What's up at Reading Today Online?

Reading Today Online is updated daily with articles on the following topics: Articles on Reading Today Online are divided into six topics: Teaching Literacy, Children’s Literature, Councils & SIGs, Research & Grants, Legislation & Policy, and Member News. You can access articles one at a time by clicking on their links, or you can view all of the articles of a certain topic by clicking on that topic name. You can also view all of the articles in a list, shown in reverse-chronological order. If you especially enjoy a certain article, click on the sharing links at the bottom of its webpage. There are links to Facebook, Twitter, and more, as well as a link to share the article URL via email. Some articles even have “discuss on Engage” buttons that allow members to login to chat with other members about topics covered in the articles.  (from the "About" page at Reading Today Online)


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Note: You don't need to belong to the International Reading Association to access content at Reading Today Online.

Teaching reading and IRA

It is eye-opening for teachers to realize how reading differs in other content area classrooms. For example, analyzing the causes and effects of historical processes differs from visualizing physical and chemical processes in science, which differs from interpreting character motives and figurative language in literature.

Think about the analogy of mental workouts: Many students have not given their brains the types of vigorous thinking workouts—cross training, if you will—that teachers want them to have in different types of reading and learning. Once teachers see how different the comprehension process is in different subjects, then they can also recognize the comprehension similarities from subject to subject. (Jeff Zwiers at the International Reading Association Website)

To read more, click here.

The IRA website includes some full text articles from its journals The Reading Teacher. Above is an excerpt from one of those full text articles.

A terrific reading resource

Since 1956, IRA has been a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy. More than 70,000 members strong, the Association supports literacy professionals through a wide range of resources, advocacy efforts, volunteerism, and professional development activities. Our members promote high levels of literacy for all by:


* Improving the quality of reading instruction
* Disseminating research and information about reading
* Encouraging the lifetime reading habit

(from the International Reading Association website)

IRA's website is rich with resources, including Reading Radio. Here's some information about it, again from IRA's website.IRA Reading Radio airs monthly on the BAM! Radio Network, a radio website for the education community. In each installment, IRA interviews an expert on a key topic relating to reading education.

This month's broadcast is about response to intervention. To listen, click here.

Do you have the cash for this tome?

Billed as the world's most expensive book, a rare copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America is scheduled to go on sale at Sotheby's this December, according to a BBC News report. Only 119 copies exist of the 19-century book, which contains 1,000 life-sized illustrations of almost 500 breeds of birds, and most copies are owned by museums and libraries. A separate edition of this book sold for a record-breaking price of $8.8 million a decade ago. (from the International Reading Association website)

On an unrelated note: Today's Literary Lunches reader is retired Grand Forks Central English teacher Carol Dahlstrom.