Literacy Talks

IDA 2022 Conference Recap

February 01, 2023 Reading Horizons Season 3 Episode 3
Literacy Talks
IDA 2022 Conference Recap
Show Notes Transcript

In November 2022, our Literacy Talks hosts attended the International Dyslexia Association’s 73rd annual conference. In this episode, you’ll have the opportunity to travel with them virtually as they share their key takeaways from the conference and their impressions of the many memorable presentations they attended. From new findings in brain research to effective intervention and prevention models of instruction and the connection between health and reading, this episode takes listeners on a whirlwind visit to the IDA conference.

Subscribe to our Literacy Talks podcast digest and never miss an episode! We’ll send you summaries of every session, links to the resources discussed on each show, and some extra goodies so that your learning never stops.

Subscribe to our podcast digest.

Download the new Reading Horizons Discovery Product Guide.

Access the show notes.

Read the transcripts.

Narrator:

Hello literacy leaders and champions. Welcome to literacy talks, the podcast series from Reading Horizons dedicated to exploring the ideas, trends, insights and practical issues that will help us create literacy momentum. Our series host is Stacy Hurst, a professor at Southern Utah University and Chief Academic Officer of Reading Horizons where reading momentum begins. Joining Stacy are Donell Pons, a recognized expert in literacy and special education and Lindsay Kemeny, a Utah based elementary classroom teacher. Today's episode will take you on a virtual visit to the 2022 International Dyslexia conference held in November of 2020. To share our hosts insights, new learning and memorable moments from this conference. Let's get started.

Stacy Hurst:

Welcome to another episode of literacy talks. I'm your host Stacey Hurst. And I'm joined today by Donell Pons and Lindsay Kemeny as I am every week, and this week, we are going to talk about the IDA otherwise known as the International Dyslexia Association annual conference that was held last week, November 10 through 12 in San Antonio, Texas. Danelle and I got to attend in person Lindsay got to attend virtually. So we are going to have a conversation about our experience, what we learned our takeaways, some of our favorite speakers, and things that we're still curious about as a result of attending the conference. Just a little background, though, before we begin. Lindsey Donell, there's a little quiz, maybe unfair. Do you know how long it's been since IDA has been in existence?

Donell Pons:

Shaking my head? Yes. And very long time. So that goes back to Orton Gillingham, right. Doctors Orton Gillingham that's a long time ago.

Stacy Hurst:

So as early as the 1920s, this organization was formed. But it was that was informally formed in 1949. It was formally organized right after the death of Dr. Orton. And they wanted to carry on his legacy and continue his work in the 1950 to 1979 timeframe. This impressed me, by the way, this is all available on their website. But what the focus of the organization on that time was on research rather than ideology that was a conscious decision that they made. So during that timeframe, Jean chawl, was asked to conduct some research to find out some questions that the organization had and other educators throughout the country. That's the beginning of her her seminal work, learning to read the great debate, which as we know, is a longitudinal study that she conducted. And one of the findings of that study, along with the first grade studies also conducted in that timeframe was that the importance of teaching phonics explicitly, that's when we first see that appear at that point, it was called the Orton dyslexia society. So they had a couple of name changes in the meantime. And then 9080 to 9099. This is where we start hearing names like relyon, who were familiar with, and in 1997, the International Dyslexia Association became its official name, but relyon and there was somebody mentioned that I've never heard of, so I need to do some research on her name, Priscilla Valle. They were big in the movement or the organization at that point, and they really were swimming upstream. Because the common ideology at the time was balanced literacy and whole language, but they did not give up the fight. And they stayed true to research. Yeah, they did. I think we owe them a lot actually. And then 2000 To present, they've been focusing on according to the website, structured literacy in the digital age. So that has resulted in things like the teacher knowledge and practice standards. There are over 10,000 members of Ida with 42 branches. And there are actually 24 global branches as well. So it spans outside of the United States. Now, I could not find how long the conference has been happening, officially, but I did find something that referred to it as the 73rd Annual Conference. That's a long time. So I feel glad that we were able to experience this conference. So I thought I would just start out. We could just share really quickly highs and lows of the conference experience. Donell, you and I got to attend in San Antonio, what did you think of the venue and the conference overall?

