Students don’t like to read. These rarely discussed reasons may explain why. Kindergarten is no longer a garden. Kindergartners are pressured to read. Before NCLB, over twenty years ago, this was unheard of and still makes no sense. Formal reading instruction once began in first grade. Children in the not-too-distant past were given time to […]
Reading Aloud to Help Children Read Well Their Whole Lives!
Every new parent should get a copy of Jim Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook. Teachers should have a copy too. In honor of the late Trelease, parent and award-winning artist, writer, and author, it’s important to point out that his well-documented research lives on encouraging reading aloud to children, even babies, to foster a lifelong love […]
The Dangerous End of School Libraries and Public Education
School libraries are critical to maintaining great democratic public schools. The loss of school libraries threatens their existence and a student’s right to receive information. See the American Library Association and The Universal Right to Free Expression: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights. Many public schools no longer have functioning school libraries or qualified […]
10 Ways to Help Children ENJOY Reading!
The focus for children learning to read, sometimes undervalued by those concerned about phonics, is instilling a joy of reading. The ultimate goal should be that children are able to read and like it. Phonics is important, especially when children have reading disabilities, but it shouldn’t stand alone. Science of Reading (SoR) supporters will argue that […]
Public School “Reimagine” and “Revolution” Hypocrisy: Put Them Out to Pasture!
Teachers and parents on the frontlines of this pandemic should be given control of how their schools are reimagined in the future. When this crisis ends, they should be given the voice on how to bring back democratic public schools and make them their own. Any revolution surrounding schools is theirs. Those who foisted unproven and […]
There’s No “Science of Reading” Without School Libraries and Librarians, A Predictor of Student Success
The loss of libraries and qualified librarians in the poorest schools has reached a critical mass. Yet those who promote a Science of Reading (SoR), often supporting online reading programs, never mention the loss of school libraries or qualified librarians. Ignoring the importance of school libraries and certified librarians delegitimizes any SoR. Children need books, […]
Problematic “Scientific Based” Phonics: The Flawed National Reading Panel
It’s odd and detrimental that the National Reading Panel is highlighted in reports as science, used to promote phonics and criticize how teachers teach reading. It has become so intense that teachers are being advised to drop certain reading methods to focus solely on “systematic, explicit phonics!” The NRP was discredited long ago. Why it’s […]
11 Problems Facing Students as They Return to School
If you support our students, the next generation, and a democratic public education system that we all own, it’s tough to watch the changes corporate reformers have caused in schools. They’re not the ideas that most parents and teachers support, so we wonder why they’re implemented. Most of the problems that exist in public schools […]
How is School Choice “Freedom” When Students Lose School Libraries and Librarians?
Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open. ~Laura Bush What choice and charter advocates don’t advertise is that most charter schools don’t invest in school libraries with qualified […]
Bill & Melinda Gates Don’t Discuss Their Takeover of America’s Public Schools
Bill and Melinda Gates’s 2019 letter “We Didn’t See This Coming,” is filled with their concerns and optimism about everything from commodes to climate change. Always eager to discuss their global initiatives to help the poor, and a variety of other endeavors, they say little about the aggressive ways they are remaking public education to their […]