Access & Equity: ILA In My Pj's

#TeachWriteober

Day 12

It's not every day you get a chance to hear from some of the most brilliant minds in literacy, so when I woke up this morning I quickly tuned into the 7:00 a.m. live-streaming session at #ILA19 which included a panel discussion featuring the world-renown researchers, P. David Pearson, Nell K. Duke, Sonia Cabell, and Gwen McMillon. My biggest takeaway from their discussion came when David Pearson said, "For too long now, literacy has been a bully—pushing science and social studies off the stage. It's time for literacy to evolve from a bully into a buddy." 

As a passionate advocate of literacy, these words stopped me in my tracks. I'm afraid at times, I've fallen victim to this truth. When I consider the number of teachers who constantly tell me they don't have time to teach science and social studies, and I passively allow literacy to dominate, I suppose I am complicit. Needless to say, I was deeply convicted by this statement, and I will need to do some serious soul searching in the weeks and months to come. 

Ever since I enrolled in graduate school around 2009, I have been a long-time fan of Nell K. Duke's work. As she cautioned us to consider the role confirmation bias plays in our lives and reminded us about the importance of "weight of evidence" in research, I found myself thinking about how critical it is to have professional research mentors. In her closing statements, she said, "Our field is in a very tumultuous time so we must commit to civility even in the face of the uncivility of others. Many people talking about the science of reading have never opened a research article or done so w/o a confirmation bias." I will heed her words and do my best to remain open and willing to evolve.

Following the research panel, I tuned in to hear Tricia Ebarvia's featured session titled, We Need MORE than Diverse Books. Boy, oh boy, did she bring the heat! 🔥 

                               

                                

                   

There were so many Tweetable moments, but the thought that lingers the most is this question: How can I unlearn the dominant narrative and relearn a more complete narrative?"

I am grateful to be a part of a collective learning community that transcends time and space.