Donell Pons:

Yeah, I'm glad you asked. I see because we spent a great deal of time wandering around lost the two of us cuz that's one of my takeaways. They have this awesome thing they call the riverwalk in San Antonio. And it is actually really beautiful, but it's beneath street surface. I don't know whether that was the issue Stacy and I seem to have or whether it was the many bridges that seem to criss cross over this canal system. However it Stacy and I spent most of the three days wandering around trying to get to the conference, we did arrive once there, Stacy Knight securely stayed at the conference to make sure we didn't go wandering again. So that was an issue by third day, we had it down, but we were leaving, of course. So I thought it was beautiful. The setting was was gorgeous. And apparently San Antonio is known as the Conference Center City, right? seventh largest city in the country. I thought that was interesting, too. beautiful venue, large convention center. However, interestingly enough, Ida was sold out this conference this year. Right. I think that's interesting, too. Most of the conferences we've attended, have been at capacity. So folks are hungry to get back together again, it looks like. And so this being a large conference, you had to make sure you secured your seats. That's one of the things I think that can get a little exhausting at these conferences that are sold to capacity is you got to be dashing around getting getting a chair someplace to sit. And most of the sessions are lasting anywhere from an hour and a half, some are two and a half hours, you don't want to be standing or sitting on the ground, at least I don't for that period of time. So that's that's kind of a difficulty as well. But overall, I thought they had a really nice mixture of various individuals who were speaking, we had a research, we had a fair amount of research, we had a fair amount of application. And it seemed to have names you recognize names you didn't recognize. And a lot of subjects I think are extremely relevant, very timely. So I think they did a really good job with that. And I've always really appreciated this isn't my first time attending the idea conference, but I think it does a good job of that. It's a good solid conference, I think.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah. And you know, I will say that I'll just echo everything you said and grateful we found our way to where we needed to be the only a couple of life threatening incidences that we won't take the time to describe here. But I will also say that it was really it was really well attended. So to your point, Danelle, the keynotes which are fantastic. We're at capacity. And so there were a lot of people who didn't get to hear that made me wonder, I thought about Lindsay, who probably had the privilege of carrying all the things and made me wonder if they couldn't do a combination of them. Right. And I think the day two or three, I did see they had an overflow for the keynote. So that was a nice adaptation. And Daniel, you bet. How many years? Have you attended the conference? Goodness,

Donell Pons:

I think maybe five? Six, Viet COVID. So are you going online? Right.

Stacy Hurst:

And Lindsey? What about you? Have you ever been?

Lindsay Kemeny:

I've never been in person? No. Only online. Really? I think last year was the first time I did it virtually. So yeah,

Stacy Hurst:

during COVID? Well, I have to tell you my history with the conference, I feel like is maybe not unique, but I didn't know it existed. For the early parts of my career, I was attending the International Literacy Association conferences and their research conference. So that was LRC. I think when I learned about Ida conference, I actually remember feeling like, well, that's just about dyslexia, right. It wasn't till I attended that I realized what educators were missing out on. It's not just about dyslexia. But we when we understand dyslexia, we understand reading development, right, no matter the profile. So it is a very worthwhile conference. I recommend it to anyone. And I think it continues to improve over the years and 10 and 20 was a lovely venue. But I've been to others that have been just as great or better. So

Lindsay Kemeny:

my venue was great, too.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah. Tell us about your dress code. Well,

Lindsay Kemeny:

I decided not to go because I just went to the reading Lee conference. And I'm going to plain talk about we're all going to plain talk. And so for me, you guys, I hate writing some plans. It's just hard to leave my classroom and my family. So my kids had various activities. But it was fun because my Friday night I got some popcorn I sat on the couch and put my feet up. And then I logged into the IDA TV website and I had to watch them a day after so I couldn't watch them the day of so I've watched some from day one and day two I haven't gotten to watching d3 yet because I only had over the weekend so but it was great. I thought they did a good job at first it took me a minute to figure out the website then I thought they did a good job because they have some presentations that were created just for the virtual attendees. And and then some were there I was what I was watching it they recorded them giving their presentations. I really liked that because I felt like I was there.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah, you probably had a so you didn't get Lost. That's what I'm hearing. Yeah, you found all your sessions

Lindsay Kemeny:

on the way to the kitchen and my couch.

