Time to drop the whole-class novel?
It’s time to stop teaching one novel to the whole class, argues Pam Allyn on Ed Week. Sam, a 12-year-old struggling reader, can enjoy Horton Hears a Who! but can’t decode or comprehend the class book,...
View ArticleCommon Core reading: Too hard? Too factual?
The new common standards for K-2 reading are too hard, “harsh” and “dreary,” writes Joanne Yatvin, a former president of the National Council of Teachers of English, in Education Week. The standards...
View ArticleBuild knowledge to teach reading
Building background knowledge orally is the “secret sauce” of Core Knowledge’s reading program, writes Robert Pondiscio. Freed from the cognitive work of decoding, children can more readily understand...
View ArticleIs literature necessary?
Never Mind Algebra. Is Literature Necessary? English teacher Tim Clifford, not a fan of Common Core standards, asks the question on the New York Times‘s Schoolbook. English teachers already have given...
View ArticleShakespeare or Stein?
Instead of reading Shakespeare, students of the future will analyze the writing of Joel Stein, writes Joel Stein in Time. It makes him nervous. Common Core State Standards will shift reading lists to...
View ArticleWho will teach informational reading?
Students should read more non-fiction and “informational text,” say Common Core State Standards adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia. The new standards say half of elementary school...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Without books at home, few read well
Children raised in low-income families have few age-appropriate books in their homes, according to First Book, which gives books to disadvantaged children to encourage reading. The infographic is...
View ArticleConservatives can like the Common Core
Conservatives should support the Common Core standards, write Kathleen Porter-Magee and Sol Stern, who describe themselves as “education scholars at two right-of-center think tanks” (Fordham and the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Catholic scholars oppose Common Core
More than 100 Catholic scholars have signed a letter to the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops urging church leaders to reject Common Core Standards for Catholic schools, reports Education Week. Gerard V....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Literature, non-fiction, lady or tiger?
Under the Common Core, students are supposed spend half their reading time on non-fiction in elementary school, 70 percent in high school. English teachers aren’t happy about the shift from literature....
View Article
