On June 16 and 17, 2008, the Ohio Resource Center and the Office of Literacy, Ohio Department of Education, sponsored the seventh annual Ohio Literacy Institute (OLI), a two-day professional conference that focused on timely topics in literacy across grade levels for teacher leaders and administrators. With record-setting attendance and a waiting list of 150+, the interest and enthusiasm for learning about best practices in literacy leadership and instruction was profound.

Want to refresh your memory of the Institute or see a little of what you missed? View:

Quick Facts
Participant Feedback
Words and Pictures
Speaker Materials

Quick Facts

• Over 425 educators (grades PreK–16) attended, the largest turn-out in the seven-year history of the Institute.
• The Institute was held on Monday, June 16, and Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Columbus-Dublin in Dublin, Ohio.
• The Institute theme was "Inspiring Leaders and Engaging Learners."
• This was the first year of ORC’s co-sponsorship with the Office of Literacy, ODE.
• Over 20 renowned experts in the literacy field presented, including Debbie Diller, Nell Duke, Judith Irvin, Sara Kajder, Maureen McLaughlin, and many others.
• Ohio Superintendent of Education, Dr. Susan Tave Zelman, was a featured keynote speaker.
• Five distinguished Ohio authors of children’s and young adult literature presented at a special luncheon in their honor (authors included Jaime Adoff, Chad Bender and Sue Bender, Asma Mobin-Uddin, and Shelley Pearsall).
• Educational exhibits and information sessions spotlighted Ohio-based projects and resources (exhibitors included Beery Middle School and the Columbus Museum of Art, the Mazza Museum-University of Findlay, the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education, the Ohio Historical Society, the Ohio Social Studies Resource Center, and ORC).
• Each participant received numerous professional resources at no cost, including two courtesy texts, hard copy speaker materials for all the sessions, and a CD with speaker materials in electronic format.

Participant Feedback

These are just a few of the comments recorded by participants on their Institute feedback forms:

• "The conference as a whole was a superior learning conference for literacy. Every principal and teacher should attend the conference."
• "This was a very beneficial two days! I can’t wait to get back to school in the fall and share the valuable information with my teachers!"
• "This was an excellent institute, and I am sorry I missed the first six!"
• "Great speakers, great location!"
• "Loved the Authors’ Luncheon – please continue this!"
• "The free resources were awesome!"
• "I learned some great strategies for small-group instruction. And what a great idea to include all the presentation materials in the folder…this allowed me more information to take back to my classroom. I’ll be back next year!"

Words and Pictures

• Download the OLI 2008 conference program for agendas and session descriptions.
• Read the OLI 2008 press announcement for more details.
• See highlights from this year’s conference via a brief OLI 2008 slide show (pictures are courtesy of Tim Best, Ohio Board of Regents).

Speaker Materials

• Dr. Nancy Mack, Wright State University
  "Nonfiction Reading and Writing: Making Learning Concrete and Complete"
  Nonfiction Reading and Writing
• Dr. Sara Kajder, Virginia Tech University
  "Teaching English with New Literacies – and New Pedagogies"
  wiki: http://promiseintopractice.pbwiki.com

Note: The above list does not include resources on the OLI Speaker Materials CD.