A Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity For Teachers
The WNY Science of Reading Conference Cannot Be Missed
Let me put this in football terms for my Bills fans: imagine a line-up of all-stars, the very best in the business, who - out of nowhere - come to Buffalo to showcase their skills, bringing together their rare talent in a blazing spectacle in which the ultimate winners are the children of Western New York. We could have named it the Literacy Pro-Bowl, but we decided to call it…
The WNY Science of Reading Conference.
In America, we are at the start of a massive shift in how reading is taught to students, meaning perhaps, that we are finally ready to teach children how to read the right way: in a systematic, explicit way that’s grounded in the fundamentals of phonics and decoding, and embraces every beautiful strand of the reading rope. The aim of this conference is to make sure teachers and schools in Western New York have access to the knowledge they need, and are part of this shift.
The WNY Science of Reading Conference is the product of the WNY Literacy Initiative, a collaborative effort of 16 partner organization working to improve student reading proficiency by raising awareness about the science of reading. This conference will bring in the best and brightest minds in the literacy space to Buffalo, and every speaker that takes the stage on Saturday, November 5th will be a keynote. It is not an understatement to say that this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to understand the reading crisis and how to address it correctly.
THE OPENING KEYNOTE
If you read the TIME Magazine article last week entitled “Inside the Massive Effort to Change the Way Kids Are Taught to Read,” then you’ll recognize the man who will open our conference, Kareem Jabbar Weaver:
“There have been choices made where our children were not in the center,” says Weaver. “We abandoned what worked because we didn’t like how it felt to us as adults, when actually, the social-justice thing to do is to teach them explicitly how to read.”
Kareem is the Co-Founder of FULCRUM (Full and Complete Reading is a Universal Mandate). He is committed to improving literacy rates in California and across the country by engaging stakeholders around the systematic structures needed to cultivate excellent reading outcomes for all students. Kareem is also a member of the Oakland NAACP Education Committee and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the National Council on Teacher Quality. If we need to approach this crisis with the urgency of our hair on fire, then what better man to light the match?
Stay tuned as I highlight each of our speakers in the newsletters leading up to the conference.
A PANEL OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Another aspect of the conference that I’m very excited about is the “Science of Reading Transition Journey Across NYS” Panel. This panel, moderated by K12 Curriculum Expert Karen Vaites, will feature Jason Borges, the Executive Director of NYC Public Schools Literacy Collaborative with the NYC Department of Education, Anne Botticelli, the Chief Academic Officer with Buffalo Public Schools, Kathleen Chaucer, a Principal with Milton Terrace Elementary School in Ballston Spa CSD, and Julie Webber, the Director of Curriculum and Instruction with Medina CSD. This must-see panel of urban, suburban, and rural districts will focus on where each district is in their Science of Reading journey and how they are implementing changes.
WNY LITERACY INITIATIVE WELCOMES NEW PARTNERS!
The WNY Education Alliance is pleased to announce that Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and the City of Buffalo have agreed to become partners in the WNY Literacy Initiative. Please read the full press release here.
We also welcome Villa Maria College as a partner in the WNY Literacy Initiative!
Institutions of higher education are a crucial piece to the puzzle when it comes to the reading proficiency rates of students - and we need more of them as partners in our initiative. How we train our teachers = how we teach our students!
As Kymyona Burke, a policy fellow at think tank ExcelinEd, said in the TIME article about changes that she helped implement in Mississippi: “we had to just really come to terms with the fact that there were so many of our teachers who had come through our education-preparation programs who still were not equipped to teach children who struggle how to read.”
Put plainly: We must have teacher-training programs train teachers the right way.
TICKETS: GOING, GOING…
At this moment, we are proud to announce that 337 people have registered for the WNY Science of Reading Conference, with over 40 public school districts across New York State represented - WOW! It is the goal of our Literacy Initiative to have representatives from every WNY school district at the conference. Help us achieve this by asking your district if they are attending! At this rate, capacity will be reached very soon.
LAST REMINDER: VIRTUAL SCIENCE OF READING ADMIN DAY - 8/23 at 10am EST
If you are a school superintendent or administrator, we encourage you to register for our Virtual Science of Reading Admin Day, happening next Tuesday, 8/23 at 10:00am EST. Dr. Tracy White Weeden of Neuhaus Education Center and Dr. Maria Murray of The Reading League will be offering opening remarks, and Dr. Goffney, the superintendent of Aldine ISD, and Dr. Chaucer, a Principal in Ballston Spa, NY CSD, will give presentations on why and how their districts incorporated reading research. Please email tarja@wnyeducationalliance.org for the registration link.
So much to look forward to, so many things to be grateful for.
Enjoy the weekend,
Tarja