ASTA Offering Full Scholarships to Arkansas Reading Association Conference

posted by: Pamela | November 04, 2010, 02:51 PM

The Arkansas State Teachers Association is pleased to offer the opportunity for our members to attend The Arkansas Reading Association Conference on November 18-19 at the Peabody Hotel and Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock free of cost through ASTA’s professional development scholarships.

All information regarding the ARA conference and speakers can be found on the Arkansas Reading Association website.

Some highlights from the conference include:

This year’s theme is “Reading on the River.” Harvey “Smokey” Daniels and Candy Dawson Boyd will be keynote speakers. Patricia Reilly Giff, an award-winning children’s author, will be the “Book and Author” speaker.

Harvey Daniels is known for his pioneering work on student book clubs, as recounted in Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups, and Minilessons for Literature Circles. He is also co-author of Best Practice: Today's Standards for Teaching and Learning in America's Schools. Daniels has been a city and suburban classroom teacher and a college professor, and now works as a national consultant and author on literacy education.

Daniels works with elementary and secondary teachers throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, offering demonstration lessons, workshops, and consulting, with a special focus on creating, sustaining, and renewing student-centered inquiries and discussions of all kinds. Smokey shows colleagues how to simultaneously build students' reading strategies, balance their reading diets, and strengthen the social skills they need to become genuine lifelong readers.

The second general session speaker is Candy Dawson Boyd. She has lectured nationwide as both an award-winning children's author and a K-12 reading educator, emphasizing literature and culturally diverse learning. She has successfully worked with schools in crisis across the nation. Dr. Candy Dawson Boyd is a Professor in the School of Education at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California.

Dr. Boyd holds a B.A. in Education from Northeastern Illinois University, a M.A. in Reading Education, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of California, Berkeley. While at Saint Mary's, Dr. Boyd directed both the Elementary Education Basic Credential Program and the Special Education Credential and Masters Programs. She founded, and currently directs, the Masters and Specialist Credential and Certificate Programs in Reading/Language Arts.

She has been a national keynote speaker for the California Reading Association, the International Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. Her award-winning books for young people include Circle of Gold, Charlie Pippin, and Chevrolet Saturdays.

Dr. Boyd specializes in working with low performing urban schools. As founder of Common Literacy Culture, she is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading and writing for urban children and has successfully worked with schools in crisis across the nation.

Numerous other authors will be attending, including Andrew Clements, who will receive the Charlie May Simon award for his book, No Talking!

Two-day conference registration cost is $175, but a member of ASTA can sign up to attend this conference for no cost. The scholarships are awarded on a rolling basis so sign up today online to reserve your free admission.

Click here to sign up.

If you are not a member of ASTA you can join at any time by clicking here.

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