Not only does summer provide time for teachers to catch up on sleep and devour books that they might like to use in their classrooms, but those more leisurely days and nights often give them a chance to seek out books about topics that seem interesting or provocative. Sometimes staying abreast of pedagogical trends and literacy research can be challenging during the regular school year because of the many responsibilities placed upon teachers. Now that the previous year’s grading, meetings, and classroom management concerns lie far behind us and the first days of school in August seem so far away, this is the ideal time to explore some of those professional books colleagues have been discussing or find new approaches to teaching practices. Written by members of the Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group, these book reviews on professional texts may encourage changes in thinking about education and they might even prompt some readers to write their own professional books. In addition to the books featured in this column, teachers might want to check out three highly recommended titles reviewed in earlier columns:

• Bullying Hurts: Teaching Kindness through Read-alouds and Guided Conversations by Lester L. Laminack and Reba Wadsworth (Heinemann, 2012)
• Both The Poetry Friday Anthology for Common Core Grades K-5: Poems for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core (Pomelo, 2012)
• The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, Grades 6-8: Poems for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (Pomelo, 2013)

Whether read alone or with a teacher study group, these titles offer much academic food for thought. Teachers may be interested in reading about the Professional Development opportunities at ReadWriteThink.

Calkins, Lucy, Ehrenworth, Mary, and Lehman, Christopher. (2012). Pathways to the common core: Accelerating achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Noted literacy educator Lucy Calkins and her colleagues from the Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College, Columbia, University, provide an accessible introduction and pathway to understanding the new Common Core State Standards. In their introduction they state, “This book … is written for educators who are eager to embrace the responsibilities of implementing the Common Core, who see schools as centers of professional study, and who believe that teaching well means engaging in a continual process of studying students and their work in order to strengthen teaching and learning.” The introduction cleverly goes on to question the approach and attitude that educators use when starting on this pathway – as curmudgeons or finding the gold standard? The book is divided into three main sections: Reading Standards; Writing Standards; and Speaking/Listening and Language Standards. The content of the book begins with an overview of the standards and a “nuts and bolts” look at what the standards do and don’t do for reading comprehension implementation for literature and nonfiction. From there, each standard is discussed one by one with chapter headings that include: Literal Understanding and Text Complexity; Reading Literature; Reading Information Text. Moving on to the writing standards, chapter headings continue with: An Overview; Composing Narrative Texts; Composing Argument Texts; Composing Information Texts. Concluding with the speaking/listening standards chapter headings are the Overview and the CCSS-Aligned Assessments Fuel Whole-School Reform. The detailed index makes this a useful and handy tool for implementation by teachers, literacy coaches, administrators or professional learning communities. Teachers can watch students interacting with these techniques in several videos found at The Reading & Writing Project website or listen to Lucy Calkins talk about this book at the vimeo website.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

Kelley, Michelle & Clausen-Grace, Nicki. (2012). Reading the whole page: Teaching and assessing text features to meet K-5 common core standards. Gainesville, FL: Maupin House.

As stated in the title, this book is geared for elementary students and concepts that teach them to use text features not only in their reading but also guiding them to use text features within their own writing. Logically, chapter one opens the book with the importance of text features, how they help students, stressing the importance of teaching specific features and continuing with assessment ideas. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 offer a plethora of mini-lessons that include specific features on the use of titles, headings and subheadings, bold print italics, captions, pronunciation guides, bullets, sidebars, photographs and drawings, insets, cross-sections/cutaways, diagrams, maps, timelines, graphs, tables, tables of contents, index and glossary features. Chapter 5, the final chapter, offers ways to integrate all these text features with activities like a scavenger hunt, using them in morning messages, flap books and interviews to name just a few. The appendices (A through F) that make up just less than half the book, offer reproducible activities, a chart of the Common Core Standards relevant for student reading, charts, sort cards and more. This book is definitely a “hands-on/use tomorrow” kind of guidebook for teachers who want to get started with new ideas that are standards-based for elementary students. The book includes a CD with interactive reproducible ideas. Educators can take a look at Appendix F available on the CD in this downloadable list of resources available from the publisher’s website.

