Blog posts for Reading & Learning

There’s a tug of war going on in American schools, a tension between learners’ developmental needs and the academic rigor required to meet challenging educational standards. In the classroom, where standardized assessments are the driving force of the day, the developmental realities of learners are often overlooked and shortchanged—and it’s something we ought to be talking about.

Do you recall how you learned to read? Were you an early reader, someone who learned to read before starting school? I was an early reader and so were my brother and sister. Yet, we didn’t learn to read in the way that most early readers learn. My parents didn’t read books to us at home, so what did they do right?  

Your most struggling student just isn’t listening – again. But could there be more to it? Auditory processing disorders can look a lot like inattention, and it’s not easy to tell the difference. Why is it so hard to figure out what’s going on?

All too often, teachers give little attention to the cognitive skills of writing. That’s a shame, because cognitive skills are the building blocks upon which writing depends.