Pick Us! We're Your Partner!

Carrying out three teacher bags full of textbooks and walking four kids to my car (two are mine, two are friends of my kids) I think to myself, "All this money and this too could be yours." That's right, folks. It's textbook adoption time. Every six years whether we need it or not! Of course, this round's textbook adoption is all about the Common Core standards. Did you know all three textbook presenters said their material was created for the Common Core in mind, and no one else could make that claim? Crazy, right? Did you know all three have famous educators who have worked with their textbook? Unbelievable! Most of all, did you know all our ipad compatible! Blow me away! Okay, so I share with teachers that they should avoid sarcasm with kids, so I will spare the rest of the sarcasm.

But, in all seriousness, you and I both know that the next great textbook adoption isn't going to suddenly make us have 100% of our kids pass the I-READ test or 100% pass ISTEP+ or make adequate growth on NWEA. Please know, I am not anti-textbook, anti-testing, anti-books. But, I have to ask myself, "What is going to increase our reading scores? It is more likely by the way we the use the resources that are available to us. Don't get me wrong. I think all three presenters were genuinely passionate about their product. But, here's the problem. I am genuinely passionate about my students.

What I want doesn't come in the form of a cool textbook, a box of leveled readers, or even an iPad app. Nope, what I want from readers comes from the heart of you, me, the child, and the family. Reading isn't about which phonics skills are taught when. It's not about whether you agree with whole language. It's not about the running record. It's about the amount of time we spend in the reading process.

Give me a stack of books, 20 volunteers, and 20 kids. Now, let's go town. That's what changes readers. My students need to be read to, read with, and listened to each day. When you read to the special child of yours, stop and tell them what you think while you are reading. Model how you solve words. Make a great prediction based on what has happened in the story. Analyze what the author was really trying to say when he was using metaphors.

What would happen if we even took this notion of reading and brought in volunteers into our schools. If you had a group of 25 members from a service organization, community, or business, give just 1 hour a week. That's like adding almost 3 teachers in one day to a school each week. Imagine if all they did was just read with kids. We could change the world!

Swing the bat. Swing the bat. Swing the bat. That's how you create hitters in baseball.
Shoot the free throw. Shoot the free throw. Shoot the free throw. That's how you win ball. Ask IU. Read. Read. Read. That's how you create readers.