ASU Scholar Series

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Building Capacity for Effective Instruction

             Let me begin this post with an assertion: the quality of the classroom teacher, not the instructional program, is the primary variable in determining the effectiveness of a comprehensive reading program. This assertion is often hidden beneath the glitz and packaging of many commercial programs. It is not the quality of the wand, but the magic of the teacher that makes reading and writing come alive in today’s classrooms.             In addition to this primary assertion, I would assert that no significant changes in instructional practices will occur until corresponding changes take place in one’s theoretical understandings. In other words, unless we rethink why we do what we do in the name of literacy education and instruction, most changes will be cosmetic and superficial. The resources teachers select may change, or the daily schedule may be rearranged to accommodate new program components, but the core of one’s instructional practices remains intact.             What d
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In the Name of Reading Education

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This is my last post in 2014. I promise I will be better about posting book reviews more regularly in the new year. So for now, here is one last rant to close out 2014. Happy Holidays! As I have been writing my new book, which will be out in Spring 2015, I have been wandering the internet for resources and have uncovered an unfortunate trend: teachers still do crap in the name of teaching children to read that life-long readers would never tolerate. I have seen so many "alternative" to book reports postings, using digital resources to make kids do the same waste-of-time assignments I tried to rally against when I write my first book on the Reading Workshop in 2001. Why does anyone think having children post images on Pinterest from their iPads is any more worthwhile than writing book reports on paper plates? Why waste their time? The next thing you know someone will be suggesting that we use auto-cad architectural programs to build digital dioramas. So what should we ask youn
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Some Advice for Graduating Teachers

Here are some excerpts from the Commencement Address I delivered at Willammette University in Salem, OR a few years ago: My experience over the past 25 years as an educator has helped shape my outlook on life and helped form my vision for the world I want to live in. But as the gray hair becomes more prominent, my years of experience have also caused me to forget what it is like to be 20 something and starting a new career in education. Over the next few weeks, and probably at some party this evening, someone that is as old as I am is going to lean over and offer you some advice for your future. So listen to us, and nod your head respectfully, and consider what we have to say, but be sure the decisions ahead are all yours: There are very few black and white decisions, and No one can live your life for you. You need to get out in the world and find your own path, create your own vision of what you want the world to be. Life is simply what you make of it. So get outside, travel as much a
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