SCIRA and GCIRA

I have recently become the president of my local council of SCIRA (South Carolina International Reading Association), which is called GCIRA (Greenville County International Reading Association). That was a mouthful!

I work closely with four other individuals to build a strong foundation that supports all educators as teachers of reading and fosters lifelong readers and writers. Other members of our local council include a principal, assistant principal, instructional coach, and Furman professor. This group of highly motivated individuals have accomplished quite a bit this year!

Our Fall kick-off event featured Lester Laminack. If you have never seen Lester speak, you are certainly missing out. He is a dynamic speaker; knowledgeable and down-to-earth. His presentation included tips on using literature in the classroom, for author studies and character studies. The information was useful and practical for all participants.







Coming up, on February 6, we are hosting a mini-conference at a local elementary school in the district. This event will showcase the Distinguished Teacher of Reading (DTR) nominees from the district. We had 19 teachers/instructional coaches nominated by their school to represent Greenville County as a DTR. Nominees were required to prepare a written statement to answer some questions about their philosophy of their commitment to education. These responses were judged by a panel of college professors ranging three different universities. The nominees are now going to showcase their best practices for all teachers by being a part of the mini-conference. In April, we will announce this year's DTR for Greenville County at our banquet taking place at Furman University. In addition to DTR nominees presenting at this year's mini-conference, we are lucky to also have Furman students providing concurrent sessions varying in topics. Exciting stuff!

SCIRA also recognizes an Administrator of Reading for each council. This year, Bernice Jackson from Brook Glenn Elementary will go to the state SCIRA conference in February in Myrtle Beach to represent Greenville County as our Administrator of Reading award winner! She has recently been notified that she is a finalist for the state! Keep your fingers crossed for her. I believe Ms. Jackson deserves this award, given her continued support to reading and literacy in her school and at the district level.



I am presenting a session at this year's SCIRA conference; Activating and Summarizing Strategies. Although I have presented this session many times before, I am looking for new ideas to include in my presentation. I will definitely post about the session I facilitate the end of February.

In the meantime, please consider attending SCIRA's conference this year. It is a 50's theme, and sure to be a ton of fun! I can't wait for the Sock Hop with Eric Litwin!

Please also visit GCIRA's website and facebook pages to support us.