As a teenager in Albany, Ga., Patricia A. Edwards took the lead in teaching the younger kids in her community to read. When boys came to her father’s barbershop for haircuts she told them, “If you don’t let me teach you the alphabet, I’ll tell my daddy to give you a baldy.”
In the role she will take among the global community of teaching and literacy professionals next week, she won’t have to persuade anyone.
On April 28, at the close of its 55th annual conference in Chicago, the International Reading Association, an 80,000-member, Delaware-based organization that “teaches the world to read,” will install Dr. Edwards as its president.
As an international organization for literacy professionals, IRA provides resources and professional development activities toward disseminating best practices and lobbies Congress on policies to improve the quality of reading instruction in the U.S. and abroad.
As IRA president, Edwards says she plans to continue work she has already started that aims to arm teachers with tools to successfully instruct students in diverse classrooms.
“Teachers need to learn the cultural background of their students,” said Edwards, a professor of language and literacy at Michigan State University, in an interview with Diverse.
As IRA vice president, Edwards has developed an international survey to collect data about literacy practices in communities around the world. Edwards said continuing to develop this research is important for reading instruction globally and in the U.S. as more immigrants and refugees arrive.
