The John Howard Society of Manitoba’s Literacy Program uses a variety of programs and dedicated volunteers to provide opportunities for incarcerated men to improve their basic literacy skills. Often, missed educational opportunities or negative school experiences can increase the chances of incarceration; therefore, gaining or building upon literacy skills through tutoring and encouragement improves post-incarceration job and education prospects. Research has also shown that inmates who avail themselves of educational opportunities while incarcerated reduce the chances of recidivism.

The program welcomes volunteers, particularly educators, to help deliver its very important services. These services include:

• One-to-one literacy tutoring at the Winnipeg Remand Centre; tutoring is provided by community volunteers and supervised by a coordinator;
• Inside Scoop: a biannual newsletter composed of inmate writing (prose and poetry) and art;
• Get the Story Out: this program helps inmates stay in touch with their loved ones and fosters family literacy. The literacy program provides a children’s storybook and a community volunteer records an inmate reading the story. The recording is then transferred to a CD, the storybook and CD are gift-wrapped, and the package is sent to that inmate’s child or grandchild.

While all programs involving community volunteers are suspended due to COVID-19, the Society looks forward to when restrictions are lifted and will welcome volunteers when they are permitted to re-enter the Remand Centre. 
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The Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg donated to the John Howard Society of Manitoba's Literacy Program because we believe in their mission and value the work they do in our community to foster literacy among a population that is often overlooked but in great need of literacy support.

The Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg also supported You Can't Spoil a Baby, a local organization that provides a gift to families in need. The organization's mission is to "reduce child poverty by delivering a baby gift to every expectant Manitoba family in need who applies and qualifies." With RCGW's donation, You Can't Spoil a Baby purchased books from McNally Robinson that value Indigenous perspectives, promote self esteem in children, and encourage biodiversity. See below their Facebook post that highlights the titles selected. 

​I Love to Read Month is a month-long celebration that is held each year to encourage reading, writing, and sharing in the joy of literacy. This year’s theme is Joyful Reading in a New World. This theme encourages readers to try new book formats and to take part in engaging activities that are adapted to work with our current situation during a pandemic. As such, this theme was also chosen to help inspire and encourage students during these difficult times, to reach out, step up and stay positive!

Please share RCGW's idea calendar with teachers, students and their families. It would make a great addition to your school newsletter. Activities are included for students of all ages to have them explore different ways of engaging with literacy. I hope that both teachers and students will have fun with the suggested activities and that they will challenge the students to learn something new. I also hope that families will be able to share the excitement of reading and writing together.

In addition to the idea calendar, the RCGW will be making a book and monetary donation to the Cancer Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital, so that the staff can continue to update their children’s and teen’s libraries and magazine subscriptions. This provides children, teens, as well as parents with reading materials that are appealing and entertaining, as well as supportive.

The RCGW thanks you for sharing this idea calendar. In doing this, you are helping to empower our students to change the world.

Jennifer Serravallo will be presenting for the Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg on her new book that addresses strategies for distance learning. Registration is still open for this Wednesday, February 17, 2021, after-school session. Thanks to our colleagues at Pearson Canada, which distributes Heinemann's publications in Canada, you can order a copy of Serravallo's book online and receive free shipping with the promotional code LEARN! 

ASCD has developed a helpful series of short informational webinars on a variety of topics related to virtual teaching that are led by ASCD Faculty and other experts. ASCD Webbies include ideas for creating conversational norms and how to set concrete expectations in an online learning community. They seem to be regularly adding to the range of topics.

ASCD has devoted the entire Educational Leadership journal for December 2020 and January 2021 to the theme of Mental Health for Educators. During the summer, another issue of Educational Leadership was entitled A New Reality: Getting Remote Learning Right and featured several practical and insightful articles. It is now online and free to readers.

​Corwin Canada is an important source for print and video resources for distance learning. Visit their website to see several books and resources on distance and blended learning for educators. You can preview the Table of Contents for the latest books dealing with distance and blending teaching and learning. Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey have collaborated with John Hattie on The Distance Learning Playbook, which is published by Corwin. The Distance Learning Playbook, Grade K-12 has already become a bestseller! There are several individual volumes that address the specific needs of classroom teachers, teacher leaders and parents. 

