Parents, Teachers and Advocates

Stephen Krashen is Emeritus Professor at the University of Southern California. He is best known for his work in establishing a general theory in second language acquisition as the Co-Founder of the Natural Approach and as the inventor of Sheltered Subject Matter Teaching. He is the author of numerous books; but I love this one most:

Reading "Proficiently" by Grade Three: Is this the Holy Grail? 

Part of Which Was First Published in Language Magazine 11,2: 24-27. 2011

Stephen Krashen

Sandra Hammond

“…a great deal of research confirms that students can improve in reading at any age, given the right conditions”

There is no escaping the urgent call to support more reading instruction for young children. It is the overarching push of the bulk of education rallies, the white noise of talk radio; and it is woven into the fabric of every major grant proposal in the nonprofit sector.

Accelerated Reader: The Data Softshoe

Susan Ohanian

I don’t want children to see books as something to be cashed in. I hope that teachers and parents will think about pleasure reading, think about whether attaching points to books puts children at risk of missing out on meeting up with books that resonate with their psyches, books that tickle their funny bones, awaken their sense of beauty, kindle their curiosity about the physical world around them; books that inspire their sense of justice.

Accelerated Reader:  A Disincentive to Creating Life-Long Readers

Derek Boucher
“In most schools today, reading has not been presented to children as an inherently pleasurable experience, but as a vehicle to get a prize or a grade”

Last week a friend of our family came to us distraught after her child, a student in a school district in the central valley of California, read the adolescent favorite The Name of This Book is Secret.  Despite having a very positive experience...