These two authors collaborated on a project and study guide for IRA entitled, “Comprehension Shouldn’t Be Silent; from strategy instruction to student independence.” The study guide is available as a download from www.reading.org.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

McGregor, Tanny. (2013). Genre connections: lessons to launch literary and nonfiction texts. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Author Tanny McGregor (Comprehension Connections, 2007; Comprehension Going Forward, 2011) has returned with a very user-friendly book for classroom teachers to invite the study of genres in today’s classroom emphasizing using concrete and abstract objects. In the opening chapter, McGregor describes the why and how of explaining genre including “launching the sequence” (p.3) to create experiences to understand and learn about genre. This same chapter explains the Concrete Experience to make genre real and moves on to the Sensory Experience featuring art and music. Chapters 2 through 8 deal with the specific genres of Poetry; Adventure and Fantasy: Beyond Realistic Fiction; Historical Fiction; Drama; Image Reading; Biography, Autobiography and Memoir; Informational Text. Within each chapter she has laid out the pattern for each genre instruction with the steps: Launching Sequence; Noticing and Naming the Genre on Their Own; Sensory Exercises; Quotations About …; and Time for Text.  From McGregor’s opening, “There are dozens of genres on the continuum between narrative (story) and expository (informational); this book will explore but a few. Any genre could be launched using the model in this book, for example, realistic fiction, mystery, or technical writing. Teachers can use the seed ideas suggested in this volume with a genre of your choice and see how it grows!” (p.2). Teachers may want to listen to the author discuss her book in an interview on EduTalkRadio.

- Karen Hildebrand, Ohio Library and Reading Consultant

McLaughlin, Maureen, & Overturf, Brenda J. (2013). The Common Core: Teaching K-5 students to meet the Reading Standards. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Not a minute too soon, teachers can learn about the background behind the sudden appearance of the Common Core State Standards that seem to have threaded their way into state and national requirements and daily lesson plans. In the book’s two sections, the authors explain the CCSS’s key points and then suggest effective ways to use the standards in instruction. Examining the standards vertically within each grade level as well as horizontally across grade levels will help teachers understand grade level expectations. The authors even devote a chapter to assessment, discussing how formative and summative assessment connect to the CCSS, and providing examples of simple types of formative assessment such as discussions or Tickets Out that teachers can use. Using five guiding questions, they examine each College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard for Reading and its related CCSS for grades K-5 Standards. They provide examples of teaching practices and activities that teachers can incorporate as well as discussing links to technology. Although the authors admit that designing student-centered lessons that are based on the CCSS is challenging, this book provides plenty of support and encouragement for teachers to do so. The book is thorough and best understood by reading a chapter or two at a time and then digesting its contents or discussing them with a colleague.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University, Pullman

McLaughlin, Maureen, & and Overturf, Brenda J. (2013). The Common Core: Teaching students in Grades 6–12 to meet the Reading Standards. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

As they do so effectively in their earlier title focused on earlier grades, the authors painstakingly explain the CCSS’s key points of the CCSS and provide tips on how to use the Standards effectively in literacy instruction in grades 6-12. The book is divided into two sections with the first part containing six chapters, and the second one containing ten. Chapters in the first section include “How Can Teachers Effectively Use the Standards?” “Assessment and the Common Core,” “Implementation of the Common Core Standards,” “Beginning Readers, the Teaching of Reading, and the Common Core,”  “English Learners, Students With Disabilities, Gifted and Talented Learners, and the Common Core,” and “Reshaping Curriculum to Accommodate the Common Core and the Teaching of Reading.” While exploring assessment, implementation, and curriculum, the authors also look at some of the implications of the Common Core for English language learners, students with disabilities, and gifted and talented students. One entire chapter offers suggestions for teaching students how to use disciplinary strategies to engage, guide, and extend their thinking. The second section of the book examines carefully each of the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading, along with practical guidance on how to use those Standards to teach your middle school and high school students. Teachers will find the classroom applications and student examples particularly helpful in familiarizing them with the CCSS.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Kucan, Linda, & Palincsar, Annemarie Sullivan. (2013). Comprehension instruction through text-based discussion. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