Fisher and Frey also provided engaging workshops online at the ILA Next conference as well as on YouTube that really spiked interest in reading their print version. Check the newly refreshed Fisher and Frey website for a comprehensive list of valuable resources and their dynamic podcasts and video recordings that they have done in collaboration with a variety of organizations.

​Teaching Channel is a dynamic American online community where educators K–12 can observe, share and learn different teaching techniques. They have recently expanded access to many online professional development videos to facilitate virtual instruction. After ILA's Literacy Next, they offered a series of free webinars with people like Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Doug Lemov. Teaching Channel also offers a subscription that one can pay to access many online teaching videos. There are also formal courses where educators pay tuition to learn new pedagogical strategies and techniques to improve their practice. Learn more at www.teachingchannel.com. 

The International Literacy Association (ILA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) continue to collaborate on the ReadWriteThink website, a goldmine of lesson plans, strategies, interactives and after school activities for teachers, students and parents. See the NCTE’s comprehensive compilation of online professional learning resources for teachers, students and parents. There are many digital tools that you will want to know about!

An unprecedented pandemic may take the teacher out of the classroom, but it doesn't take the classroom out of the teacher. Jennifer Serravallo's ​Connecting with Students Online gives you concise, doable answers based on her own experiences and those of the teachers, administrators, and coaches she has communicated with during the pandemic.

Thanks to our colleagues at Pearson Canada, you can order a copy of Serravallo's book online and receive free shipping with the promotional code LEARN! 

Please Note: The session is limited to 100 participants, and we anticipate selling out quickly. Please read the cancellation policy on the registration page below carefully. This webinar will NOT be recorded—you must attend the live event.

As the Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg's blog team, we continually sift through the many new resources available for teachers in order to find gems we think you may find helpful. Enjoy these latest selections! 

Corwin Connect – Simultaneous Learning: Blending Physical and Remote Learning 
Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey offer some suggestions for managing the demands of teaching students in person and students online simultaneously. Among other suggestions, they suggest having students collaborate with their at-home peers using technology. Of course, such an approach relies on all students having devices not only in the classroom but also at home.  

Stenhouse Blog – Rethinking Reading at Home 
Grace Choi (@MrsGraceChoi) offers suggestions to encourage home reading with young children, including finding reading buddies like pets and finding comfortable spots. 

Stenhouse Blog – Yeah, We're Living in a Pandemic: But We Can Still Stay Connected
Jen Vincent (@jvincentwrites) shares ideas to boost connections with and among students by having them contribute a GIF or picture to a shared digital whiteboard, which can allow the teacher to do a quick mental-health check to see who might need a deeper check-in.  

The two blog posts above are part of Stenhouse's new One Thing You Might Try... column. Stenhouse also an excellent podcast, Stenhouse Teacher's Corner. The latest episode explores reading and writing workshops in primary and intermediate classrooms and how to adapt such a teaching method to online and hybrid models. Stenhouse also has a number of free webinars. The most recent one features Cris Tovani and her new book Why Do I Have to Read This? 

Pembroke Publishers – Canadian Children's Literature as Stepping-Stones to Understanding the Holocaust and ASCD Educational Leadership – Confronting Inequity / A United Front on Equity 
Larry Swartz ‎(@larryreads) writes about Canadian books (Grades 3+) that can support teaching about the Holocaust. Swartz writes, "When young people read and respond to books on the Holocaust, they can grow in their understanding of the complexities of history [and] its impact on the present...." Included on the list is Winnipeg's own Carol Matas with her book Daniel's Story. Swartz's new book, ​Teaching Tough Topics, is available from Pembroke Publishers. We recommend pairing this reading with a recent article by Matthew R. Kay in Educational Leadership, where he advocates for teachers and school leaders working together to address much-needed equity work in schools.

