Professional Reading Organizations
By: Leslie Luman
http://www.texasreaders.org/
Purpose/Mission
“The mission of the Texas Association for Literacy Education (TALE) is to promote literacy that will enhance the lives of all Texas citizens personally, socially, and economically.”
Cost to Join - as a professional and is there a student rate?
One-year memberships are $5.00
Is there an annual conference? How much?
2016 Literacy Summit
Early Registration (before and on January 15, 2016)
$150
Regular Registration (after January 15, 2016)
$175
Are there opportunities for leadership? What are they?
There are many different positions for this organization. They are: President, president-elect, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. There are numerous committees that are formed and a board of directors. One of the committees is the nomination and election committee. Their job is to prepare a slate of nominees and to conduct the elections for these positions.
What are the benefits to being a member?
Being a member of this organization offers you access to many resources that could come in handy for any educator. A few of those resources are a journal, newsletters, and yearbooks. By joining this organization, I believe a door would open to a new world of resources at my disposal.
Do they have a social media presence other than their website? What are they?
Yes. Facebook and Twitter.
Would I join?
I will definitely be joining this organization. Not only is the cost within most anyone’s budget, I feel the resources could help me in my new journey as a reading specialist. Attending the conference would prove to be a great experience and would put me in the company of like-minded professionals to exchange ideas with.
http://www.statweb.org/
Purpose/Mission
“The mission of the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT) is to build a community dedicated to advancing science teaching and learning.”
Cost to Join - as a professional and is there a student rate?
Regular Member - $30/year
Business Member - $250/year
Retired/Student Member - $10/year
Is there an annual conference? How much?
Yes.
Early Bird Registration (August 15th - October 15th): $130
Regular Registration (October 16th - November 12th): $180
Are there opportunities for leadership? What are they?
Yes. President-Elect, Chairs Membership Committee, Secretary, Treasurer, Member At Large (3)
What are the benefits to being a member?
Benefits of being member include: Scholarships, newsletters, community discussion groups, science teacher of the year awards with cash prizes, resources to create your own science blog. This organization also offers mini-CASTs. These are conferences where teachers can earn professional development hours and are able to attend workshops to help with lesson plans and other science related materials.
Do they have a social media presence other than their website? What are they?
It didn’t have any social media listed on their website but I found them on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In.
Would I join?
I will join this organization as well. As a reading specialist, I will have teachers of all academic areas asking for assistance and I feel this site will be of great help to me. As a special education teacher, one of my biggest struggles has been with curriculum for my students. I believe this organization will be of great use for my in both of my career choices.