With a free PDF and an accompanying DVD that provide a guide for professional development meetings or teacher educators and suggested informational texts for classroom discussions, this excellent teacher resource provides tools for discussion that is text-based, allowing teachers to adhere to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts that encourage elementary teachers to use more informational texts and promote engagement with text that “builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews.” The authors provide several suggests for how to build on what students already know by supporting their understanding of the ideas they encounter as they read. After discussing the theoretical support for quality discussions based on texts that are intended to enhance comprehension, the authors explain thoroughly lessons that will help teachers know how to analyze text, plan and initiate discussions, and support students as they work with texts. There are six chapters, four of which focus on planning and discussing “Harnessing the Wind,” “Black Death,” “Coral Reefs,” and “Jade Burial Suits.” These chapters are terrific models of how teachers can stretch their students and enliven their own instructional practices with simple changes.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Martinelli, Marjorie, & Mraz, Kristine. (2012). Smarter charts: K-2: Optimizing an instructional staple to create independent readers and writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Although commercially-produced charts have a place in the classroom, many teachers want to make sure that the charts they use are meaningful for their own students and will enhance learning. The authors have written a helpful book that shows teachers how to create their own charts while also providing examples of charts they have created. After discussing the importance of visual literacy and the appeal of advertising, the authors provide a field guide to literacy charts, including routine, strategy, process, exemplar, and genre charts. For instance, a process chart is intended to break an important skill into a series of steps (p. xxi). The authors even show teachers how to draw a pencil on a chart and include transcripts of how teachers use their charts with their students. While the charts can be excellent instructional tools, they also can provide ways to assess student progress. Ultimately, as the authors write in the conclusion, “Charts help to make our teaching explicit and clear by providing step-by-step directions and key tips and strategies for how to do something” (p. 86). Since students can use the charts to self-assess and set their own goals, the experience becomes empowering and leads to independence. After reading this book, teachers will never look at classroom charts in the same way. They’re far more part of creating a visually-appealing classroom.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

Yopp, Hallie Kay, & Yopp, Ruth Helen. (2013). Literature-Based reading activities: Engaging students with literary and informational text. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

This updated version of an ever-popular resource for teachers provides useful tips on how to use literature in the classroom. The book contains five chapters, one of which gives a rationale for using literature in the classroom. Chapters Two, Three, and Four offer 15 prereading, 15 during-reading, and 13 post-reading activities, and Chapter Five explores writing and bookmaking activities. After explaining what each activity is, the authors have provided examples of each activity so that teachers can easily create their own for use in their classrooms. For instance, as part of the preparation for reading, teachers might choose to design an anticipation guide, an opinionnaire/questionnaire, book box, book bits or pull out character quotes to encourage students to draw on and build their background knowledge about a topic or issue as well as motivate them to read. During-reading activities might include literature circles, strategy cards, character perspective charts, and character blogs, among others, all designed to encourage personal responses and deepen comprehension. Intended to help students make connections and to promote reflection, post-reading activities include sketch to stretch, dramatic responses, book trailers, Venn diagrams, and book charts, among others. The final chapter contains creative activities such as pop-up books, accordion books, mini fold-up books, baggie books, and digital responses to literature. Chockfull of activities that students will enjoy immensely, the book also contains a list of Internet resources and the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for the Common Core State Standards. For teachers searching for a way to add excitement to their approach to literacy, this book is a must-have.

