Registration for The 2023 CCIRA Conference is Open!! 

Click below to read about the amazing sessions available!

This year's luncheons are with

Nikki Grimes and Lester Laminack! Sign up before seats are sold out!!

📢📢   PRIZE ALERT!!   📢📢

How to Enter

1. Share on social media that you registered for the 2023 CCIRA Conference
2. Tag friends that may be interested in the conference
3. Tag CCIRA in your post so we can see it

We will announce the winners and their prizes every two weeks!! Don't wait! Register now before prizes run out!

CCIRA 2023 Luncheon Speakers

Nikki Grimes

CCIRA is very excited to welcome best-selling author Nikki Grimes to the 2023 conference! Nikki will be facilitating Friday's luncheon and providing a 90-minute workshop later that afternoon. You can only go to her afternoon session if you go to the luncheon! Check out some of her most recent books Garvey in the Dark, Ordinary Hazards, Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance, Between the Lines, Oh, Brother!, Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice, and Halfway to Perfect: A Dyamonde Daniel Book.

Lester Laminack

Lester Laminack has been a voice in education for many years. He has written several books for both teachers and children so we are incredibly excited to have him at the 2023 conference!! What's even better is that Lester will be there with his new book Three Hens, a Peacock, and the Enormous Egg!! Check out his recent CCIRA blog post here as well as some of his other books: The King of Bees, Three Hens and a Peacock, The Ultimate Read-Aloud Resource 2nd edition, Writers ARE Readers, Reading to Make a Difference. Register for Lester's luncheon, so you can also attend his afternoon session.

CCIRA 2023 Featured Speakers

Ruth Ayres

CCIRA is excited to welcome Ruth Ayres to the 2023 conference! As a director of a professional development consortium of 30 schools, Ruth spends her days helping students find meaning in their stories, and encouraging teachers to reflect and refine the art of teaching. Ruth wanted to become a teacher because she wanted to have a positive impact on the lives of middle schoolers. During her time as a district instructional coach, she became an innovation specialist, working alongside building instructional coaches and providing district PD to increase inquiry and develop structures to support innovation via PBL. Take a peek at her most recent book Enticing Hard to Reach Writers.

Cornelius Minor

Cornelius Minor works with teachers, school leaders, and leaders of community-based organizations to support equitable literacy reform in cities (and sometimes villages) across the globe. His latest book, We Got This, explores how the work of creating more equitable school spaces is embedded in our everyday choices—specifically in the choice to really listen to kids. Out of Print, a documentary featuring Cornelius, made its way around the film festival circuit, and he has been a featured speaker at conferences all over the world. Cornelius has a podcast linked further down in the newsletter too. Be sure to check it out!

 Aeriale Johnson

Aeriale Johnson is coming to the 2023 conference and CCIRA couldn't be more exited! Aeriale taught public school for twenty-three years in Florida, Alaska, and California. In 2021, she transitioned from being a classroom teacher to serving as a staff developer for Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. Aeriale serves on NCTE’s Build Your Stack committee and was recently elected to the Elementary Steering Committee. She is also a column editor for Language Arts. Aeriale’s blogs, articles, and essays have been published by NCTE, Heinemann, the International Literacy Association, Scholastic, School Library Journal, and ASCD. She is currently working on Possibilities of Poetry with Clare Landrigan.

Lesléa Newman

CCIRA is so happy Lesléa Newman decided to join us at the 2023 conference! 

Lesléa is an award-winning author of 75 books for readers of all ages, including Alicia and the Hurricane, How to Sleep Tight through the Night, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, Heather Has Two Mommies, Sparkle Boy, Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story, Ketzel: The Cat Who Composed, Remembering Ethan. Lesléa has written books about several topics including lesbian and gay families, AIDS, eating disorders, butch/femme relationships, sexual abuse, and more.

Here are just a few of the other CCIRA 2023 conference speakers and their books:

Donalyn Miller & Colby Sharp - The Commonsense Guide to Your Classroom Library

Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul - Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, Breathing New Life Into Book Clubs: A Practical Guide for Teachers

Shannon Hale - Princess in Black series, Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn series, Real Friends series, Princess Academy

Sarah Zerwin - Pointless

Vicki Collett - Differentiated Mentoring and Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner

Click the book titles to read more about them.

