Thinking About Education

I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. ~Socrates

Eduspeak: “Authentic” Reading

  I have another story to tell about reading–a story about educational trends that may lead us astray if we get too caught up in them. “Authentic” reading is one such trend in Language Arts. I have heard principals deny programmed reading materials to Reading and Language Arts teachers because they were not “authentic,” and current “best practices” dictate that we use only authentic texts in our classrooms (these are texts that readers.. Read More

“Texts” vs. “Books”

One of the interesting things you notice if you’ve been in education a long time is how the language we use shows how we have shifted our thinking. I couldn’t help noticing a few years back when I was having a discussion with colleagues about literature that I was the only one referring to “books” instead of “texts.”  There was something definitely too clinical to me about calling a book a “text.” “Text” reminded.. Read More

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