IRA Services Conferences Each year the IRA hosts multiple conferences. They hold annual conventions, research conferences, biannual world congresses, regional conferences, international literacy day celebrations, national and international meetings, state and provincial conferences, and government relations workshops. In 2009 they are hosting two annual conventions (yes, I also see the humor in having 2 ANNUAL conventions). One will be in Phoenix, Arizona from February 21-25 and the other will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 3-7. Between the two conferences, there will be many featured authors including Avi, Allen Say, Barbara Park. Patricia Polacco, Greg Mortenson, and Khaled Hosseini. I was able to attend the 2008 Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. While there I attended various workshops on teaching reading, heard and met various authors, and visited lots of fun exhibits with lots of free stuff. Click on the link to see some of my pictures from the experience. To learn more visit this link to the IRA main website. Teaching Tools The IRA provides numerous teaching tools created by themselves and in cooperation with other organizations. They work with Verizon Wireless to provide Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org ). This website is full of free teaching resources and has a wonderful search engine to help teachers from the lessons and interactives that they need. They have partnered with NCTE to bring read*write*think (www.readwritethink.org ) another great free resource for educators. In the IRA journals, as well as online, IRA provides "Choices" booklists. These aid teacher, parents, media specialists, etc. find great books for children. Here is a link to one of the booklists that they provided. This one is a child selected list. Children's Choices They also have many resources for parents to help them as they teach their children. These brochures touch on a variety of subjects. Visit Parent Brochures to see examples. To learn more visit this link to the IRA main website. Outreach IRA gives numerous research and travel grants to support and recognize literacy programs around the world. They publish free reports on literacy research and have a free e-journal, Reading Online. They also provide activities and resources to help people celebrate International Literacy Day (September 8th). To learn more visit this link to the IRA main website. |