Volume 1, No.1

Introducing Rethinking Schools

The crisis in education continues. Young people find themselves confronting an educational system ill-suited to prepare them for life. Teachers find their creativity buried under increasing paperwork and administrative interference. […]

Surviving Scott, Foresman

By Rita Tenorio

As a kindergarten teacher, some of my most satisfying moments have come from working with children in the beginning stages of their literacy. I feel privileged to share their Joy […]

Rethinking the Basal Reader

A number of writers in this first issue of Rethinking Schools challenge Milwaukee’s basal reading program, which gives students short, often sanitized reading, selections. They advance compelling arguments in.favor of […]

Books not Bombs

By Kenneth S. Goodman

We have been winning a war against illiteracy in the United- States. Now there is a shift away from this policy. This shift is not simply a shift from spending […]

Maimed and Morbid Writing for Secondary Students

By Karen Desotelle

“All right, class, I want you to write a 150 word theme on some aspect of Halloween. Be sure you are creative and interesting and use all your vocabulary words […]

Inequality at Age 5?

By Ken Wodtke

We often think of kindergarten as a moment in a child’s educational experience when that child is nurtured toward dramatic and rapid affective and intellectual growth. We picture it as […]

Should Children Read During Reading Instruction?

Whole Books vs. Basals

By Bob Peterson

Yet the media do not focus on this dislike of reading instruction as they examine illiteracy in America, nor is this situation emphasized by government reports that expose how poorly […]

All our Kids Can Learn to Read!

Ideas for Teaching Reading to Hesitant High School Students

By David Levine

By the time they reach seventh grade, many students dislike reading, read poorly, and do not have the comprehension and writing skills they need to do well in school. As […]