The latest iteration of the English Language Arts Curriculum Framework: A Living Document was published by Manitoba Education & Training in September 2020. The revision includes a “tracking changes” document, especially helpful given the new curriculum’s ever-evolving status. Especially noteworthy are the new questions added to the grade bands that will help teachers plan rich learning experiences with the four ELA practices in mind.​

The Maple group The ELA Place has also been updated with more information. The Educator, School, and Divisional Growth & Progress page is especially helpful for teachers just beginning to implement the new curriculum. If you haven’t recently visited The ELA Place, we recommend you take a look. There are nuggets of inspiration and practical ideas from a variety of Manitoba teachers.

Finally, Manitoba Education & Training Language and Literacy Consultants, Angie Burdett and Lisa Goolcharan have started hosting a new web series called EduTalk, available on Maple and on YouTube. The inaugural October 2, 2020 episode shares many concrete ideas for in-class, blended, and remote learning. They suggest how to involve parents in a COVID world (e.g. virtual tours of the school or classroom or inviting them as virtual guest speakers) and the importance of networking with fellow teachers to share good news and powerful ideas. They also walk teachers through how to use The ELA Place.

The International Literacy Association has responded to teachers’ requests for accessible, on-demand professional learning by hosting many thought-provoking and informative webinars, many of them free.

Two sessions from this summer are available for free on YouTube. Bookmark these links for when you need a dose of inspiration. In Book Access in the Post-COVID Era, Molly Ness, Susan B. Neuman, Allister Chang, and Karlos Marshall explore how students are affected by book deserts, areas with inadequate access to written works. In another session, Jonah Edleman joined Ernest Morrell and Nell K. Duke to discuss Literacy Teaching in Turbulent Times. Ernest and Nell are always so inspiring.

​Currently underway is ILA Next, a virtual, month-long conference that replaces their usual in-person annual convention. You can register at any time for $99 USD if you are an ILA member – a great deal for a month of PD sessions. Teachers who are currently teaching in a hybrid or distance model will find Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey's distance learning session to be especially helpful. We have found these new new ILA resources and interactive professional learning sessions to be especially comforting and invigorating, as we adjust to the impacts of COVID-19. We will feature highlights from these sessions in future columns.

There are so many new podcasts, videos, articles, books, and webinars to help teachers teach through the pandemic. If you have found a resource that has been particularly helpful, please let us know. We'd love to feature it on our blog!

​The "Science of Reading" is a very hot topic in literacy, and the International Literacy Association has devoted the most recent issue of its September/October magazine Literacy Today, the next two issues of its journal Reading Research Quarterly, and an ILA Intensive to exploring the topic's many angles. 

Part of the offerings include "Making Sense of the Science of Reading," a seminar taking place Thursday, September 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. ET. The registration fee for ILA members is $99 USD.

Be sure to browse through the ILA's Executive Summary of Reading Research Quarterly's special issue on the Science of Reading. The executive summary highlights key findings and provides summaries for the articles that will appear in RRQ. Consider sharing snippets with your colleagues in staff newsletters, staff meetings, and PLC sessions. 

ILA also has a number of free events that explore the science of reading and other timely topics. Their recent webinars have been quite inspirational – check out the free recordings when you have a moment! Check back soon for a post about the recent webinar Literacy Teaching in Turbulent Times with Jonah Edelman, Nell Duke and Ernest Morrell, one that we would highly recommend. 

Finally, there is no in-person ILA meeting this year. Instead, ILA will host "ILA Next," a digital conference that will be held throughout October. ILA recently announced that its members will be able to access the whole conference for a reduced rate of $99 US, which includes access to session recordings. 

RCGW Presents Penny Kittle – Empowering and Motivating Students to Read and Write

Are you ready to empower and motivate your students to read and write? Join Penny Kittle for an amazing day of strategies and tips to take student apathy head on. Learn how to recognize why students don’t read and to create a pathway to satisfying reading that leads to more challenging literature and, ultimately, a love of reading. Discover what makes the single biggest difference to student writers. Learn how to make your writing processes is made visible to your students to demonstrate the power of writing beside mentor texts and emulating those difficult writer’s moves in their own creative text.

Note: If you can't attend MTS PD Day because it is not being recognized by your school/division, you can still register and receive the webinar link after the conference! The recording can be accessed for 30 days. 

Don't delay! Register Today!