialist of the pastworked with students directly,and some still do; today, how-ever,many are assuming leadership roles working with otherteachers and schools to improve reading instuction. The In-ternational ReadingAssociation applauds reading specialistsworking in leadership capacities and considers the readingspecialist as having three major roles: (I) instruction, (2) as-sessment,and (3) leadership. (The IRA has written a positionpaper that explains"The Role and Qualificationsof the Read-ing Coach in the United States.")

Today there are people working in our schools as readingcoaches,literacycoaches, etc. and somehave training in read-ing but others do not. Some of these roles have no agreed-upon definitions or standards. This can create problems forreading coaches if they act as reading specialists when pro-viding leadership for schools and districts. The IRA has setstandards for the reading specialist/literacy coach that can befound in the Standardsfor Reading Professionals,which wasrevised in 2003. The Association acknowledges that schooldistrictsmay select candidateswho do not meet the standardsor have reading specialist certification, but who have otherqualificationsthat make them strong candidates for this posi-tion. They do believe however that these people should pro-

Here are the minimum qualifications the association consid-ers important:

. Are excellent teachers of reading, preferably at thelevels at which they are coaching.

. Have in-depth knowledge of reading processes, ac-quisition, assessment, and instruction.

. Have expertise in working with teachers to improvetheir practices.

. Are excellent presenters and group leaders

. Have the experience or preparation that enables themto model, observe, and provide feedback about in-struction for classroom teachers.

Usually teachers meet these minimum qualifications throughseveral years of outstanding teaching; substantial graduate-level coursework in reading; and coursework related to pre-sentation, facilitation, and adult learning.

The IRA acknowledges that one-shot workshops to improvereading are not usually as productive as having a coach whocan guide teachers in using information in their classes. Mon-eys have been allotted to schools through the Reading Excel-lence Act of 1998 and the Reading First provisions of the NoChild Left Behind Act of 200 I.

Listed below are some activities in which reading coachesmight be engaged.

August 2006

The reading coach and the reading specialist play an important role in creating excellent schools. What do you think?

5

Levell Level 2 Level 3(Infonnal: helps to develop (More fonnal, somewhat more intense; (Fonnal, more intense; may create somerelationships) begins to look at areas of need and focus) anxiety on part of teacher or coach).Conversations with colleagues .Co-planning lessons . Modeling and discussing lessons

(identifying issues or needs, setting .Holding team meetings (grade level, . Co-teaching lessonsgoals, problem solving) reading teachers) . Visiting classrooms and providing.Developing and providing materials .Analyzing student work feedback to teachersfor/with colleagues .Interpreting assessment data (helping .Analyzing videotape lessons of

. Developing curriculum with teachers use results for instructional teacherscolleagues decision making) . Doing lesson study with teachers.Participating in professional . Individual discussions withdevelopment activities with colleagues about teaching andcolleagues (conferences, workshops) learning.Leading or participating in Study .Making professional developmentGroups presentations for teachers. Assisting with assessing students

From IRA, "The Role and Qualifications of the. Instructing students to learn abouttheir strengths and needs Reading Coach in the United States"

PROGRAM FORMATProposals may be submitted for small group sessions.. SMALL GROUP SESSIONS will be scheduled for 60 minutes.

. CRITERIA FOR SELECTIONProposals 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 offamiliarity 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 gradelevels 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 disqualifyincomplete or late proposals.

..

.

.GENERAL INFORMATION

Teachers, researchers, student teachers, librarians, administrators, and others interested in promoting readingand related literacy areas are encouraged to submit program proposals.As a professional, nonprofit organization, the Illinois Reading Council is unable to provide honoraria toprogram 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 nolater than the last day designated for pre-registration (February 1, 2007). If not, name and presentationmay be removed from the final 2007 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 theresponsibility of the presenter(s).Proposals must be postmarked no later than September 1, 2006. Each person submitting a proposal willbe sent an acknowledgment when the proposal is received.All applicants will be notified of the Program Committee's decisions by December 1, 2006. It is theresponsibility of the person submitting the proposal to relay the committee's decision to each presentationassociate listed on the program.

.

.

..

.

.

Individuals seeking conference information should contact:

Illinois Reading Council1210 Fort Jesse Road, Suite B2

Normal,IL 61761-1836

Phone: 1-888-454-1341 (toll-free) Fax: 309-454-3512 E-mail: ircread@dave-world.net

2007 PROGRAM PROPOSALIllinois Reading Council Conference

March 15-17,2007

Please type or print all infonnation.

