Thanks to Twitter, Elisabeth Ellington's SOL post from December 8th is still getting re-tweeted. It's too important to let the subject languish. Ellington refers to what is happening in one school, including the Scholastic workbook they use, as "malpractice."
https://thedirigibleplum.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/slice-of-life-reading-malpractice/
This is a scary scenario. Over the years, I have watched, gratefully, our profession change from basal manual and workbook page turning practitioners to dedicated professionals capable of and eager to use assessment-driven differentiated instruction in workshop settings that encourage reading and writing for meaningful purposes. There have been wonderful changes in teacher professional development and our own understanding of reading and writing. Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins, Regie Routman have worked together with a host of other seminal thinking professionals to change teaching and learning for the better. Most of us look forward to reading and writing workshop! It's hard, but rewarding work and I am sad that some schools have lost their way....or perhaps they never found it? I can suggest rereading a few "classics" that might help them find their way!
https://thedirigibleplum.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/slice-of-life-reading-malpractice/
This is a scary scenario. Over the years, I have watched, gratefully, our profession change from basal manual and workbook page turning practitioners to dedicated professionals capable of and eager to use assessment-driven differentiated instruction in workshop settings that encourage reading and writing for meaningful purposes. There have been wonderful changes in teacher professional development and our own understanding of reading and writing. Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins, Regie Routman have worked together with a host of other seminal thinking professionals to change teaching and learning for the better. Most of us look forward to reading and writing workshop! It's hard, but rewarding work and I am sad that some schools have lost their way....or perhaps they never found it? I can suggest rereading a few "classics" that might help them find their way!
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