Stacy Hurst:

And your feet didn't hurt. That's good. Yeah. I wondered about that as well. And so for some of those keynotes, to you probably actually got more of a.

Lindsay Kemeny:

Yeah, cuz it was at Yeah. Because yeah, I was watching the recordings, I could pause and go back and download the handout while I watched. Yeah, good.

Stacy Hurst:

I do love that they have that option. That's really good to know. I wonder how many people attended that way?

Lindsay Kemeny:

I wonder, too. And how many were in person? Oh,

Stacy Hurst:

we heard a number. It didn't we don't know it was bigger than the reading league conference.

Donell Pons:

So we've heard numbers floated anywhere from 1500 to 1600. Not sure what they landed on. Yeah.

Lindsay Kemeny:

And I wonder, do you guys get access to all the online because then you could watch some of the sessions that you didn't get to go to because they were at the same time as another?

Stacy Hurst:

You know, Danelle actually mentioned that while we're at the conference, because there were so many good things, it was really hard to choose. And that would be great. I know, in the past, they've had an option where you can add to your conference experience and get recordings. But I didn't see that this year. That's not to say it wasn't there. I haven't seen it, though. But Lindsey, I did see the cameras in the back of some of those rooms. And I honestly had the thought of just like photobombing, to say, hi, Lindsey. But I didn't do it. I refrained. So you're welcome. What I'd like to ask now is, we'll do the three to one summary that we sometimes do with our students. So I'd like you to think about three takeaways from the sessions that you attended at the conference, your two favorite speakers of the whole conference, if you're forced to choose two, or sessions, and then also, this will be three to one plus actually something that you learned in the conference that made you curious about something or something you want to find out more about as a result. And then I'm going to ask about action, what things are you going to change or implement as a result of attending? So three takeaways, and just because I just dropped that on you guys, I will start by sharing my takeaways. They're just little snippets of sessions that I attended. But I really appreciated also Cardenas Hagen, who said, explicit teaching requires explicit understanding. And I think that marries nicely the importance of teacher knowledge, right? You can't teach something that you don't know. And I know that Emily Binks, Cantrell wrote a whole paper called The Pieter effect, I believe, is what it is. So I thought that was great. And then I did attend a session that was about policy and application of science in the classroom. So it was the difference between applied research and basic research. And I really appreciated learning more about that aspect, it kind of helped define why we have such a gap between research and implementation, I thought it was a really good session. And then I also loved just learning more about those partnerships, and the fact that when we wanted to make change, and there was a big focus at the IDA conference, they have strands, they have research trends, they have implementation and practitioner strands. But it was a big focus on how systemic change happens, and all the players that need to be involved to make a difference for literacy. So those are my takeaways, some things that I want to focus on, or that caught my attention. Darnell, what were your takeaways?

Donell Pons:

Great. So Wow, you really are pushing me here with giving me that three pronged question there. So I have three things that were my big takeaways to speakers. And one thing I'm curious about that I learned that I'm curious about right, and you're using the word heat three takeaways. So on the three takeaways, one is I really appreciated brain science that was shared, and that was Fumiko, haft there were there were other moments too. But that was what I really resonated with me, is the information that she's sharing about what's going on in her labs. And I really appreciate that that work continues to go on, and how intensive it is and what they're finding out and their curiosity in those labs. It's fantastic. The other was looking at assessment and screening, and and again, finding out information about how folks are carrying that work forward, to make it more accessible, reaching into different areas of an individual's life in the continuum, not just the education realm, in order to assess and screen and find folks who may struggle or are struggling with reading. And then the other was being able to hear someone speaking about the orthographic deficit, which I thought was really interesting, because we don't talk specifically about that very often. But we talk a lot about orthography. So I thought that was really interesting to go into a session and discuss that.

Stacy Hurst:

Oh, yeah, we're just starting with three takeaways. right now but I wanted to ask a follow up question with Dr. HEFCE session. What was one insight that you gained from her research?

