For the Week of October 26th

This past week I went to a conference orchestrated by SCIRA, Suburban Council of the International Reading Association. P. David Pearson, a literacy specialist, author and researcher from Berkeley, California was the speaker. It was a wonderful experience. This man radiates the joy of literacy and teaching literacy. Dr. Pearson gave me a lot to contemplate about teaching reading. One idea he presented was that reading should not be an end in itself but should be presented to students as a tool to use to understand their world. Reading is a tool to learn about science, social studies, math and literature. He is working with scientists and teachers to write and publish curriculum that combines science and literacy. The students spend their time doing hands-on science quests, writing about what they have seen, talking about it and reading about it. Doing it. Writing it. Talking it. Reading it. Succinctly put, those are the approaches that help children learn. One idea I would like to pass on to parents is that many students, boys especially, dislike novels but love reading science. If you are a parent who has trouble getting your child to read, try going to the library or bookstore and looking at the science section instead of the novel section. See if a science book will capture your child's attention.