Featured Speaker

CARRICE C. CUMMINS

Carrice C. Cummins, associate professor of curriculum, instruction, and leadership in the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University, is scheduled to appear at this year's ARA Conference in November.

She is currently vice president of the International Reading Association and is scheduled to become IRA president in 2012.

Cummins' work includes the implementation of strategy instruction in comprehension and vocabulary and the explicit teaching of narrative and informational text structures.

She has published numerous articles and chapters in academic journals and professional books.

School Visits Available by Author Brad Herzog

Brad Herzog, a featured author at the Arkansas Reading Association Conference November 17-18, would like to schedule school visits around those dates (probably Nov. 14-16 and maybe Nov. 7-11). Any school interested in bringing him in around those dates will not have to pay for air fare. It would be his fee plus hotel and a bit of rental car costs.

Brad has written more than two-dozen children's books - fiction and nonfiction, serious and humorous, poetry and prose, picture books and chapter books. Topics include everything from baseball and birds to heroes and hiccups. His alphabet books for Sleeping Bear Press (which include letter-by-letter poems for younger readers and expansive sidebar text for older readers) have sold more than 200,000 copies.

 
To find out more about Brad, click here.

LOCAL COUNCIL HONOREE REPORT 

Among the local council honorees, one name is drawn to receive $750 toward attending IRA's Annual Convention.

Marilyn Muehler was this year's winner who attended the convention in Orlando last month.  Here is some of what she reported: 

"The theme of the IRA conference was The Power of Literacy. I came back with valuable information of new quality literature and with my spirit revived. There were more quality sessions to attend than time available. Information on the Common Core Standards was rich and the conversation so helpful as teachers around the nation shared their struggles and visions for what was ahead . . . The IRA Convention was truly a time of learning, catching up, and sharing with educators . . . Thank you ARA for the wonderful travel gift that made my trip possible."

Marilyn Muehler,

Reading Instructor

Arkansas State University

Two Bobbies Author Available for School Visits

Mary Nethery, co-author of TWO BOBBIES, the 2011 Diamond Award Book, is available for school visits in Arkansas prior to the ARA conference, around November 14-16.  For more information or to schedule a presentation, contact Michele Kophs, michele@provatomarketing.com.

Congratulations ARA Member Kathy Powers

 Arkansas Teacher of the Year

Kathy Powers, a fifth - and sixth-grade language arts teacher at Raymond and Phyllis Simon Intermediate School in the Conway School District was named Arkansas Teacher of the Year. She received a $15,000 cash award with the title and will represent Arkansas in the 2011 National Teacher of the Year competition.   

Powers has received several grants and has presented at the International Reading Association Annual Conference. In addition, she has published articles in two reading journals: Reading Improvement and The Reader. She also is an adjunct instructor in reading at the University of Central Arkansas. 

Kathy was recently highlighted in the April/May issue of IRA's Reading Today.  In it she says she prepares her students by having them read and write constantly while also discussing and reflecting on their accomplishments.

Kathy will be a featured speaker at ARA's conference.  

Jim Davidson to Speak at Summer Leadership

Jim Davidson, syndicated columnist and originator of the Bookcase for Every Child Project, will be speaking at this year's Summer Leadership Workshop, encouraging local councils to get involved in the project.  

Officers attending the invited workshop on July 15-16 for council planning will receive Jim's book, Learning, Earning & Giving Back.

 For more information about this project, click here.

VAN BUREN PRINCIPAL CHOSEN FOR ARA AWARD

Karen Allen, principal at James R. Tate Elementary School in Van Buren Arkansas, has been chosen as this year's ARA Administrator in Reading.

A former first grade teacher, Karen now provides her staff with outstanding professional development in literacy from the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, New York. She has provided the means for literacy coaches and grade level teachers to attend Lucy Calkin's Reading/Writing Institutes at Columbia.

She appropriated funds to purchase thousands of books for the school bookroom, ensuring teachers have an abundance of books for students at their fingertips.

Wanting to celebrate accomplishments with students, Karen supported and helped implement the "Reading Mania Program" at Tate School. Involving parents, creating reading logs and celebrating success were a huge part of this program. A partner in education, Best Buy, Inc. provided incentives.    

For these, and many other accomplishments, ARA salutes Karen Allen!    

IRA Coordinator's Corner:

I hope everyone is enjoying a slower pace this summer. This is one of my favorite times of the ARA year. We are getting ready for Summer Leadership Workshop on July 15 & 16 at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. Literacy educators from all around Arkansas will gather to share information, learn about literacy resources and to plan their local council's year. I look forward to this workshop each year when I can be with others who share a common passion for literacy. These leaders will bring back ideas to your area to share throughout the year. I encourage all of you to support their efforts by becoming an active member of a local council in your area.

Please contact me to organize or "revive" a local council in your area if one is not available! For more information about local councils contact me at tanna@arareading.org.

Happy summer reading!

    
Tanna Clark
IRA Coordinator, Arkansas Reading Association