Penn Literacy Network

Director's Letter

It started with an email. Approximately seven years ago I had an idea that I wanted to pursue for PLN: networking with a like-minded education group in Ireland. After consulting with a family friend who teaches in Dublin, I was given the name of the early childhood organization IPPA. I took a chance and sent an email to their web site (www.ippa.ie) "Hi. I am the director of a professional development program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Would your organization be interested in a conversation to discuss a possible link between our programs?"

You can imagine my delight when I received an email back from their former director encouraging me to call. After a few phone calls, an exchange of materials and finally a visit to Dublin to meet and discuss common issues and possibilities, our partnership was launched.

We began with a common vision: Young children need developmentally appropriate play experiences in order to learn and grow successfully and literacy opportunities can be infused within this type of environment to encourage children's later emergence as readers and writers.

The rest, as they say, is history. What a glorious and enjoyable history it has been for all of us--from meetings in Dublin, to visits to our PLN Summer Leadership Workshop by IPPA educators, to summer training of trainer-workshops that have been disseminated country-wide in Ireland and a joint presentation at an international literacy conference in Philadelphia, we have developed collegial and personal relationships with this magnificent group of educators. Every year we talk and plan programs and we also hold video conferences once or twice a year to keep the conversation alive. Just recently, PLN's team met by video conference with our colleagues, including a few educators who presented our work across the country. Our program has blended research and practical frameworks and strategies that link literature and oral language for young children. We gave the participants a professional text, "The Plainer Truths" by our founder and senior advisor, Dr. Morton Botel and we sent a children's book (that we presented in Dublin last year) and a certificate of attendance from the University of Pennsylvania to each participant which was signed by me and by the director or IPPA.

This summer (2007), we will return with a group of PLN literacy and numeracy facilitators in the same workshop for a new cohort and an advanced workshop for some of last year's participants.

What's next on the horizon? After this summer's upcoming program, we plan to look for funding to expand our work. We are delighted to have a meeting with the Irish Ambassador's education leader from Washington, DC, which will be a combined video conference talk between PLN faculty in Philadelphia and IPPA faculty in Dublin. We also hope to establish a 2008 summer program that I dreamed of for the past 10 years: an international, teacher-to-teacher exchange. Teachers will meet, visit some programs, talk about their work with children and discuss new possibilities for their students.

I now invite my IPPA colleagues to describe their experiences with PLN and discuss the impact of our partnership below.

IPPA Brochure

Director's Letter from PLN Ireland/IPPA

A common philosophy and way of working with adults and children provided the initial basis for the partnership between IPPA and PLN. In reaching out, IPPA connected with like minded professionals who believed in engaging children in their own learning.

IPPA, the largest voluntary childcare organisation in Ireland with a membership base of 2,500, has worked with childcare practitioners since 1969 providing supports and training to enhance the delivery of services to young children and families.
Working with PLN afforded us the opportunity to forge international links, create a space for dialogue, inspire cross cultural and trans-national thinking while focusing on language and literacy within the early childhood curriculum.

Our work together in the early stages developed trust and the relationship with our colleagues in PLN has been nurtured through collaborative visits, presentations and by the technology of videoconferencing.

Following a very successful Summer Leadership Programme (2006) here in Dublin, our trainers have worked in 2007 with over 80 childcare practitioners (teachers of young children), who work in areas of disadvantage. Irish research indicates that in areas of disadvantage up to one third of young children struggle with competency and confidence in the areas of language and literacy, which does not auger well for life chances. The work of IPPA with practitioners in these areas makes an important contribution to children’s well-being, their ability to make the transition to school, and their capacity to participate in school and community life.

In developing publicity, adapting teaching materials and strategies appropriate to the Irish context and in disseminating information on a national basis, IPPA has initiated the early childhood ‘language and literacy’ conversation.

The transatlantic work has facilitated a process of mutual sharing and learning with greater understanding of the systems and communities with whom we engage. Built on firm foundations, the IPPA/PLN partnership is set to go from strength to strength.

Marion Brennan, Irene Gunning, & Marlene McCormack