Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
"To Kill A Mockingbird is worth fifteen points."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/review/Straight-t.html
"Librarians and teachers report that students will almost always refuse to read a book not on the Accelerated Reader list, because they won't receive points. ... The passion and serendipity of choosing a book at the library based on the subject or the cover of the firstpage is nearly gone, as well as the excitement of reading a book simply for pleasure."
You know, sometimes I think that schools with their accountability measures, and their imagined fool-proof literacy intervention programs should just all be done away with, and the powers should build a little cottage and plant a little glen for it to be sitting in for every child. And in that little cottage, there'd be a magical bookshelf which would always be filled with whatever the child wants to read and then a few extras that he or she has not yet discovered. And no teacher, administrator, or politician should ever be allowed near the glen with their well-meaning Post-It strategies (What child who has ever been lost in a book, has a sudden urge to reach for a pile of Post-Its?) their tedious vocabulary lessons, and their point/ranking systems. That's it. A glen and a cottage and a magical bookshelf. Once that's done, let's plant a glen for every adult, too. Some of us could use it.
"Librarians and teachers report that students will almost always refuse to read a book not on the Accelerated Reader list, because they won't receive points. ... The passion and serendipity of choosing a book at the library based on the subject or the cover of the firstpage is nearly gone, as well as the excitement of reading a book simply for pleasure."
You know, sometimes I think that schools with their accountability measures, and their imagined fool-proof literacy intervention programs should just all be done away with, and the powers should build a little cottage and plant a little glen for it to be sitting in for every child. And in that little cottage, there'd be a magical bookshelf which would always be filled with whatever the child wants to read and then a few extras that he or she has not yet discovered. And no teacher, administrator, or politician should ever be allowed near the glen with their well-meaning Post-It strategies (What child who has ever been lost in a book, has a sudden urge to reach for a pile of Post-Its?) their tedious vocabulary lessons, and their point/ranking systems. That's it. A glen and a cottage and a magical bookshelf. Once that's done, let's plant a glen for every adult, too. Some of us could use it.
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