tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11431002.post6491757676626214156..comments2023-06-02T05:26:03.426-07:00Comments on Principal Learner: Let's banish all worksheetsdanwhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06716577295663429569noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11431002.post-12539949994746441102009-05-31T19:48:30.834-07:002009-05-31T19:48:30.834-07:00I was lucky to see Michael Schmoker speak about th...I was lucky to see Michael Schmoker speak about this same topic. He talked about the "Crayola Curriculum" and how the students need more meaniful work. To be better readers we need to read more and and to be better writiers we need to write more. Here is a clip from an article I found on-line. It makes your point nicely.<br /><br /><br />The ‘Crayola Curriculum’ <br />By Mike Schmoker <br />Education Week<br /><br /><br /> For improvements in early literacy, we should take a hard look at what's really happening in reading classes.<br /> <br /> <br />We may have the reading crisis all wrong. It may have far less to do with the "reading wars" than we presumed. I am convinced that the following explanation is, without doubt, the least recognized but most salient explanation for why there is a reading gap between rich and poor, for why so many kids reach upper-elementary and middle school with less than even minimal ability to read and make sense of text. The explanation is both simple and shocking. But the evidence for it is compelling. Best of all, this explanation holds out enormous hope for dramatic, near-term improvements at every level of education. <br /><br />A couple of years ago, I found myself touring a school that had received an international award for excellence in staff development. Roaming from class to class—on what was clearly a "showcase day"—I went from being puzzled to astonished by what I saw. <br /><br />Two things were terribly wrong: One, a majority of students were sitting in small, unsupervised groups, barely, if at all, engaged in what were supposedly learning activities. Many of the children were chatting. Second, but more important, was that the activities themselves seemed to bear no relation whatsoever to reading, the presumed subject being taught at the time. After seeing this pattern in several classes, I finally asked my host what kinds of gains had been made in this award-winning but high-poverty school. I was regretfully informed that there had been no gains, what with the hardships these children faced at home and in their neighborhoods. ......Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08987087168003633875noreply@blogger.com