Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Opening Welcome Session
5:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
"What Really Matters in Early Literacy Classrooms"
Richard Allington
Knoxville, TN, USA
Dick Allington was an elementary classroom teacher, reading specialist, and federal programs administrator before becoming a professor and researcher.
He is now a Professor of Education at the University of Tennessee. Dick served as the President of the International Reading Association (IRA) in 2005-2006 and received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from IRA for his study of perceptual processing in young children.
For nearly 60 years he has focused his work on the differences in education, the
richest and poorest schools, and the re-segregation that is currently occurring in
our schools.
He was co-recipient of the Albert J. Harris Award in recognition of his work contributing to the understanding of reading and learning disabilities, a recipient of the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from IRA, a recipient of the President's Award for Excellence in Research from the University of Albany - SUNY, the Outstanding Reading Educator Award from the New York State Reading Association, and he has been elected to the IRA Reading Hall of Fame.
His address will explain how we can and should create evidence-based early literacy classrooms without drill and practice, without worksheets, and without stress and anxiety.
This session will overview powerful and joyful early literacy environments.