Donell Pons:

Well, I gained many, because I kept texting my husband who has dyslexia, typically my husband attends this conference with me, we go together. And that's one thing I didn't mention before is that's really my first interaction with this conference so many years ago, was taking my husband with me, because we'd heard about it. And other folks had gone to the conference that were part of an association was Decoding Dyslexia, and had gone to the conference for various reasons, looking for speakers from conferences, that sort of thing. But we really went for him. First time that I went to the conference was really for him, for him to go and see that there's a whole field interested in why he struggles with reading, why he did, why he does, and what they're doing about it. And it was just so positive and empowering for him that we've tried to go back every year. It's like his Mecca to go back to that conference. And I kind of missed having him with me, for a few reasons. His enthusiasm, which is fantastic is is always so enthusiastic about what they're doing. But the other pieces is that he links up with typically finds other folks who have dyslexia at the conference. And they they get together and that's fun. That's always fun to hear, too. So that's just kind of a side note to that. So I was texting him. One of the things I texted him was that for Miko had a bunch of points up on her slide. And of course, you won't have to go in depth to these, but one of them was parents reading predicts child's brain and behavior, even in pre readers. And I texted that to my husband, he was kind of like, wow, let's talk. And under that she said mother's reading predicts pre reading ability in kindergarten, pre reading, and the phonological surface area, and more prenatal influence reading skills in grade three. Anyway, she had some more information to share on that, but I thought those were really interesting takeaways.

Stacy Hurst:

And just another side note, I'm just having courtesans conference two because Danelle and I have gotten into the habit. When we have a three way tie between sessions we want to attend, we would send Curtis, we were just kind of at a loss there. We missed your Curtis. Lindsay, what about your three takeaways?

Lindsay Kemeny:

Yes. Okay, I loved Nadine Gabs, and one of the things she said was that the most effective intervention window was from pre K to first grade. And so not that intervention isn't effective at other times, or you know, we don't have to give up, obviously, but that is the most effective time. And sometimes we have this wait to fail model, or we think, Oh, they're okay. And then they don't get, you know, intervention till third or fourth grade. But if we can jump in early, and we really want to have more of a preventative model, we tend to be so reactive. And she kind of related this to the field of medicine, like how come we're all about prevention and medicine, and we go get our yearly checkups and everything. But sometimes we don't tend to do that in education. So I loved that. And then there was another I'm gonna love my next two together, because this is a little bit longer, maybe. But I listened to a presentation that I was so excited about, because it was completely new to me. And it gave me some ideas to go back and do right away. So this was kind of combined with I think, your number three question. But it was on cognitive flexibility to either of you attend this one it was with Kelly Cartwright,

Stacy Hurst:

I don't even pequea had the option. So it was unique to online.

Lindsay Kemeny:

It was amazing. It was Kelly Cartwright and Carolyn Dean. And they talked about how students with a reading comprehension deficit, but are still able to decode that they have weaknesses in three areas working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. And so they were focusing on cognitive flexibility. And they describe this as treble flexing between like the letter sounds, and then the meaning of the word. And they shared a study where they like going back and forth between the letters and the sound is called this is big word grafico phonological semantic flexibility. So they call it GSF. And they found that if they did an intervention working on that, then it did improve their reading comprehension. And so how they would do this is they would do like, like a two by two matrix. So think of, you know, just like four boxes, and maybe at the top are desk and dog written, they both start with D. One is an object to the other as an animal, and then underneath that underneath desk might be with the word pen. And then they got to figure out what would go in the bottom box and would have to be an animal because it's under dog, and it would have to start with the P, because that row and this is kind of hard to see without seeing a visual. But anyways, that's how they would do this intervention. You could do it like a little harder. So and then you could do it in steps. So maybe it's you give them a set of words and they have to organize them by open and closed syllables. Then you give them the same set of words, and now they have to sort them by, you know, food and objects. That was the example they gave food and objects. And then they would give them the two by two matrix. And again, they would fill in three of those squares. And they'd have to figure out what goes in the, in the fourth. And I was just so excited about that, because I had never heard of that. And I thought that was really interesting that it did affect their comprehension. And then they just talked about practicing that in the classroom, that cognitive flexibility. So maybe you have vocabulary words, and you know, to help student access a complex text and you practice those, and maybe you have those on cards, and you're going through them and they said, just change up what you're doing. So they maybe they're saying the word, and then you can say, say just the last syllable now. Okay, say the first syllable. Oh, what's the first sound? And just, you know, switching between activities like that is really good to help that cognitive flexibility.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah, so that that is really great. Reminds me of Elsa Cardenas Hagen. One of her sessions, she talked about a similar activity, where you have rows of work the same words, but on every row, you have students read the words, and then you ask them a question, based on it might be a morphological question, pragmatics phonological or based on the grapheme two. So that would be kind of the same idea, right? The other thing that made me think of is that four part processor, and you're really activating multiple parts of that processor, but the meaning part, especially focusing on that, as it relates to understanding, that's really cool.

