Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Design Schools for Reading


Ed Week has a description here of what everyone seems to consider the ideal school of the future.  It showcases a couple of schools in Texas which were constructed to facilitate technology and group learning.

Yes, yes.  All interesting and good.  But where are the private areas and comfortable chairs for quiet reading?  Where is the library?

The development of students as avid readers should be the first priority of any school.  Advanced reading skills support all other learning, and children only become advance readers when they fall in love with reading, and read book after book after book.  There isn’t any shortcut.


1 comment:

  1. Yes!

    Mary Leonhardt, you are awesome! I just got your book, "How to Teach a Love of Reading Without Getting Fired", and I have to say, it is basically the book I would have written if you hadn't done it first (I've read Krashen and Atwell and so on, but your approach seems even more appealing than theirs). You seem to have arrived at enlightenment (i.e., reading is the main thing that matters) earlier than I (it took me nearly ten years of attempted compromise with the conventional wisdom), but where we ended up is pretty much the same. I look forward to reading the rest of that book and your others.

    On the other hand, I suppose other people got there before you. Harper Lee, for instance...

    http://literacyinleafstrewn.blogspot.com/2012/06/to-kill-mockingbird-and-literacy.html

    Anyway, thanks again. I look forward to reading your books and your blog.

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