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Today's Reading News
Each weekday, Reading Rockets gathers interesting news headlines about reading and early education. Please note that Reading Rockets does not necessarily endorse these views or any others on these outside web sites.
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Expert Panels Named in Common-Standards Push
Education Week
July 02, 2009
The two national organizations coordinating a push for common academic standards today named the 29 people who are deciding what math and language arts skills students will need to know and when, along with the 35 people who will formally critique the group's work. For the list, visit the new Common Core website.
Click here to register for free access to two Education Week articles each week.
KT the Magnificent: An Interview with Kathleen T. Horning
School Library Journal
July 02, 2009
A look at the life — and some favorite children's books — of K.T. Horning, the author of From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books, the quintessential guide that helps for librarians gauge books for young readers.
Summer School Writing Class Helps Kids Appreciate Outdoors
Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
July 02, 2009
A two-week nature-writing class taught by Rosann Myers, a second-grade teacher in the Barneveld School District, combines biking and writing to get the students outside to learn about writing.
Facing Deficits, Some States Cut Summer School
The New York Times (NY)
July 02, 2009
Thousands of school districts across the country have trimmed or eliminated summer classes, ignoring pleas from the Education Department to use stimulus money to retain them.
Gazette's NIE Summer Program Keeps Kids Reading
The Indiana Gazette (IN)
July 02, 2009
With the Newspaper in Education Summer Experience, local students can keep their minds sharp by participating in a variety of activities sponsored by The Indiana Gazette. The first activity will appear in the paper's Friday, July 3, edition because of the Independence Day holiday. Activities will involve areas of study such as reading, writing, math and geography.
(Opinion) Comic Book Reading is Fundamental
Wired
July 02, 2009
Like any good GeekDad, I'm hoping to turn both my children into comic book readers. Comics didn't just keep me occupied and entertained as a kid, they also taught me a lot. There were plenty of history and science lessons, as well as some literary ones. (I think I first learned about Sherlock Holmes from his team-up with Batman of all things!)
Top-Scoring Nations Share Strategies on Teachers
Education Week
July 01, 2009
American education officials trying to learn from the policies and practices of top-performing nations seem to have two exemplary models in Singapore and Finland. Yet in some respects, those two nations have risen to the top in very different ways. That was one of the lessons that emerged yesterday at what was billed as the Global Education Competitiveness Summit, which brought state officials and business leaders together here to discuss lessons from high-achieving countries that could be applied to U.S. school systems — an omnipresent theme in American education circles these days.
Click here to register for free access to two Education Week articles each week.
Reading Bedtime Stories to Children 'Less Effective' than Conversation
The Telegraph (UK)
July 01, 2009
Competitive parents wanting to give their children as many academic advantages as possible often carefully choose books to help the babies learn to talk or read faster. Yet this may have little effect compared to the very simple exercise of a one-on-one conversations between the adult and child, said a recent study. The research by Dr Frederick Zimmerman and colleagues from the UCLA School of Public Health, California is to be published in the journal Pediatrics. "Pediatricians and others have encouraged parents to provide language input through reading, storytelling and simple narration of daily events," Dr Zimmerman said.
Avoiding the Summer Brain Drain
Baltimore Sun
July 01, 2009
How can parents keep the books open and knowledge fresh without hearing that the mere thought of summer learning is "borrrrrring" &mdash especially in recessionary times? Many parents appear to be taking advantage of free programs offered by libraries. Officials at the Baltimore County Public Library, for example, say that they've seen an increase in attendance in summer reading programs and events.
The Boston Globe (MA)
June 30, 2009
Classics have given way to lighter fare in many schools amid the consensus that students should be enticed — not forced — to read during summer. Educators are including unconventional picks on lists of required and recommended books to coax teens to bury their noses in pages.
Newark Schools to Loan Books for Required Summer Reading
The Star-Ledger (NJ)
June 30, 2009
To boost student literacy and improve academics, the city school district is spending $180,000 to distribute thousands of books to students for its required summer reading program. All Newark schoolchildren in grades K-12 will be loaned at least one book for the summer months. Students attending summer school can exchange a book they've read for a new one.
School During Summer Already Common Practice for Teachers
The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register (WV)
June 30, 2009
Students may be out of school, but many local teachers are doing some studying of their own. The district offers professional development opportunities throughout the summer. "I'm here to keep sharp, keep my skills up," said Bob Triveri, a computer teacher at Moundsville Middle School.