Donell Pons:

And one thing, Lindsay, I'm glad you brought up the presentation at the beginning by Dr. Gabbe. Because one thing that did become very clear to me is, we should be owning that K through one, two and three space with reading. And we should be owning it in many different places, not just in the schools, but we should be owning it in the pediatricians office, that should be a main focus is to identify, notice, and then help push people towards services in that space, because we know how important it is right? And this is no excuse. I mean that that kept getting repeated over and over again. But that was great.

Lindsay Kemeny:

And that was because she had that pediatrician who spoke after her. I don't have to treat us. Yeah, yeah. And that was just so interesting, because he was taught and he kind of wanted us to help advertise this and the screener that they came up with for pediatricians to get this in, you know, doctors offices that they can screen for reading problems.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah. And that's called the Pearl D. And I really appreciated that session as well. And it helped me understand the difference in the way that I communicate the difference, I should say, to teachers, either pre service or in service or administrators between early identification and diagnosis. And that really, you can't say that one is more important than the other, right? We need to identify early. And if that leads to a diagnosis, so be it but we're going to treat it anyway. I thought that was really valuable.

Lindsay Kemeny:

And I liked the point that he was making where, you know, some doctors might say, hey, this, this is like an education problem. This isn't a health problem. But he really connected it to, you know, look at the negative effects of you know, what happens when these kids can't read? Right? We've got mental health issues, you know, and so it becomes a health problem.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah, and he didn't say this, but I was thinking it too. I bet a doctor could relate in the same way a teacher could if you just say you know how many of your patients do you know of that can't read the prescription you wrote them. And that may you know, that affects the way they take care of themselves, or how many don't have access to understanding the pamphlets that you share about their heart problem or, you know, a myriad of other practical examples, so it does impact our health.

Narrator:

Get all the resources discussed during literacy talks, podcast episodes, and stay up to date about webinars and other special events from Reading Horizons. Go to reading horizons.com/literacy talks and subscribe to our podcast digest so you're always in the know about everything literacy.

Stacy Hurst:

Okay, if you're forced to choose two favorite sessions, Lindsey, what would they be?

Lindsay Kemeny:

Well, I already said them, I guess so. It's not that interesting. I really not that different. I really love Nadine Gabs, and then I really loved Kelly Cartwright and Carolyn Dean. That's great.

Stacy Hurst:

Don't know.

Donell Pons:

I've already said for Miko, heft, and then Gosh, it's kind of a tie. I went to Elsa as well. And also Dr. treatise I think he made some really excellent points. I just really appreciated his the work that he has done as a pediatrician, right in that realm and arena, and then making sure that he's being a part of this conversation for many years. There's, he's been in this area for a long time, sat on the board of Ida. He's done a lot of work. He's put in a lot of time to try to connect that. So I really appreciate a heart, a whole body of work, a lifetime of work.

Stacy Hurst:

And you know, I'd have to say, Dr. Hagen's I went to book two of her sessions, I think she only had two. They're both focused on English language learners. But I learned so much about any type of learner. I love her perspective and background. She's a speech and language pathologist, but she speaks to the whole need. The students have, whether they're learning English or English as their first language. Either way, I just think it's such valuable information, both knowledge and practice, and I think that's why I'm always drawn to her. And also, she's funny and very personable. If you notice, she was fantastic, and just really human, very real. And then, you know, I, of course appreciated the keynotes, but I'd have to say that Dr. Kearns, Devon Kearns gave me a lot of reason to think about a lot of things. In his his part of the session, that was a panel session and Dr. heft was on that panel as well. The way he addressed the different types of research was really applicable to I think, where I am in my career. And so I actually plan on reaching out to him because I have a lot of questions based on what he shared, but I thought it was really insightful. So I'd say those were two speakers or sessions that really resonated with me. Okay, so curiosity. Is there something and I guess what I just shared was kind of that too. I am curious about the difference between basic research and applied research and how we can bridge the gap. That was one thing I heard more than once and Danelle, you can check me on this because you were in the keynotes as well. But I feel like Dr. Fletcher might have made reference to the response opportunities. We've had discussions about this, some people say five to 12, before word gets in long term memory. In our group, we've had this conversation just recently about what is the actual number? Where can we find it? A few people referenced that Dr. Hagen did as well. And we still don't have a source for that. Yeah. Other did as well. Yeah. Okay. So I'm still curious about that. And as a result of our recent conversation, it's probably why I noticed that people were referring to that. I looked up in the book that I know, I read it in the first time. And sure enough, I found it and there was no citation. Really interesting. And the number varies, you know, it's usually a range. But anyway, so I'm curious about that. Something that you were curious about?