I. PERSONSUBMITTINGPROPOSAL

Name(Last)

Address'

(First)

City

Telephone: Work,

State Zip

Home

Position and/or Title

School/District/Professional Affiliation.

WorkAddress City State

Email Address

II. PRESENTATIONASSOCIATESPlease list the names, complete addresses (including zip code), telephone numbers, and institutionalaffiliations and addresses of the program associates. Please secure advance permission from eachindividual. A separate sheet with this information may be attached.

Name(Last)

School/District/InstitutionalAffiliati on

(First)

City

Name(Last)

Phone

(First)

Schoo l/Distric t/Insti tuti onalAffiliati 0n

City Phone

III. STRAND NUMBER

All proposals should relate to one of the strands below:1. Literacy Skills (fluency, word identification,

comprehension, vocabulary) - ISBE Standard I2. 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 Classroom6. Diversity (multicultural, multiple intelligences,

gender issues, ESL, gifted, at-risk)

7. Coordinating/Administering a ReadingProgram

8. Adult Education9. Collaborations (inclusion, teaming,

working with other staff)10. Research-Based Practice11. Standards, Assessment, and Evaluation12. Early Childhood and Emergent Literacy13. Reading Across the Curriculum14. Administration15. Title I

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

INTENDED AUDIENCE (Checkeachcategorythatapplies.)Educators of Pre-Schoolers (PreK-K)Educators of Primary Students (K-3)Educators of Intermediate Students (4-6)Educators of Middle/Junior High Students (6-9)

Educators of High School Students (9-12)Educators of AdultsAdministratorsAll

V.

VI. AUDIO VISUAL EQUIPMENT: Overhead projectors and screens are the only audio visual equipmentavailable to presenters. Other equipment must be supplied by the presenter.

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

VIII. ABSTRACT

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

In accordance with IRA and IRC policy, program participants will not be reimbursed for any expenses by the IllinoisReading Council. I understand that presenters must pre-register for the conference by February 1, 2007. Ifnot, names andpresentation may be removedfrom the final IRC conference program due to printing deadlines. I also understand that onlyan 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

Mail one copy of completed proposal postmarked no later than September 1, 2006 to:

Illinois Reading Council1210 Fort Jesse Road, Suite B2

Normal, IL 61761-1836

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

Name Person Submitting Other Proposal

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

IRC Literacy Projects across Illinois!

Last year the Illinois Reading Council awarded over $59,000 in grant awards. The projects below are just a few of

the many ways that IRC grants help support literacy around the State of Illinois.

Screaming Pens: Teen Writers Groupby Paulette Goodman, West Suburban

A tinkle of laughter, a shuffle of chairs and the Kennedy JuniorHigh Library Resource Center came alive as the Screaming PensWriters group was born! Over thirty students met monthly for ayear-long foray into writing that would lead to many of theirworks, e.g., poetry, short stories, novels, being considered forpublication in such publications as "On Target," a middle schooljournal, the Naperville North High School newspaper, "NorthStar" and Kennedy's own literary magazine "Eagle Talons" withaspirations for actual professional publication in the not too dis-tant future! Meetings featured a guest author or visiting expertin creative writing, each contributing to the students' base ofknowledge. Student writers also met weekly in support groupsto share their latest writings and to receive a critique of theirwork by peers who know what they like and can give usefulcriticism. Screaming Pens was a dream that came true. Needingthe time, monies and teacher participation plus students whoseown dreams matched mine brought this project into being. Thisis not a dream that has an ending; its life-span will cover manyyears. As long as there are students who love to write, a Scream-ing Pens group will exist.

Fiesta Fun at Family Reading Eventby Geri Mueth, Lewis & Clark

On Thursday, April 6, 2006, Red Bud Elementary School cel-ebrated Family Reading Night after the Scholastic Book Fair.This special night was for kindergarten through fifth grade stu-dents and their parents. This year's theme was A Reading Fi-esta - a Multicultural Exploration of Mexico. All students gotto choose a free book that had been selected by the Family Read-ing Night committee. Students and their parents had very posi-tive comments about the wide variety ofMexican-themed booksavailable. Fiesta participants enjoyed refreshments consistingof chips and salsa, sopapillas, and lemonade while listening toMexican music. All grade levels presented Mexico and its cul-ture in various ways. Each class had a literacy component and aMexican game and/or craft. All in all, the night was a greatsuccess! The children truly enjoyed learning about another cul-ture, learning Spanish vocabulary, and experiencing a fiesta!

