By LAUREN MCDONALD lmcdonald@goldenisles.news
College of Coastal Georgia will host its third annual Literacy Forum on Friday, which will provide an opportunity for educators from around Georgia to come together and discuss promoting literacy education.
The event, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Southeast Georgia Conference Center on campus, is offered to regional educators, school administrators and students to promote the importance of literacy at home, discuss innovative education and learning techniques and develop tools and strategies to support literary activities.
“Attendees at this year’s Literacy Forum are in for a truly exciting day as we celebrate the uses of language and especially children’s literature to foster that all-important love of reading for every child,” said Ron Reigner, event coordinator and an associate professor of literacy education at CCGA.
Reigner said a community focus on literacy is vital for the success of students. And in Glynn County, he said that focus has long been in place.
Between the efforts of the St. Simons Rotary Club, the Marshes of Glynn Libraries, the Friends of the Library group, the St. Simons Literary Guild and others, he said the community has been working together for years to promote its students’ literacy education.
“I think this community does a wonderful job of trying to look at the literacy issues,” he said.
And he said the reading and writing scores of Glynn County’s students have improved as a result.
Speakers at Friday’s forum will include John Gile, an Illinois author, who will discuss using imaginative literature to motivate students, and Jane Feber, an educator and author of several teacher-friendly manuals.
The forum will conclude with three break-out sessions. Authors Nancy Raines Day and Patsy Smith Roberts will both lead sessions, as well as Beth Pendergraft and Kim Barker from Augusta University.
Julie Morrill, literacy program manager for the Georgia Department of Education, will also be driving down from Atlanta to lead a session.
Educators from around Georgia will be in attendance for the forum, which has grown every year since its inception in 2015.
“Our job as parents and educators involves teaching children not only how to read but, just as importantly — even if lost in all the mandated accountability — to want to read,” Reigner said. “This year’s attendees will surely leave with some wonderful new ideas and new book selections to cover both vital aspects of literacy education.”