What a handy little book.
In my minimum 18 hours of reading courses during undergad I never encountered a book like this one. I've seen think alouds, KWLs, anticipation guides and all of these strategies repeatedly, but never quite like this. I've never encountered an author who goes into depth about how to use these strategies and explains how they will and won't work.
What Beers has done with her career seems to be the direction I'm looking to go. I always say I want to direct my own reading program. Most of the programs I've seen have been total crap. Absolute bullshit. It hit me on p. 36: "The less we depend on programs and the more we depend on our knowledge--informed by practice and research--the less likely we are to be controlled by politically driven mandates, expensive programs that appear and disappear from our classrooms without rhyme or reason, and federally funded) or not funded programs." Of course, I'd still like to have my own program, it would just be what I want it to be :)
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3 comments:
Well said. Can I come work for you?:) I too am frustrated by all the failures and time-wasting of reading programs. A theme I've seen develop as I learn more and more about education is "top down." Everything is coming from up top, when the real knowledge in context can be found at the bottom.
I enjoy your blog, Sarah!
I agree with being wary of "programs." Just that word creeps me out in relation to thinking about learning. "Constructivist program" has to be an oxymoron!
When I step in to classroom, I'm always looking for 'local' text, the more the better, that show how kids and teachers are constructing their learning together. Making your own teaching artifacts locally can take time, but of course it's so much better. Like the difference in value between an Oreo cookie from the factory and your grandma's homemade recipe fresh from the oven. (Why am I always writing about food when I blog?!)
I think when you make it locally, with your students according to what they need, it never quite becomes a "program"...
Sarah,
I agree completely..and that's why really getting the theory is so important. But so often the way it's presented is out of context. I recently read an article (they're all merging in my head at this moment) that promoted would-be teachers actually getting up in front of a class and teaching for 15 minutes not only before they actually take any classrwork , but during as well. Generally, the theory-to-practice link is not made early enough (or at all in some situations) to what actually takes place in a classroom -- hence the reliance on these programs (the p.r. I've read makes it sounds like the packagers of the programs invented (#!&*) good reading and writing instruction.
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