The Missouri Reader WINTER ISSUE Vol. 44, Issue 1

I found this posting on Twitter in December:

Notice that this tweet got over 65 thousand likes and over 10 thousand shares. People know what teachers like you are doing. In spite of what some nay-sayers have said, people know that what you are doing is helping a lot of kids. As Diane Ravitch’s blog just reminded us, we are working through a pandemic. We are helping kids. We continue to do what it takes to scaffold the kids into becoming lifetime readers and writers. We continue to understand just how important that goal is.

The Missouri Literacy Association (MLA) is doing its best to support you as a teacher. We have a Facebook page where you can find daily information and inspiration. The Missouri Reader, which has been published by MLA for almost 50 years, provides you with informative articles. Some of them come from well-known folks in the literacy field, but many of them come from practicing teachers like yourselves. They are not well known (yet), but they are exactly the kind of superheroes Dan Rather was talking about. Here is a link to information about how you can get your own article submitted:(LINK)

MLA has been growing this year. We already have several hundred new members. We now have three active regional councils in three locations: St. Louis, Springfield, and Kansas City. Joining MLA automatically makes you a member of the council of your choice at no extra cost, or you can choose an “at large” membership if you wish. We’re offering book clubs, webinars and are a part of many wonderful literacy projects in our state, such as the Believe project of the St. Louis Black Authors (LINK). We have a webinar series by Tim Rasinski that is free to all. Tim’s next webinar is on Jan. 26th, 2021. Do have a look at our webpage- we’d love for you to become the newest member of MLA and to join in the many activities currently going on in our state.

In closing I want to wish all of you the best in the New Year. Like all of you I’m glad to put 2020 behind us and I am hopeful for what the new year will bring. We did make it through 2020. Actually, we did more than that. We got through 2020 in a way that has folks like Dan Rather saying we are “superhero’s who have even another year of awesomeness”. Well Done Indeed- Teachers and Educators. All the best in the coming New Year.

Dr. Sam Bommarito

Chairman of Missouri Literacy Association

Co-Editor of The Missouri Reader