Lindsay Kemeny:

Oh, did you say me? Yeah, I was wondering. Um, something I'm curious about, is working memory. And, you know, that was one of the things mentioned in these students with comprehension deficits also have a working memory. I think that's very common with our students that have dyslexia. I know, my son had really low working memory. And there is nothing currently, that shows that when you work on something specific to working memory that it transfers to reading, and so I just kind of want to see more research in this area. My son's working memory was like off the charts low. When we tested him in. Oh, I guess it was second grade. I think it was like in the 70s. You guys it was really low. And then same with when he was tested again in the third grade. And then when he tested in sixth grade, it was completely normal. I think it was the high 90s. I'm like, how did that happen? I mean, of course, we didn't just attend to working memory separately, because there wasn't research for that. But somehow his working memory really improved. And it's just something you know, when they mentioned working memory in that session, I just thought, oh, I want to know more about that.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah, then thanks. Now I can add to my list. I'm done. Oh,

Donell Pons:

yeah. I really want to do more to specifically look at orthographic deficit. Dr. Mathers presentation on that really kind of resonated with me, she talked about how, you know, rightly, we've looked at phonemic awareness, a lot of folks are now more aware of phonemic awareness than ever before we attend to that. But Dr. Mather said, I am afraid that that is turning into kind of a red herring, everybody goes down that path and thinks, Oh, I do a few exercises and it improves That looks great. But then we have still the spelling difficulty and putting the sound to the letter and being able to spell words and why is that still very difficult? And why is recognizing words in text still very difficult for students? Why can I spell something one way and three different ways within the same paper? That's all under orthographic deficit, which we're not talking about a great deal and how much more difficult that is to really review Wait for the older student in particular. So I wouldn't want to do more work on that, too. Yeah, that's

Stacy Hurst:

fascinating. When we were talking about the overall experience of the conference, I failed to mention the app. So one, there were so many sessions, like we said, and we couldn't possibly go to all of them. But one session that happened, at the same time that a session specific to pre service teachers that I did attend, and it was a great session was a session called Growing language literacy and social emotional learning. And so I'm going to mention it here because I am curious about this. The presenters were Dana Russell Freudenthal. So sorry, if I missed that up Jennifer Stewart, my is a rue, who is a personal friend of mine, hello, my, and Stephanie L. O Tiber. And as I looked over their handouts, which we did have access to, they are doing some interesting research. So I'm more curious about what they are doing as well. They talked a little bit about dialogic reading, and how to use that not only to build language and literacy, but to help with social emotional learning. Anyway, I'm curious about that. So I'm going to look more into that there were some fantastic poster sessions to that Donnelly. And I got to see, that was an interesting part of the conference. It wasn't quite as robust as I feel like it has been in the past. But there was some really interesting research. So I'm going to spend some more time exploring that as well. Okay, we are nearing the end. So our final question will be, what are you planning to do in ways of application as a result of attending the conference?

