iStockphoto, by (c) Daniel Grill (taken at the Grand Canyon)
"When you reduce life to black and white, you never see rainbows." - Rachel Houston
I love this quote. It means so many things to me. The rainbows could be the people we refuse to let into our lives because we think they are different; they could be the questions we never ask because we think we already have all of the answers; or they could represent the love of reading that will never come about if you focus only on skills, tests, and points.
Ever since The Book Whisperer and Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It came out, more and more people are speaking up about the sad state of reading in America. School districts seem to be spending a lot of money on canned reading programs, but is it at the expense of the students? When you focus on skills and force the same book on different children, how will they ever develop a love of reading? Here are some blog posts relating to this subject which might be of interest to you:
- Jen Robinson's The Fate of Reading and Reading Teachers
- Donalyn Miller's The More Things Change
- Meg Cabot's How to Foster a Hatred for Reading
- The Herald-Sun's New curriculum on literacy, math a step backward
You all know how I feel about this subject; it's why I started blogging in the first place. If we don't want the love of reading to be as rare as rainbows are, we'd better not reduce reading to skills, drills, and limited choices. Need I say more?
Actually, yes, I do. I found a blog post on Twitter this morning, which shows how one teacher talks openly with parents about book selections, and is dedicated to instilling a love of reading in her students. All children should be lucky enough to have a teacher like this one:
- Kate Messner's Heading Off Book Challenges
Please feel free to share your thoughts. All opinions are welcome here.