CCIRA Literacy Conversations

Podcast alert!! In the newest episode, listen to 2023 CCIRA Conference chairs, Lori Conrad and Patrick Allen, interview Brooklyn-based equitable literacy leader, Cornelius Minor.  Several other editions are available too including Charles R. Smith, Whitney La Rocca, Krista Griffin, Melanie Conklin, Pernille Ripp, Gordan Korman, and more! Click the button below and listen in!

Remember to check out the CCIRA Blog!

The CCIRA blog features a wide variety of nationally renowned literacy experts, as well as talented practitioners from across Colorado. Check out the posts on https://ccira.blog/  

We have a new blog post by 2023 conference speaker Nawal Qarooni! Please take time to read  Breathing Life Into the Syllabus: How Teaching Preservice Educators Hones My Practice. We also have recent blog posts from JamilahThompkins-Bigelow (Growth and Loss: Black Children's Literature Post-George Floyd), CCIRA Past President Vicki Collet (Mentoring and Coaching to Support Colleagues), and Gravity Goldberg (Combatting Aliteracy: Mentoring Today’s Students to Become Tomorrow’s Avid Readers).

If you might be interested in submitting a guest post to CCIRA.blog, please contact Hollyanna Bates (hollyannabates@gmail.com).

CCIRA is a non-profit organization that works to empower literacy educators. As a non-profit organization, we appreciate support in a variety of ways:

• Donate
• Support a Conference Scholarship Opportunity
• Leverage fundraising programs to earn CCIRA money
• Volunteer with CCIRA

This Month's Featured Fundraiser

CCIRA Partners in Empowering Literacy Educators

TOP REASONS TO PARTNER WITH CCIRA

• Over 2000 conference attendees will learn about your partnership with CCIRA.
• Our 1300+ members will see your support on our webpage.
• Visitors to the CCIRA website will learn about your organization and its events.
• Our combined support of literacy will impact students across our state and neighboring states.

Check out one of our newest partners,

Knowledge Bound!!

Meet Members of the

CCIRA Executive Committee!

Jessie Meeks

Hi CCIRA!



I’m your State Membership Coordinator and the temporary State Coordinator, working with local council leaders. I learned about CCIRA in my first year teaching, in 2012, when Jeffco’s local council held an event at my school. I attended the conference that year, and I’ve been attending ever since. I have been a board member of JCIRA (now JLA), and I became involved with the Conference Committee in 2019. During my first couple of years, I coordinated the amazing awards and grants that are awarded at the conference each year. Two years ago, I joined the Executive Committee as the State Membership Coordinator. It has been a great learning experience in a challenging time.

Professionally, I am currently an Instructional Coach at Welchester Elementary in Golden. This is my second year as an Instructional Coach, and I find the learning that I’ve done thanks to CCIRA helps me every day in that role. I love working with teachers from PK-5th, and I find the range of needs and supports an exciting challenge. Before becoming an Instructional Coach, I taught third grade at Maple Grove Elementary in Golden for eight years and for the ninth year at Maple Grove, I taught a second/third grade multiage class. I actually started working at Maple Grove, with their Deaf/Hard of Hearing program, in 2007, and I continued in that role while I earned my Masters in Elementary Education from Regis University.

My early background was not in education, though. I have a B.A. from Regis in Women’s Studies, and an M.A. from the University of Maine in English. But it seems like education was in the cards for me even as I pursued these other degrees. During the year off between my B.A. and my M.A. I volunteered at Wilmore-Davis Elementary, reading with students who needed extra support. While at UMaine, I taught Freshman Composition, took education classes, and did an internship with Orono Schools as a grant writer. I guess teaching and literacy were meant to be!

CCIRA collaboratively encourages, supports, and advances literacy through research-based instructional practices to increase literacy access to all.

All people will be empowered to critically engage in our changing world by developing and utilizing literacy skills throughout life.