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The promise of a new year is before us. A time for brand new resolutions for 2023 or to jump start resolutions that have been pledged in years gone by and forgotten by the end of January. For the British Columbia Literacy Council, our resolutions each year for many years have been consistent.

1. Look for ways to support the literacy goals of the International Literacy Association within in British Columbia.
2. To provide the leadership opportunities for educators to network and support each other in the task of supporting the literacy development of their students, school community and the larger literacy community.

I am honoured to have been invited to be a part of the Nominating Committee for the International Literacy Association as one of the international members. It is inspiring to see the commitment to improving opportunities and literacy practices worldwide continues undaunted by the impact of COVID.

Working in a COVID context has been an uphill challenge, to say the very least. It has come with wins and losses as educators in British Columbia and the rest of the world, have been taxed with their own personal challenges at home, as well as the fear, frustration, and stresses of their school community. Medals are warranted! We have certainly learned that online meetings do not come close to the support, collaboration and inspiration of face-to-face meetings and professional development.

I just recently completed a pilot project providing 3 weeks of daily literacy sessions for 3- and 4-year-old children. In talking to parents, I went back to the demonstration of Matthew Arnold's notion of the "empty vessel". As I poured sand into the jar and explained that learning does not happen this way, it was as if I was presenting newly discovered information. Online programs, tutoring for young children, workbooks and programs promising immediate results gained leverage in a COVID world. More than ever, educators are needed to support parents in understanding that listening, speaking, reading, and writing are communicative processes that develop over time rather than memorization exercises that can be quickly mastered and checked off a list. We have our work cut out for us.

Upcoming February Leadership Workshop:

We are excited that Rob Tierney, Robert will be joining us for our leadership conference. Dr. Tierney is an international educator whose passion is for developing research partnerships to address local literacy needs with educators in different countries. He began his career as a classroom teacher in Australia, then proceeded to work in the United States, Canada, and China. He is most familiar to us from his publications and time as dean emeritus and professor emeritus of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia. Stay tuned for more information.

New Members Book Club:

Our vice-president, Larkyn Froese, is in the process of organizing a book club of some of our newer BCLCILA members to inspire some good conversation with a social twist.

BC Lit Council Booth at Tidal WAV – The Wild About Outdoor Learning Festival

Due to the big success of the BC Lit Council scavenger hunts and book give away at the Tidal WAV (Wild About Vancouver) in Stanley Park last spring, we will again be part of this Outdoor Learning Festival on Saturday, May 27th. Larkyn Froese is chairing the committee that will be exploring ideas to promote literacy and indigenous ways of knowing in an outdoor context. Despite the torrential rain last year, it was a fun event that brought out over 400 participants.

Join Us

The Executive Council of BC Literacy Council values new ideas and new members. We aspire for our council to mirror the population we serve. Participation in the BC Literacy Council means different things to different people. It looks good on a resume. The volunteerism ends in some purposeful programs and projects. However, throughout my career I have most valued the space to step back and reflect on my work as a literacy educator with other people interested in doing the same thing. Those conversations started at meetings but continued in hot tubs, coffee shops, restaurants, beaches, and parks. Please consider joining us and bring colleagues interested in building a literacy network and continuing down a rich and purposeful path.

Please reach out for any more information or input into future directions. All the very best for the coming year!

Carrie Froese
President – BC Literacy Council of the International Literacy Association

Happy 2022
from the Executive Council
of
The British Columbia Literacy Council
of the
International Literacy Association

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I hope very much that you are well. Unfortunately we are not yet able to say Good Riddance to COVID. Linda Klassen, leading the charge in membership, recently attended an online meeting with close to 40 Chapter leaders from the United States, Canada and Australia. There was lots of commiserating over the teacher fatigue and the challenges of engaging people via online professional development sessions. Educators love nothing better than getting together to talk about literacy, their students, and plan events. Fortunately, the International Literacy Association has been able to pivot and embrace online professional development opportunities with inspiring educators and authors. The $99.00 institutes give you access to many inspirational and well known speakers. I highly recommend it.

Yet, there is much to celebrate in the British Columbia Literacy Council of the International Literacy Association (BCLCILA). We have long been trying to recruit new members on our executive council. It is a challenge to let go of the positions that become part of our identities over consecutive appointments and step back to mentor new members, while still giving them the freedom to put their own person stamp on the position. Fortunately, we have a welcoming executive council with an open mind to new ways of being. Of course, COVID has heaped truck loads of stress onto our educators, leaving scant energy reserves to take on new projects. We are so appreciative of our new members taxed with responsibility and still willing to do the work.

We are fortunate that our council now has a diverse range of focus, skills, experiences and background. We now have representation from elementary, middle and secondary classroom teachers, resource teachers, librarians, vice principals, principals, Orton Gillingham tutors, representation from the public and private system, and educators in various stages of their career. The common denominator is the enthusiasm for literacy and supporting literacy learners. Check out the About Us tab to learn more about our executive members on our website.

The positive impact of learning outdoors on physical health, mental health, and intellectual development through STEAM learning has garnered a lot of attention during COVID. This year we are joining with the Wild About Vancouver Committee to support teacher's in teaching and learning in the outdoor classroom. The annual Tidal WAV event will be taking place on Friday, June 3rd and hosting a number of free activities to support participation in physical activity, place based, experiential learning, STEAM learning and discovery of Indigenous ways of knowing. BCLCILA will be setting up a literacy booth to provide information about our provincial council and professional developing opportunities through the International Literacy Association as well as doing draws for online memberships and International Literacy Association professional development. Our vice president, Larkyn Froese, is developing a place-based scavenger hunt. Our membership person, Linda Klassen is ordering support materials and working with Larkyn to purchase outdoor learning books to put into the hands of students once they have finished the scavenger hunt. Our former treasurer, now member at large, Garth Brooks, is approaching publishers about donating non-fiction teaching materials for teachers to support outdoor learning. It is an outdoor event and in June so we are confident that it will be going ahead and have a wide reach.