- Barbara A. Ward, Washington State University Pullman

These reviews are submitted by members of the International Reading Association's Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG) and are published weekly on Reading Today Online. The International Reading Association partners with the National Council of Teachers of English and Verizon Thinkfinity to produce ReadWriteThink.org, a website devoted to providing literacy instruction and interactive resources for grades K–12.

by Mary Lynam

The International Reading Association is now accepting proposals for its 59th Annual Conference, running from May 9-12, 2014 at the Ernest N. Morial Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. As in past years, the IRA will proudly provide an invaluable opportunity for thousands of teachers, administrators, and researchers to share knowledge in promotion of the best literacy instruction practices. Attendees can expect enlightening presentations on a variety of topics supporting the 2014 Conference’s theme, “Reading…The Teachable Moment.”

To submit a proposal, you must login to your profile or create a new profile at http://ww2.aievolution.com/ira1401. Then, enter the text of your proposal into the provided web forms. You may return to add new information or modify your entry before the submission deadline. Finalized proposals are due by 3:00 p.m. EST on July 8, 2013 (Tentative).

Session Types

Reviewed session types for the 2014 conference are listed as follows:

• Institutes
• Symposia
• Workshops
• Research Poster Sessions
• Sessions/Spanish Sessions

Please refer to submission guidelines for detailed information regarding purpose, duration, presenters, meeting sites, and audio-visual equipment, as specifics are unique to each type of session.

Presentation Categories

You must choose one of the following presentation categories for your proposal (NOTE: All categories include reading, writing, speaking, listening, and motivation):

• Adolescent learners (ages 12 to 17)
• Assessment
• Beginning learners (ages 0 to 7)
• Children’s literature
• Common Core/State Standards
• Elementary learners (ages 8 to 11)
• English language learners
• Literacy leadership
• Literacy policy and advocacy
• Research
• Students with disabilities
• Struggling learners
• Teacher preparation/Career readiness
• Technology
• Title I

Writing Proposals That Appeal to Attendees

The titles, brief descriptions, and chosen categories of accepted proposals will appear unchanged in the Convention’s printed and online programs. Therefore, consider writing these aspects of your proposal with attendees in mind. Consider the following tips to make the most of your submission:

• Aim for a shorter title. It’s true what they say; “sometimes less is more.” Although titles may have up to 200 characters, wordy titles can intimidate attendees. Using a condensed, descriptive title that packs a punch is more likely to catch the eyes of prospective audience members.

• Include relevant buzzwords in your title and brief description. Since many attendees will have an idea of what they wish to learn before reaching the conference, try using jargon that aligns your presentation material with their interests. This will guide them to your presentation.

• Strategically select your category.As attendees will be choosing sessions based on category, you should selectone that is appropriate for the scope of your presentation. By picking the category that most aptly represents your session, your audience is more likely to be satisfied with their experience.

• Avoid using the first person in your brief description. Try writing in terms of what your intended audience wants to know. When writing your brief description, communicate clearly what your session can offer attendees. For example, instead of simply mentioning that your session will be “interactive,” try specifying how. You have up to 700 characters to convey your information.

• As always, proofread your submission. Double checking the spellings of presenters and affiliated schools will go a long way to prevent confusion.  If you are unsure about formatting, please refer to the IRA official style guide at www.reading.org/StyleGuide.

Criteria for Proposal Review and Acceptance

Institutes, Sessions, Symposia, Workshops

Reviewers will evaluate submissions of these session types on a scale of 1-6 based on applicability, effectiveness, differentiation, and ongoing learning. Those categories are outlined as follows:

• Applicability: The extent to which the proposal demonstrates evidence that case studies or real-life examples will be used to illustrate lessons learned
• Effectiveness: The extent to which the proposal demonstrates the content, strategy, or intervention (as described) has proven to raise achievement and/or improves teaching
• Differentiated: The extent to which the proposal demonstrates how this session will help teachers meet the needs of students who learn in different ways and who come from different socioeconomic environments
• Ongoing Learning: The extent to which the proposal demonstrates that audience members will be able to connect learning from this session with local work assignments

Research Posters

Evaluation criteria for research poster proposal review and acceptance are graded on a scale of 1-4. Please see the official proposal guidelines at [link] for more detailed explanations of each category listed below.

