Your newsletter for June
Hats off to our Seniors!
Social Distancing, Pandemic, Quarantine, Distance Learning, Remote Learning... these terms probably weren't in your daily lexicon at the start of this school year.
The class of 2020 has demonstrated resilience in ways that were unimaginable to us just a few months ago. As such, The International Dyslexia Association wants to showcase students with dyslexia who have persevered and are graduating this year, in spite of school closures and distance learning.
If you would like to feature a graduating Senior on IDA's social media channels, please submit a photo and release form here . 
We look forward to highlighting our accomplished students!
The R.E.S.C.U.E. Project
Re ading S lide from C ovid-19 - U ndoing the E ffect
Dr. Ken Pugh
Dr. Fumiko Hoeft
Are you a K - 1 teacher? Your help is needed! Millions of early readers are missing school during the COVID pandemic. This will likely have serious negative effects on their reading development. The RESCUE Project, is a digital-based reading instruction, led by Drs. Fumiko Hoeft and Ken Pugh, that hopes to prevent the COVID Slide.

The goal of this NSF-funded research project is to help K-1 Graders learn to read at home using a computer-based reading instructional game and provide benchmark reports to teachers (at no cost). They are reaching out because we would love for you to spread the word. They are limiting to 100 K-1 teachers (and their roughly 2000 students) so please sign up soon for this opportunity.

If you are interested in this project, please visit the Haskins Global Literacy Hub  website for more information.
You Can Support Struggling Students and Families
IDA has established a national relief fund to help those hit hardest by providing the following:
 
  1. Computers, laptops, or tablets (for remote learning) for those who can’t afford them,
  2. Educational software and other required learning tools,
  3. Tutorial stipends for students who need one-on-one learning assistance, and
  4. Family advocate stipends for those in need of special education advocacy services.

Our goal is to reach $100,000 to serve those in need. Now is the time to unite and help the many families feeling hopeless. They only want the best for their children. Let’s not turn any of them away.

We need you to please contribute $1.00 (or more) to help them. Please spread the word and encourage your networks to do the same! Together, we are stronger than COVID19!
Join our weekly Student Empowerment conversations each Monday night at 7 pm PDT on Instagram Live by searching @DyslexiaYouAreNotAlone .

This week , Jared S Blank will be talking with Ruby.

Ruby was born in Ethiopia. She is 12 years old and has dyslexia. Her favorite things are playing with her two dogs, sports (any sport!), music and riding the motorcycle with her dad. Ruby is in 6th grade and PE is her favorite class. Ruby has two brothers and one sister and lives in Battle Ground, WA.

You can view past interviews on our Y ouTube channel - IDA Oregon

Science of Reading in Teacher Preparation Programs
Mount Saint Joseph's School of Education, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, is actively supporting post-secondary education faculty members across the country who would like to incorporate the Science of Reading in their teacher preparation programs. Their goal is to inspire faculty to view their courses as a bridge that connects scientific research with best classroom practices. All three faculty members (two full-time faculty and one adjunct) involved in this work have extensive knowledge of the science of reading as well as a wealth of experience in both K-12 public schools and teaching undergraduate and graduate students.

The free resources provided by MSJ are aligned with the I DA’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading (KPS) . They include a model syllabi for a 12 hour reading core, a planning checklist, and a link to the 2019 IDA Reading, Learning, and Literacy Conference Presentation entitled,  It Can Be Done! How One School of Education Embraced the Science and Redefined Their Teaching of Reading by Dr. Amy Murdoch and Dr. Laura Saylor.

For more information, and to access the free Undergraduate Syllabi & Planning Documents, and Professional Learning Series for Faculty & District Partners, please follow this LINK.
Our members offering Online Continuing Education this summer
Rabbi Tsvi Fischer

With COVID-19 moving schools online, many offerings for Continued Education have moved online as well. While it is a difficult change for many programs, it also makes many programs more accessible.

NewCAJE, a Jewish education professional development program, is one such program. Their annual summer conference is moving online as a month long series of programs called 'A Summer of NewCAJE.

As a part of their summer program, Local educator, Rabbi Tzvi Fischer, will be teaching educators how to include the dyslexic student in the classroom, especially in Hebrew instruction. Rabbi Fischer, who introduced his programs to our branch board last year, is an advocate for inclusion. He has been training educators in MultiSensory education in the Hebrew language. "Most of our training programs are on hold" said Fischer, "I am grateful that this online program will be broadly available so that every teacher can use effective instruction."

Other than the online program at NewCAJE, Rabbi Fischer will be running a 5 day-30 hour in person training. That program will be held in mid August.  
Sasha Borenstein

So many teachers feel at a loss when faced with reading and spelling lessons – the rules and regularities, as well as the exceptions to the rules can be overwhelming. When a student asks, “Why is it spelled that way?” And, all too often teacher training doesn’t cover this knowledge about our language.

The purpose of this FREE class is to guide teachers, educational therapists, tutors and parents actively through the process of acquiring the linguistic concepts that underlie and govern English orthography, the English spelling/reading system, as well as the words, questions and activities which will help the students understand the logic and elegance of how to spell and read words thoughtfully.
  
I will use many of the ideas from Structured Literacy research and practices.
'The key components of Structured Literacy, a meeting of research and classroom teaching approaches that are highly effective in teaching all students to read and spell thoughtfully, delineates what and how reading and spelling can be taught carefully and clearly' . (Spear-Swerling, 2018)

Free Access to Past Conferences
Question: What do Grapevine, Orlando, Atlanta, and Mashantucket all have in common?
Answer: These four cities held the IDA Reading, Learning, and Literacy Conference in 2015-2018, respectively.

During the Covid-19 crisis, IDA is temporarily granting IDA members free access to ALL sessions from the 2015-2018 Conferences.
(Note - Sessions from the 2019 Conference held in Portland, Oregon are not available for free; however, they are available for purchase)
Educators, this is a CAN'T MISS presentation! We're excited to announce the webinar entitled,  Bring Online Structured Literacy to Life with Research-Based, Engaging Activites, presented by Marianne and Ketih Nice. You can  register now to ask a question and be entered to win great prizes!

Join husband and wife team Marianne and Keith Nice as they dive into the “how-tos” of online literacy instruction. Marianne and Keith will take you through the parts of a structured literacy lesson and provide sample activities you can use with your students. They will demonstrate adapting the materials you already have for use via webcam, describe how to use your tablet apps with platforms such as Zoom, and recommend online resources, apps, programs, and websites that offer free or cost-effective solutions. This webinar is designed to increase interaction and engagement while also maintaining the research-based methodology you are accustomed to delivering to your students. Save your seat for this exciting webinar!

Please note: Registration closes 6/12 at 12:00 am EDT. However, registration is not necessary to view the webinar. A recording of the webinar will be available on the IDA YouTube channel shortly after completion.
... and to close, a few wise words
Cats always land on their feet ... so will our students with dyslexia!
You can do it!

If you have something you would like us to consider sharing with our community in this newsletter, please send it to us at info@orbida.org