by Linda B. Gambrell
IRA—it’s all about the councils and affiliates. They are the heartbeat of IRA, and our most important work is accomplished through them.
IRA has sometimes been described as a pyramid, with the many councils and affiliates forming the foundation for the organization’s activities. Members of our councils and affiliates know how important it is for IRA to lead the way in responding to the literacy challenge to ensure that every individual has access to opportunities for personal fulfillment and full participation in society.
In Living Reading: Exploring the Lives of Reading Teachers (Peter Lang, 2000), Judith Davidson explored the work of IRA as an organization. According to Davidson, being a member of IRA means that you join “a community of people who agree to having a passion for reading and the teaching of reading....”
Through IRA we have the opportunity to invest in what matters to us—the goal of achieving literacy for all. We invest our time and our talents as volunteers in order to promote high levels of literacy by improving the quality of reading instruction, disseminating research and information about reading, serving as advocates on important issues in reading education, and encouraging the lifetime reading habit.
Many educators become members of IRA based on promotional materials they have received in the mail or seen at their schools, but by far most join because of a personal invitation. The invitation may come from another teacher, a principal, a specialist, or a supervisor. College and university faculty members often invite their students to join IRA. For some students, the impetus to join is to further one’s knowledge about reading, but for many it is the opportunity to “give back” through community service.
Most people learn best in a safe and supportive environment that is intellectually and professionally challenging and rewarding. I found such an environment when I joined my state IRA council. My participation in the activities of the council deepened my knowledge about literacy instruction and helped me grow as a teacher.
When I first joined IRA and became active in my state council, I must confess that as a new teacher I was interested primarily in what I would “get” from IRA—journals and access to state and national conventions. I was excited about receiving all of these benefits from a professional organization and having the opportunity to engage with other reading professionals.
As I became more active in both my local and state councils, I began to realize that truly outstanding work was being done in the name of literacy. I also began to understand that one of the most important reasons for joining IRA is that it provides us with opportunities to “give back” and be engaged in working for something we believe is important—literacy for all.
IRA councils and affiliates have a long history of being engaged in community service. Members donate many hours to worthy literacy projects such as providing libraries for homeless shelters, presenting books to mothers of newborns, reading to the elderly, working with businesses and civic organizations to provide books for families in need, providing books for homes for abused women and their children, and presenting workshops to parents who want to support their children’s literacy development—and the list goes on.
IRA councils and affiliates also know how important it is to recognize and celebrate outstanding efforts to promote literacy. For instance, I recently attended an IRA state conference where the council honored and celebrated exemplary reading teachers from school districts throughout the state.
In July I attended the 15th European Conference on Reading in Berlin, Germany, where the IRA Award for Innovative Reading Promotion in Europe was presented for the Portuguese project “Giving Life to Letters. ” This intervention program was conceived and implemented by the public libraries of five municipalities in the Valley of Minho in Portugal. It is an example of community efforts to improve the literacy of young children and adolescents in rural areas of Portugal.
Whenever I visit with councils and affiliates, I am very proud that IRA not only does good work but that we also value efforts to promote literacy and we celebrate and honor those who make a difference in the literacy lives of students.
Educators are well aware that we are on a collision course with the future. Students across the globe are striving to meet the demands of the new world economy—an economy in which reading is more important than ever.
According to former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, “The top ten jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004. We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems. ”
It is clear that the mission and goals of IRA are more important than ever. It is through the work of our councils and affiliates that IRA will ensure that students across the globe are prepared to meet the demands of our new world economy.
Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. ” IRA councils and affiliates are changing the world for the better every day through their work to make the vision of literacy for all a reality.
P.S. Just as I was finishing this column I saw Bill Clinton’s new book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, in the bookstore. This book provides an inspiring look at how we can make a positive difference “down the street and around the world.”
IRA councils and affiliates will find interesting ideas for service projects. Classroom teachers will find stories that will inspire them and their students to give—such as the story of a 6-year-old girl who organized a drive to clean up a beach or the story of Oseola McCarty, a laundress who gave her life savings of $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to endow a scholarship for African American students.
Councils and affiliates: The heartbeat of IRA. (October 2007). Reading Today, 25(2), 19.
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