Donell Pons:

So you know, what's interesting about this conference is it really centers me and refocuses me on why I do this work and how I came to the work and why I'm so it's so important to me, right? That's one of the great things about going to this conference, if however, you're feeling a little bit, you know, I'm not sure what I'm doing, I'll focus, it's a great way to focus to get centered on exactly why you're doing the work that you're doing and why it's so important. And it also reinforces many of the concepts maybe you've heard over time, things that you think you're really familiar with. And then it's a nice way to shine a light, maybe you're seeing it from a different perspective. At this point, maybe there's some additional research that's been added, this is a great place to come and get updated. i There were some updates on things that were nice and things I'm anticipating still looking forward to. So I think all of those things are going to shape going forward practice. But it's interesting. Also sitting in each of those sessions, I had at least one or two students come to mind. And I had an interesting kind of perspective on the things that we're doing and some of the challenges we're having. And I was immediately taking notes for those particular students. And I think maybe that's a piece of a conference that is most important to me is when you can have those moments, were actually thinking of individuals or students and ways in which you can help right away with something that you've heard at the conference.

Stacy Hurst:

Lindsay, what about you?

Lindsay Kemeny:

Well, definitely now I am going to, you know, be more intentional about this cognitive flexibility in my classroom and kind of switching between things. I thought that was really interesting. And then I'll just share a fun one. So there was a, a session on gains. And they had mentioned word dough, and like being go, and I just thought, Oh, this is going to be fun, because we're going to kind of just like being go, but I made us I made a little worksheet. I'm so proud of myself because I made this little bingo sheet yesterday on Canva. And I just took it's just a three by three square. So there would just be like nine words, and I put handwriting lines and each square. And then I was so proud of myself, I got to school today like showing one of my team members like Look what I made, I made this. And so for dictation and the dictation port portion of our phonics lessons, we're going to instead of writing on the whiteboard like we normally do, occasionally I will do this and we'll play Word out where they're going to write on the little lines and each box that can choose where to write their word for dictation. And then we're gonna go back and we'll have to read them because I'm going to call out words and just play a quick little bingo game. And I thought that would be just kind of a fun way to change things up occasionally.

Stacy Hurst:

Yeah, I love that. And I what I love about what both of you said is it's student focused, right? And my students right now are twofold. I am tutoring but I also, you know, most of my students are college students, because I'm teaching in that pre service space. So it did give me a lot of ways that I can apply with them as well. One thing that I was thinking Lindsey just along those lines, Reading Horizons, by the way has a word Oh game in our phonics program that I hadn't the I love that handwriting lines. I did love that. But also we have in the Reading Horizons as well. That's the phonics program. I use transfer cards that we are applying after every lesson and what I explained to you about the activity that Elsa Cardenas Hagen helped us with, I'm like I could do that I could address each of those areas of have layers of language right as we're emphasizing what's on those cards. I also appreciated what you said Danelle about the part outside of the classroom or beyond that. I personally am going to contact pediatricians in my area and see if they are have heard of the pearl D. And if they're interested in learning more about that, I think there probably isn't very many towns in America that don't have pediatricians, right. It's a really good place to start. I also really loved in that session I attended with Devin Kearns, and they were talking about partnerships for Applied Research. There was actually Fumiko hefty, I think it was association with her university, did a summer brain camp was focused on reading but obviously had a neurological aspect to it. Kids had MRIs, all kinds of cool stuff. But it started me to think about what I could do in my community in the summer to help students. So small ideas, big ideas, lots of takeaways, right? Thank you so much for sharing all of your takeaways, guys, and I love that. I mean, we missed you, Lindsay, do you think we wouldn't have got lost if you were

Lindsay Kemeny:

there? No, because like Darnell and I, when we didn't have you, Stacey, and we're Oh, in Syracuse, when we're in Syracuse, we did not know where we were going. So

Stacy Hurst:

Oh, right, because you guys came a day after me. Right. Okay, so to sum that up, we are all directionally impaired. But we did miss you, Lindsay, but we're glad you got the online experience. So you can share that aspect with this as well. Okay, well, I guess that will conclude this episode of literacy talks. We would love to hear from you if you attended Ida. Or if you have any questions about anything we shared, we're happy to share resources that we got, we have access to from the conference. But as ever, as teachers, we're learners first and this was a great opportunity to build our learning. So thank you for joining us for another episode of literacy talks. We'll see you next time.

Narrator:

Thanks for listening to literacy talks, the podcast series for literacy leaders and champions everywhere. Literacy talks comes to you and your colleagues from Reading Horizons where reading momentum begins. Visit reading horizons.com/literacy talks often for resources, ideas and great literacy learning conversations. Subscribe to Our Podcast digest and you'll always be up to date on all things literacy. See you next time.