Magical Math with MurphyBy Debbie Turner and Leslie Singleton, Central Illinois

Washington-Monroe students and faculty very much appreci-ated the opportunity to have Stuart Murphy visit our school.The grant we received allowed us to buy Stuart Murphy booksfor each classroom to prepare for his visit. The halls were linedwith graphs, charts, estimations, and predictions when the bigday finally arrived. Stuart met with the whole school at an as-

sembly first thing in the morning. He read several of his booksand talked about the importance of both writing and math. Manyof our students were inspired to write math stories after his pre-sentation! Parent volunteers provided a circus-themed luncheonbased on his book "Circus Shapes." Mr. Murphy then met withindividual classes during the afternoon to read his books anddiscuss math concepts and writing. That evening we enjoyed aFamily Math Night in our gymnasium. Mr. Murphy spoke toboth parents and students about the importance of working athome to enhance understanding of math concepts. Afterwards,parents, children, and teachers played math games at stationsset up around the room. It was a fun and educational event!Thank you very much for granting us the funding necessary tooffer this program to our students.

German Valley Grade School Book Beeby Gail Grabins, Northern Illinois

The German Valley Grade School Book Bee was held after schoolon March 23, 2006. Over sixty students in grades kindergartenthrough fifth signed up to participate in this year's Book Bee.The Book Bee is held as an opportunity for children and theirparents to get involved in reading and enjoying books together.The children are asked questions about the plot, characters, set-ting, and themes of the books on their grade level list. By an-swering questions correctly, students earned book bucks to ex-change for a variety of prizes. All participants received a bagfull of goodies and a chance to win one of the grand prizes.After spending book bucks, the students are treated to ice creamin the cafeteria. Everyone has fun at the Book Bee - it is a"celebration of reading."

What Difference Does a Book Make?by Roxanne Owens, ICARE and CIRP

This project was designed to help DePaul University pre-ser-vice early childhood and elementary education majors under-stand more about choosing and using children's literature in theclassroom. The grant provided funds to purchase a variety ofbooks to use with PreSchool-8th grade students. The universityprovided backpacks to organize and store the books. Each back-pack had a different unifying element. For instance, one back-pack consisted of award winning picture books, another includedbooks by a particular author, another included books connectedto social studies, another Fractured Fairy Tales, with over 25different backpack collections being created. The DePaul Uni-versity students used these backpack collections in their assignedPreschool to 3rdgrade classrooms with the guidance of their men-tor teachers. For the DePaul University students who couldn'tparticipate in the daytime school visits, the "WIRED Books"

Continued on next page

August 2006 9

II

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

electronic book club (We Interact, Read, Electronically DiscussBooks) matched them with 3'd through 8thgrade children. Theuniversity students facilitated these online book clubs by help-ing students select an appropriate book and discuss it online,which led to a presentation about their books given for theirparents. These hands-on experiences in the classrooms throughthis kind of systematic process benefit the preservice teachersin ways that a theory without practice approach cannot accom-plish.

"Puppet Palooza"by Natalie Thacker, Central Illinois

Illiopolis Elementary K-5 students enjoyed spending a 2-dayworkshop with author Lauren Collier Swindler. Mrs. Swindlerwas a classroom teacher for more than 20 years and now sharesher love of books with children through school visits. She writespicture books, poetry, nonfiction and plays for children. Kin-dergarten, First, and Second Graders participated in an excitinginteractive reading with puppets of Mrs. Swindler's book, BigBird Brings Spring To Sesame Street. Mrs. Swindler guidedeach class through the puppet making process. Students wrotea story using their puppet as a main character. The stories weresent to Studentreasure Publishing and a hardcover book wasmade to keep in the classroom and available for student pur-chase. Mrs. Swindler shared her play The Clumsy Dragon withThird, Fourth, and Fifth graders. Mrs. Swindler and studentsworked through the process of writing a play and began writingtheir own group plays. Students also made a puppet of the maincharacter from the play. Plays were published by StudentreasurePublishing and each Third, Fourth and Fifth grade student re-ceived a free hardcover book of the play they wrote. Specialthanks to Illiopolis P.T.O. for purchasing the supplies to makepuppets. Thanks also to the volunteers for helping in the class-rooms with puppet making and writing plays. This opportunityfor Mrs. Swindler to visit Illiopolis Elementary was fundedthrough an Illinois Reading Council Grant. The IRC has fundedmany programs in the past for Illiopolis Elementary and theteachers and students are very grateful for their help in provid-ing literacy experiences to our school.

