Children's Author, Writing and Reading Specialists to Speak at Annual Literacy Symposium

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A nationally acclaimed author of three popular children's book series is one of three featured speakers at this year's fifth annual Literacy Symposium sponsored in June by the University of Arkansas.

Jack Gantos, author of the Rotten Ralph, Joey Pigza and Jack Henry series of books, will join Ruth Culham and Valerie Ellery as featured speakers during the symposium June 17-18 at the Fayetteville Town Center. Personnel of a company operated by Culham, based on her 6+1 Traits of Writing books, lead workshops around the country for both beginners and experienced teachers. Ellery, a former classroom teacher like Culham, offers training in creating strategic readers, also the title of her series of books and other resources.

Registration information is available on the curriculum and instruction department's Web site. University of Arkansas students can attend at a discounted rate.

"These speakers are recognized experts in their fields and provide meaningful insight into how to teach reading and writing and empower the diverse learners in today's classrooms to flourish," said Linda Eilers, a clinical associate professor of childhood education who is helping coordinate the symposium. "Teachers constantly seek effective strategies to support students at all levels and from all backgrounds. Literacy is particularly important because it impacts success in each area of the curriculum and in life. These speakers' broad range of experiences allows them to provide training for teachers of all grade levels. It is widely recognized that only quality professional development connected to teachers' classroom practice, focused on content and effective teaching, benefits teachers and the students they teach."

The symposium offers 12 hours of professional development credit. For the past four years, it has drawn 500 educators from Arkansas and surrounding states.

The conference theme is "Differentiated Literacy for Diverse Learners." It is designed to help teachers meet challenges they face in ensuring their students succeed academically.

The speakers:

• Gantos gives educational creative writing and literature presentations to students and teachers around the country. He has won many awards for his fiction written for middle-schoolers through adults. Books in the Joey Pigza series about a boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been named National Book Award Finalist, Newbery Honor book and School Library Journal's selection as Best Books of the Year. His books about Rotten Ralph, a cat with a mischievous streak, teach children about unconditional love as well as encouraging them to look at their own behavior. The Jack Henry series offers semi-autobiographical tales about a boy and his unpredictable life and family.

• Culham formerly worked as unit manager of the assessment program at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, Ore. Her books, 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide, Grades 3 and Up and 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades have made her a recognized expert in writing assessment. She has identified the core qualities of great writing and the skills required to achieve excellence as ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions and presentation.

• Ellery dedicated two decades of her life to the field of literacy after realizing her son was having difficulty reading. She has been a National Board certified teacher, curriculum specialist, mentor, staff developer, reading coach and National Reading Consultant. Her book, Creating Strategic Readers: Techniques for Developing Competency in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension, was published in 2005, earning the book club selection and best-seller honor from the International Reading Association. It focuses on five components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.