If you have other ideas or would like to get involved in serving on the executive or volunteering at the British Columbia Literacy Council Booth during the Tidal WAV, please email us at bcliteracyila@gmail.com Also find us on:

Twitter: @BCLitCoun1
Instagram: bcliteracy www.readingbc.ca

The International Literacy Association is a champion of literacy learning in a global context.  The British Columbia Literacy Council of the ILA is part of this literacy family, as well as a strong voice for literacy learning in British Columbia.   I am excited about the election of a dynamic slate of educators ready to use their professional learning networks to expand on innovative literacy initiatives to amplify our voice in the province. We will be working collaboratively with literacy educators in BC to support literacy learning in our province.   

The BCLCIRA can also be an organization that supports innovative literacy leaders in projects that promote literacy in British Columbia. These supports are provided through resources that assist literacy leaders in furthering their vision of making literacy the foundation of success in British Columbia.

Carrie Froese 

President

Congrats to Dr. Judith Scott for induction into Reading Hall of Fame

Congrats Dr. Judith Scott aka Judy Scott

The British Columbia Literacy Association is proud to announce that Dr. Judith Scott is one of five 2022 inductees into The Reading Hall of Fame. On December 1st, she will join the 136 living members in the RHF and will receive one of the highest honours bestowed on literacy scholars worldwide. Dr. Scott recently retired from the University of California – Santa Cruz in the Department of Education where she taught for 22 years. While at UCSC, she served as the Chair of Academic Senate Committees on Teaching and Career Advising, the Chair of the Indigenous Faculty Networking program, the Director of the Vocabulary Innovations in Education Consortium, and Principal Investigator of the Central California Writing Project. She has also been the Chair of Undergraduate Programs in Education, Graduate Director for the Ph.D. program, Chair of the Language, Literacy and Culture specialization as well as the Co-Director of a Professional Development Institute in California that served over 350 new and veteran teachers for three years, focused on English Language learning using teacher inquiry and coaching. In her spare time, she was the Principal Investigator of four large grants funded by the United States Department of Education/National Center for Educational Research and the State of California.

In Canada, the British Columbia Literacy Council proudly embraces Judy as our own. She was a well-loved member of the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University from 1991 – 2000. She was also instrumental in creating the Early Literacy Network of 52 school districts in B.C. and active in our International Reading Association chapter. Throughout her career, Judy has been known for her support of classroom teachers and recognized their pivotal role in putting research into practice. Her focus has always been on how to evoke a sense of playful discovery in the teaching and learning of words. We are thrilled for her work to be acknowledged and for her to take her place alongside educators such as Ken and Yetta Goodman, Rob Tierney, P. David Pearson, Shirley Brice-Heath, Annmarie Palincsar, Allan Luke, Vicki Purcell-Gates and David Olson.

An appreciation of the power of words has always been part of Judy's life. Her stay-at-home Mom was an avid reader with an exceptionally well-developed vocabulary. Her Dad is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and use to read the dictionary on a regular basis to improve his vocabulary. His parents instilled in him that proficiency in English was the way to success. His time in boarding school in Oklahoma, where one of his seven siblings died, fueled a keen desire to create a better life for himself. He recognized early on that you couldn't change first impressions, but you could change minds when you opened your mouth. Judy was a middle child. With an older brother who became a lawyer and a younger sister who became a teacher, good communication skills were needed to survive.

Judy's interest in words followed her into her graduate studies with Richard Anderson and her work with Bill Nagy at the Center for the Study of Reading. Her work on vocabulary acquisition and blending vocabulary instruction with effective teacher education within the context of language, literacy and culture has received international recognition throughout her career, but this is a particularly note-worthy honour.

Since retirement, Judy has pivoted into working as an educational consultant in the private sector. This has allowed her to focus on the work she believes will make the biggest impact. Her first children's book, When the Mission Bells Rang, was written in consultation with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. It tells the story of colonization through an Indigenous lens using the voices of the animals in the Monterey Bay area whose lives were disrupted by the Spanish Missions along with those of the Indigenous peoples. The Mutsun names for animals are used in this story and underline the sophistication of the Amah Mutsun culture that had evolved in the area for thousands of years before the Spaniards arrived in the late 1700's. The inclusion of the Mutsun vocabulary speaks volumes and underlines the power that words carry.

For more information go to: The Reading Hall of Fame

Wild About Reading

The Wild About Vancouver Tidal WAV (pronounced "wave") Outdoor Festival is set and ready to go next Friday, June 3rd from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm in beautiful Stanley Park at Second Beach / Ceperley Park.

See more about it at inquire2empower.ca/2022/05/18/wild-about-reading
and inquire2empower.ca/2022/05/29/wild-about-reading-revisited.

Executive Committee for 2021-2022

Past President – Mike Bowden (appointed)
President – Carrie Froese
Vice-President – Larkyn Froese
Secretary – Kathyrn Self Ransdell
Treasurer – Linda Klassen
Membership Coordinator - Linda Klassen
Member-at-Large - Garth Brooks
Member-at-Large - Kelly Patrick
ILA BC Provincial Coordinator - Dr. Karen Addie

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Thank you to all members who put their names forward for the Nov. election. Your efforts towards building a literacy presence in British Columbia through the BCLCILA are very much appreciated.

British Columbia Literacy Council of the International Literacy Association

Sylvia Hotel - On English Bay
1154 Gilford Street, Vancouver, BC
(Free Parking underground; entrance in back of hotel)