Reading Roundup Rodeoby Kayellen Brooks, Lewis & Clark and ITA

Wolf Ridge Educational Center celebrated a month-long read-ing contest on October 31,2005. The reading program was spon-sored by the Title 1 staff of the school. Funding for the projectwas obtained through an IRC literacy grant. Students at WolfRidge were able to earn a calffor every 25 minutes they read orwere read to. Each class had its own corral on the wall of our

central hall. The corrals were made out of cowboy and cowgirlcutouts with each student's name on them. The calves that were

earned were placed inside the corral. Each grade level had adifferent color calf. A weekly calendar was sent home each weekto record time spent reading. The Title 1 staff calculated thetotal time spent reading and awarded calves to each grade. All

of our students were excited to see who had the most calves. OnMonday, October 31, 2006, the students were allowed to wearcowboy and cowgirl clothing for our culminating activity-Reading Roundup Rodeo. On that day, the Title 1staff had vari-ous activities scheduled. In the morning, Carl Stanton, a localauthor and historian, spoke about our local Bunker Hill history.An art project for each grade level was completed that pertainedto cowboys and the Wild West. We had a number oflocal peoplecome to Wolf Ridge to read cowboy books to each of our class-rooms. Most of the books were purchased through grant money.Our local Parents for Kids organization held theme-orientedgames in the gym at noon recess after the cafeteria served west-ern burgers and all the fixin's. In the afternoon, we watched oldwestern movies, Junior High students performed the play "PecosBill," and a real cowboy roper did a demonstration in the gym.We ended the day with a local guitar player who helped with theschool sing-along of familiar cowboy songs. The students hada great day and the winner of our reading contest was the 5thgrade with a total of224 calves-5600 minutes of reading. Theywon a pizza party the following Friday. Kindergarten finishedsecond with a total of 139 calves-3475 minutes. They had apopcorn party on the following Friday. We all had a great time.Thanks for the IRC Literacy grant.

Peoria Reads! Project for 2006by Nancy Rakoff, Illinois Valley

Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (based on in-vestigative journalism) proved to be a very timely and much-discussed book in the Peoria area with our four outstanding pro-grams. Our first event was a panel of journalists discussinghow much investigative journalism takes place in today'seconomy. Their discussion occurred immediately following ashowing of the 1960 Edward R. Murrow Harvest of Shame docu-mentary depicting the lives of migrant farm workers at that time.Our second event brought Terie Dreussi-Smith of the Ruby Paynemovement to Peoria for two appearances on March 21, 2006.Her topic, Bridges Out of Poverty, Strategies for Professionals& Communities, was of great interest and inspiration. Our thirdevent was a panel discussion: Are We Nickel & Diming in Peo-ria? at the Lakeview Branch Library. Panelists included: Dr.Belden Fields, professor emeritus from University of IllinoisChampaign/Urbana; David Koehler, Executive Director of thePeoria Area Labor Management Council; Pam Schubach, Ex-ecutive Director of Peoria YWCA; and Darlene LaFlore, Resi-dent of YWCA's permanent supportive housing program. Theprogram was very responsive with interest in working on a Liv-ing Wage effort in Peoria. The fourth event was a show-stopperwith Dr. Samuel Betances. His topic, Poverty's Effect on Suc-cess, was dramatically illustrated by his life story as he wentfrom being a school drop-out to a person with a Ph.D. fromHarvard. It is hard to measure how many people read the book,but we continually hear of different avenues of discussion thatare taking place. Thank you so much for the support of theIllinois Reading Council for this very successful project!

August 2006 10

The Illinois Reading Council Communicator

Cool Studies: Text Difficultyby Lou Ferroli

So, do you and your students look alike? I mean with the ob-vious exception of hair color. Teachers and students often comefrom quite different cultures, and they live very different lives.As kids get older our differences seem even greater. Yet ouradolescent students need both cultural identification and goodliterature that ~atters to them. How do we provide relevantinstruction, and what do we give them to read? Alfred Tatum'sstudy called "Breaking Down Barriers that DisenfranchiseAfrican American Adolescent Readers in Low-Level Tracks"offers concrete answers.