• Significance of the topic to the literacy/research evaluation
• Evidence base acknowledges relevant learning theories
• Legitimacy of evidence base for proposal, whether it is recognized as high-quality by the profession
• Quality of scholarship as judged within the research tradition
• Quality of theoretical and conceptual rationale
• Evidence base
• Clarity and coherence
• Overall quality

Acceptance Notification

Applicants will receive an email regarding the status of their proposals in October or November of 2013.

Registration Fees

Conference presenters must cover the cost of registration and all presentation expenses. However, in the case of institutes, up to 15 institute presenters get comp registration for the day of the institute and institute organizers can receive up to $350 for the costs of photocopying, mailing, and shipping materials to the location of the institute. (The deadline to request reimbursement is June 30, 2014.)

Audio-Visual Provisions

Please note prior to submission that the IRA will provide accepted presenters with a wired lavaliere, microphone, LCD projector, and screen. Presenters are responsible for all other equipment that they may need, e.g. computer adapter cables. Please note that you may need an adapter (or “dongle”) to convert from Mac computers to PC equipment. You also have the option of purchasing internet access and additional audio-visual equipment for their session. To learn more about available equipment, contact conventionproposals@reading.org.

Questions

Please contact the following email addresses with queries concerning their respective subjects:

• Customerservice@reading.org: the online submission process
• ConventionProposals@reading.org: content of proposal for the IRA 2014 Conference
• Research@reading.org: research poster sessions for the IRA 2014 Conference

Mary Lynam is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.

June's Member of the Month is William Ian O'Byrne (who we know as "Ian"), an assistant professor of educational technologies at the University of New Haven. In this interview, he shares how he transitioned from a middle and high school teacher to a university teacher who focuses on research about digital learning. He also talks about the digital and non-digital parts of his life, how teachers can integrate technology into their lives inside and outside the classroom, and how International Reading Association (IRA) membership makes difference.

When did you know you wanted to become a teacher?

I'm the oldest of seven children from a mixed family. To certain extent I've always worked with guiding children, whether they were family, or friends. My Nan believed that I would grow up to be a doctor. She initially thought that I would be a pediatrician given how much I cared about the well-being of children. I like to think that she would be proud of my current career path.

How long have you been a member of the International Reading Association? How has membership influenced your career?

I have been a member of IRA since entering into the world of literacy research. My research interests focus on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of individuals as they use digital texts and tools for literacy practices. The International Reading Association allows me to connect with teachers that are trying to build these skills and capacities in students while integrating them into authentic learning activities. Put simply, working with IRA allows me to think about whether my ideas would "work" in the real-world classroom.

You're a member of IRA's Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG). How long have you been a member, and how has the experience been?

I have been a member of IRA's TILE-SIG for as long as I've been a member of IRA. This collection of researchers and scholars is also invaluable as it provides me an opportunity to reassure myself that my field of research is important. Sometimes I'll have an idea that seems like it would have the ability to change an aspect of the classroom. Membership in the TILE-SIG allows me to look across the thinking and work of a number of excellent teachers and researchers that are also pushing the same agenda. It's important to feel like a community that is thinking about the same changes occurring to literacy.

As well as contributing to Reading Today Online, you have your own blog and you're on Twitter, Google+, and a bunch of other sites! How are you using technology, websites, and social media for teaching students and for your own professional development? Do you have any advice to educators who may be nervous about becoming involved in new technology?