Teachers Always Know if a Book Was Opened
The Victoria Times Colonist (Canada)
June 30, 2009
Every September, teachers know which pupils read over the summer and which ones didn't crack a book, according to Monterey Middle School's Barb Adams, because summer readers have better vocabularies and contribute more to classroom discussion than non-readers.
(Opinion) Building a Reading Program
Education Week
June 30, 2009
A school administrator asks: I want to focus on literacy in our school, especially reading. So, what's the problem you ask? Well, I'm not EXACTLY sure where to start. If you could give me one piece of advice on how to set up a quality reading program, what would it be?
Click here to register for free access to two Education Week articles each week.
Not Your Father's Summer School
The Times Leader (PA)
June 29, 2009
Camp tents and card games and toy horses that whinny? These kids may be in rooms full of desks and it may be June, but they are having fun in the the summer school reading program. "I love it because during the school year I see students who don't want to get involved or who show they are not interested, yet in the summer time they shine" said teacher Sharon Hartshorne.
Throwing a Lifeline to Struggling Teachers
The Washington Post (DC)
June 29, 2009
Montgomery County schools use peer review to confront one of public education's most vexing problems: What to do with under-performing teachers? Peer review gives Maryland's largest school system the power to dismiss under-performers. And it gives struggling teachers a chance to rebuild skills.
Ideas for Teaching Kids the Meaning of July 4th
The Seattle Times Company (WA)
June 29, 2009
One way to help children understand the meaning behind the Fourth of July celebration: Read all about it. There are many wonderful children's books about the Fourth of July, said Amy McClure, professor of children's literature at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Educators Seek to Halt Summer Slide
Northwest Arkansas Times (AR)
June 29, 2009
Arkansas schools and community programs are offering programs to counterattack the so-called summer slide. The importance of reading during the summer also received national attention last Wednesday as the U.S. Department of Education initiated its own summer reading campaign titled "Read to the Top!"
Low Literacy Limits Half of Phila. Workforce, Study Finds
The Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
June 29, 2009
More than half of Philadelphia's working-age adults, about 550,000 people, cannot handle the basic arithmetic and reading necessary to succeed in the majority of jobs in the city. "If you have low literacy, you have a labor market that doesn't welcome you," said Paul Harrington, a labor economist who created a study of workforce readiness for the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.
All Aboard for a Bedtime Reading Rumpus
Star Tribune (MN)
June 26, 2009
Cookies and milk, stories and a streetcar — how will they ever get to sleep? Author Phyllis Root read to parents and children on the Como-Harriet Streetcar during the "Jammies-in-the-Trolley," the first of three this summer sponsored by Wild Rumpus Bookstore.
Carnegie Medal Posthumously Awarded to Siobhan Dowd
The Guardian (U.K.)
June 26, 2009
A novel completed just three months before she died made Siobhan Dowd today the first ever posthumous winner of Britain's most prestigious prize in children's literature, the Carnegie medal. Bog Child, the story of a teenage boy who finds the body of a child in an Irish bog, was finished by Dowd in May 2007. She died of cancer that August at the age of 47, having only turned to writing in 2003. In just four short years, she penned four children's books.
Summer Reading Available for Youths, Adults
The Salt Lake City Tribune (UT)
June 26, 2009
For the third straight year, the county library system offers not only reading programs for children and teens, but one designed specifically for adults. "They love it," said library PR person Greg Near. "We've had libraries requesting additional adult reading records because they've run out." It's all about encouraging the entire family to read, he added.
The New York Times (NY)
June 26, 2009
"The Catcher in the Rye," published in 1951, is still a staple of the high school curriculum, beloved by many teachers who read and reread it in their own youth. The trouble is that today's teenagers just don't like Holden as much as they used to. What once seemed like courageous truth-telling now strikes many of them as "weird," "whiny" and "immature."
Summer Literacy Program Keeps Students Engaged
The Bolingbrook Sun (IL)
June 26, 2009
More than three dozen Hubert Humphrey Middle School students have been hard at work the past three weeks learning that reading and writing can be fun. The incoming sixth, seventh and eighth graders, all of whom could use a little boost in their love for reading, get together twice a week for four weeks at the Bolingbrook school's new Summer Engaged Literacy Program.
Twice as Many Advance Out of Language Class
The Arizona Republic (AZ)
June 25, 2009
Nearly 40,000 Arizona students will advance out of English-language learning programs and into regular classes this coming school year, more than double the number of students who made the move just two years ago. School officials say the increase is a direct result of a new and controversial four-hour-a-day course for English language learners.