Tatum's study was an eight-month inquiry into how classroomdynamics and instructional practices could be restructured inways that adequately address the needs of African Americanstudents. He taught 29 eighth graders who had achievementlevels at the 41hstanine and below. That is, none were at gradelevel. He rejected the typical test-driven approaches and re-structured his 50-minute reading period based on the litera-ture on good teaching of African American students. Thus, aculturally relevant approach means that "activities based onAfrican American community norms are incorporated into theclassroom, cooperation is emphasized over competition, andlearning is structured as social activity." Additionally, usingculturally relevant literature is a key to a culturally relevantapproach.

Task one was to create a supportive rather than a competitiveclassroom community. This included openly acknowledgingthat reading difficulties existed, establishing a goal of helpingeveryone become better readers, involving students in theirown assessment, and using circle seating (with teacher along-side not in front of the students).

Next was to have his students read culturally relevant litera-ture and to have a personal response to what they were read-ing. A "one-pager" activity was developed which consisted ofa visual representation of a significant quote along with a para-graph of the reader's reflection on the reading. The point here,as with any "response" approach, is that students search forwhat is meaningful to them and not just what the teacher thinks.Additionally, the visual representation gave students whostruggle with words a passageway into classroom activities.

Another key element was a word study component that em-phasized multisyllabic word analysis. Some of it was prettytraditional syllables stuff. There was also a whole group ac-tivity during which the students stood up and responded inunison. Don't you love it? "Hey, kids, why are you chantingand standing up?"

"Because we're working on syllables!" Tatum asserts thatseated students use their desks as a barricade to avoid instruc-tion. There is much, much more to the intervention: dicta-tion, repeated readings, vocabulary instruction with a wordwall which ended up with 450 multisyllabic words, 100 ofwhich were attached to a meaningful memory from a song,e.g., the word "deserted" associated with Patti Labelle's "OnMy Own." Plenty of detail is provided for the reader lookingfor some good how-to.

I was especially interested in the specific examples of cultur-ally relevant literature. Tatum used selections from Booker T.Washington's "Up From Slavery," Dr. King's "I Have aDream" speech, and poems such as Margaret Walker's "ForMy People and Lineage." He used an article from 1712 aboutslave control which he got online at www.blackspeak.com. (Ihave to confess, it has been weeks since I've been to thatwebsite in search of good literature for kids.)

Results were given. Students gained confidence from work-ing in a cooperative environment. They did not resist skillsinstruction because it was done in a challenging way and linkedto literature activities. Students developed broader social con-sciousness in their discussions and writings. And, at the endof 81hgrade 25 of the 29 students were able to be promoted tohigh school by meeting the required 7.0 score on the ITBS.

One of the cool things about this inquiry is that it is a study inname only. The author frequently refers to his "study." Theabstract refers to the "teacher/researcher." There is a heading"Purpose and Description of the Study." But this is not a study.Certainly, there is room for debate about what counts as re-search, but anything that passes as a study has to involve sys-tematic collection and analysis of data. There is nothing sys-tematic about this "study." So, why would Tatum call it one?And, better still, why would the editors of the Journal of Ado-lescent and Adult Literacy, one of our premier journals, labelit as a study? I think the answer is that Tatum's work fills avoid. If you are like me, you know little about relevant in-struction for African American adolescents who read poorly.This work is important (and kind of research-y) because heconstructs a model for a culturally relevant class structure withmany practical ways to provide appropriate instruction. Now,with his model, perhaps the research can begin.

The other thing that's cool about this study? It took place inChicago, Tatum finished his doc work at UIC, and he is nowon the faculty at Northern. Illinois rocks! Tatum,A. (2000).Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy, 44, 52-64.

August 2006 11

MORE SURPRISES for the2007 CONFERENCE

What doAvi, Sarah Weeks,

Richard Peck and Sharon Creechhave in common?

They'll be headlinersin Springfieldnext March!Just when you thought IRC's 2007 conferencelineup couldn't get any better, along comes theaddition of this dynamite group of authors andperformers. Avi,Sarah,Richard, and Sharonwillbe participatingina Reader'sTheaterperformancejust for you! Mark your calendars for Thursday,March 15 from 4:15 to 5:45pm. This is a treatyou won't want to miss!

IllinoisReadingCouncil1210 Fort Jesse Road, Suite B2Normal, IL 61761

Check out our new IRC websitewww.illinoisreadingcouncil.org

. Up-to-date calendar of events

. Local Councils' webpages, each with officercontacts, events, registration forms, andnewsletters online

. The latest on the 2007 IRC Conference

. Information on awards & grants currentlyavailable, with forms online

. Many valuable resources, including theIRC Communicator

. And much more

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