I regularly post to my own blog (http://wiobyrne.com/), Google+, and Twitter. I mostly use these venues to think through and reflect on ideas I have as I think about education, technology, and literacy. The links that I share and my blog posts are primarily as way for me to reflect on the themes and trends that I see in my field. I also share information on various digital texts and tools that I believe teachers should be using in their classrooms. When I work face-to-face with a teacher, or group of teachers, there is only so much time that can be spent in a workshop, class, or professional development session. We also know that these digital texts and tools are constantly changing and providing new opportunities for teachers and students. My hope is that through the use of these communication tools we can "keep the discussion" going after our time together has ended.

I believe all teachers and educators should have an online "brand." I work with individuals to find ways that they can "create and curate their online brand." There are obviously numerous elements that need to be discussed in this work, including issues of privacy, identity, and capacity. Usually I prefer to meet with teachers to discuss these larger questions that need to be addressed so the educator knows exactly what they're doing when they post materials online. That being said, teachers should be creating and curating not only their online brand, but more importantly making teaching resources available for their students and the community. The challenge is how to do this while making sure that you are protected.

You conduct research on "the literacy practices of individuals as they read/write in online spaces." What do you think are the most common misconceptions about how students read and learn to read in this digital age?

It is an ambitious statement, but I believe that all individuals should be empowered to use the reader/writer nature of the Internet and other communication tools. Of course this includes all teachers and students. Work such as this demands a larger discussion about empowerment, and the social imperatives associated with use of the Internet in the classroom. In consideration of this focus of my work, one of the biggest challenges that I have had to deal with is the belief that students are "digital natives" and (for the most part) teachers are "digital immigrants." I understand the argument that Marc Prensky was trying to make in identifying this distinction. I believe the "digital natives" debate set our field back ten years for educators thinking about using technology.

One of the effects of the "digital natives" debate is visible as educators resign themselves to thinking that they are not as knowledgable or skilled in the use of technology as their students based on age. Using this same logic as the "digital natives" debate, students that were born during the agricultural revolution should have a natural skill or propensity in the use of the rake or hoe. I prefer to think that skill and use in these new and digital literacies is more rooted in individual teacher (and student) dispositions than age, gender, or another designation.

That being said, I watch in amazement as my son deftly moves from computer, to tablet, to picture book as he "reads" information of different sources. I think this will have a dramatic effect on his expectations for how his teachers will frame teaching and learning in the classroom. He'll expect to learn across a variety of multimodal texts and be allowed to co-construct and collaborate with peers globally on assignments. This will require many of the same teaching skills and pedagogies that the field calls for as new technologies inundate society. I just don't think that my son innately understands these digital texts and tools because he's younger.

We're almost at the end of the K-12 school year. Do you have any advice on how teachers and parents can prevent the dreaded "summer slide"?

From my years teaching middle and high school I know it was always tricky in trying to keep students on task while the end of the school year loomed. My focus was on building up many of the established routines that I had built up over the year. I also saved a good amount of the hands-on work and creation that students would enjoy. Most of all I saved the books that I would enjoy…and I knew students would enjoy.

What do you consider to be your proudest career moment?

I would like to think that I haven't had my proudest career moment yet. If I had to pick one I would say it would have been coming home from successfully defending my dissertation and telling my son that we finally did it. He was 2 1/2 at the time and it meant nothing to him, but it meant the world to me.

What do you like to do when you're not wearing your educator hat?

While not teaching, reading, or researching I using spend my time playing with my son. This usually involved playing with cars, reading, building computers, Dance Party on the Wii, coloring, and goofing off.

What's the best advice you could offer someone new to the profession?

Build up your digital footprint. Think and be thoughtful in the development and evolution of your digital identity over time. It's okay to have fits, spurts, and redirections as you develop your online identity. Continue to develop, reflect, and revise this online brand as your needs change. 

Also work to build up the digital footprint of your students over time. The use of a digital footprint as a formative and summative assessment in all classrooms can be a powerful learning tool.