This is the blog I did not want to write. Why so many tests? Be sure to read an eloquent post by Diane Ravitch about saving No Child Left behind after I share a few thoughts. People have never agreed on the best curriculum, pedagogy (methods) and materials. Programs come and go, but skills remain the same. Meanwhile, teachers and principals spend their own money to provide for kids. How did we become a nation of testers instead of learners? Why was…..
I was born on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Perhaps that is why I have always had such a strong social conscience. I’ve been teaching reading nearly my whole life. When I was six, I was dragging neighborhood kids into my “schoolroom.” In addition to teaching in a 9-12 reading lab, Title I teacher, etc. I was also connected to various literacy-related boards and organizations, including school boards, Literacy Volunteers of America, neighborhood study centers, Fantasy Theatre, Harmony Arts, Laubach…..
Is it really true that three of five children in any classroom have dyslexia? I read it somewhere the other day, so I’m reviewing recent research, to confirm this, and would like your input. Do you have a child labeled as dyslexic? If so, consider this a gift, a perceptual talent. Your child’s brain works in the same way as great geniuses, thinking mainly in pictures, altering and creating perceptions, being highly aware of surroundings, and possessing enormous curiosity. Famous…..
When I was only 21, I taught high school English, speech and drama in Antonito, Colorado. How in the world could I teach minimal English speakers in a language that made no sense to them when they couldn’t read well in Spanish or English? My journey into the field of reading began with those kids, only a couple years younger than me, and never ended. That first year we started a newspaper, put on plays using a table and chairs…..