The Secondary Reading Interest Group, which is a WORD special committee, will be meeting during the Fall WORD Conference, on Friday evening, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm on October 14, 2005 at the University Center (Room 314), located in the new Everett Transit Center, 3201 Smith Ave. Everett, WA  98201. You may wish to visit their website to download a map www.universitycenters.info. It is just around the corner from the conference hotel, the Best Western Cascadian, which is on Pacific Avenue.  Pizza and salad will be part of the benefits for joining and we have a few other surprises in store for you as well.

Anyone with an interest in secondary literacy is encouraged to join.  The cost of membership is $25.00, which includes membership to WORD, your local council and it also includes the $10.00 membership to the International Reading Association’s Special Interest Group on Secondary Reading.   If you are already a member of a local organization, thus being a member of WORD, then you can pay the $10.00 to be part of the IRA Secondary Reading Interest Group and receive their newsletter.

The Secondary Reading Committee of WORD is devoted to support secondary reading teachers and content area teachers with the resources and collegial opportunities that will strengthen their programs and support their students.  We will have a designated site on the WORD  webpage  specifically devoted to information that supports adolescent literacy.  At the meeting on October 14^th you will have a chance to sign up for sub-committees that will gather information for the website. 

We highly encourage our members to also consider membership to the International Reading Association so that you can receive the Journal for Adolescent and Adult Literacy both as a hard copy as well as on line.  The articles can be downloaded into camera ready copies for distribution to your staff members.  Many schools are buying memberships for their teachers who are coaching or facilitating reading in the content areas because membership allows you to make copies without getting copyright permission.  You may want to share this with your administrator or encourage them to visit the IRA website and you may prefer to join at the WORD Conference by visiting the IRA booth that we will have set up with sample of the journals and the publications.

You may want to visit the following sites for some of the most current information about adolescent literacy:

Reading Next: A Vision of Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy

Building Reading Proficiency at the Secondary Level: A Guide to Resources” in the SEDL Letter: Reaching Our Reading Goals

Adolescent Literacy Resources: Linking Research and Practice

			Contact

If you have any questions about the Secondary Reading Interest Group WORD Committee or about the event on October 14^th, you may contact Peggy Freeman Purdy, Committee Chairman at 206-368-4776.