For the Love of Reading DANIEL T
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VOL. 39, NO. 1 | SPRING 2015 www.aft.org /ae For the Love of Reading DANIEL T. WILLINGHAM EXPLAINS HOW TO ENGAGE STUDENTS IN A LIFELONG PURSUIT PAGE 4 14 18 24 32 38 Philosophy PISA Results Getting Group for High School and Opportunity Work Right Students to Learn WHERE WE STAND Whether you are a general educator or a specialist in teaching English language learners, Colorín Colorado is for YOU! ColorinColorado.org, the nation’s leading ELL website for educators and parents, is your one-stop shop for FREE research-based information on how to help ELLs read and succeed! For the past 10 years, the American Federation of Teachers and PBS station WETA have collaborated to bring you the best, most comprehensive information, including: • Strategies and articles • Classroom videos • Interviews with researchers, educators, and authors • Reading tip sheets • Multicultural book lists • Information on the Common Core and ELLs • Much, much more on what works with ELLs We invite you to join the millions of preK–12 educators of ELLs who have discovered thousands of resources on Colorín Colorado. Start using them now! ColorinColorado.org And on this 10th anniversary, we are proud to have the National Education Association working with us to support Colorín Colorado! WHERE WE STAND Reading: A Lifelong Love RANDI WEINGARTEN, AFT President I CAN’T IMAGINE my life without books. However, our partnership with First children also need to see themselves, their My father was an electrical engineer, and Book is about more than just giving books experiences, and their cultures reected in my mother was a public school teacher; to students in need. Our aim is to build on the books they read. Unfortunately, for too Colorín Colorado is for YOU! books were an integral part of my the empowerment that comes from many children, this is not the norm. Only 3 childhood. roughout my career as a owning that rst book to create lifelong percent of the 3,600 children’s books lawyer, teacher, and labor leader, books readers and lifelong learners. reviewed by the Cooperative Children’s have remained my constant compan- A landmark study by the Annie E. Casey Book Center featured African American ions—stued into a briefcase, overow- Foundation shows a correlation between protagonists, while no more than 2 percent ing on my bedside table, stacked on my the ability to read by the end of the third focused on Asian Americans, Latinos, or desk at work. Books have carried me to grade, continued academic success, and Native Americans. distant worlds, opened new doors, and the end of the cycle of intergenerational made me feel empathy, compassion, poverty. Yet with 82 percent of fourth- anger, fear, joy, acceptance—and graders from low-income families failing everything in between. to reach the “procient” level in reading Forty-ve percent of our nation’s on the National Assessment of Educa- children live in neighborhoods that lack tional Progress, achieving grade-level public libraries and stores that sell books, prociency in reading is a key issue for our or in homes where books are an unaord- schools, our communities, and our nation. able or unfamiliar luxury. At the same We know that reading to children is a time, two-thirds of the schools and crucial step. From the beginning, babies programs in our nation’s lowest-income who are read to are exposed to the neighborhoods can’t aord to buy books cadence of language, and school-age at retail prices. at means that, today, children who read at home for 15 minutes 32.4 million American children go a day are exposed to millions of words. without books—even as study after study Growing demands on parents— PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN HARRINGTON has shown that literacy is crucial to whether they’re single parents working Weingarten with a student at a Baltimore success in school, future earning poten- two jobs to make ends meet, or English is First Book event. tial, and the ability to contribute to the their second language, or they lack a quiet nation’s economy. space to read—can make it dicult for Nearly four years ago, the American them to read with their children. At the We aim to change this. e AFT and Federation of Teachers joined forces with same time, growing demands on teachers First Book are using the power of the First Book—a nonprot social enterprise can mean there’s little time for educators market, and the increasing number of that has provided more than 125 million to connect with parents and give them the people we are bringing to the First Book brand-new books to low-income children tools they need to help their children. marketplace, to push publishers to print since 1992. rough First Book’s unique In McDowell County, West Virginia, more diverse books and support diverse marketplace, educators serving students one of the poorest counties in the nation, authors. in need buy books and educational the AFT has partnered with First Book to As educators, AFT members under- resources at deeply reduced prices or teach parents how to make reading a fun, stand the power of books. We’ve seen a receive them at no cost. nurturing activity. And through Share My child’s face light up when he or she rst As one of First Book’s biggest partners, Lesson, an online community with free understands words on a page. We’ve seen we’ve put more than 2 million books in the resources, the AFT oers companion how books can create condence in a hands of children in need, and we’ve materials for teachers and parents to help struggling reader—the more a child reads helped First Book expand its marketplace the books come alive. In addition, and learns, the more that child wants to of registered users from 20,000 to 150,000. through our partnership with PBS station read and learn, until reading becomes a AFT members have organized First Book WETA and Colorín Colorado, we provide lifelong love and habit. events in communities across the country; free online resources for parents and If you work or volunteer with children last December alone, a total of 200,000 educators of English language learners. in need, register now at FirstBook.org/ books were given away at ve events in Although books expand horizons by AFT and help instill a lifelong love of Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon. exposing us to worlds outside our own, reading and learning. AMERICAN EDUCATOR | SPRING 2015 1 Download this issue for free at www.aft.org/ae. VOL. 39, NO. 1 | SPRING 2015 www.aft.org /ae OUR MISSION e American Federation of Teachers is 4 For the Love of Reading a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic Engaging Students in a opportunity; and high-quality public Lifelong Pursuit education, healthcare and public B D T. W services for our students, their families What can be done when a student, who can read and generally understand texts and our communities. We are committed that she comes across, simply chooses not to read for pleasure? Rather than to advancing these principles through throw up their hands and blame the lack of interest in reading on the desire to community engagement, organizing, engage with the latest technology, parents and teachers can turn to eective collective bargaining and political research-based practices—and even use technology—to motivate reluctant activism, and especially through the work readers at school and at home. our members do. RANDI WEINGARTEN President 14 Quieting the Teacher Wars exposed to less-rigorous math LORRETTA JOHNSON across the globe. Secretary-Treasurer What History Reveals about an MARY CATHRYN RICKER Embattled Profession Executive Vice President B D G 32 Group Work for the Good AMY M. HIGHTOWER Editor Unpacking the Research behind A journalist explains why teaching JENNIFER DUBIN One Popular Classroom Strategy Managing Editor operates under an intense level of B T B MIKE ROSE political scrutiny and why educa- Contributing Writer tors, asked to do so much for A high school teacher in the United JANE FELLER students and society, often receive Kingdom examines the research on SEAN LISHANSKY Copyeditors group work and discusses ways to so little public support. LAWRENCE W. MCMAHON integrate it in the classroom, but Editorial Assistant 18 You Are Embarked cautions against its overuse. JENNIFER CHANG Art Director How a Philosophy Curriculum MICHELLE FURMAN Took Shape and Took Off Graphic Designer B D S JENNIFER BERNEY Production Coordinator Although philosophy is not AMERICAN EDUCATOR (ISSN 0148-432X, USPS 008-462) is published quarterly by the American Federation of typically taught in high school, Teachers, 555 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, DC one teacher shares how the 20001-2079. Phone: 202-879-4400. www.aft.org philosophy curriculum she helped Letters to the editor may be sent to the address above or to [email protected]. create has sharpened students’ AMERICAN EDUCATOR cannot assume responsibility for thinking and strengthened the unsolicited manuscripts. school community. Please allow a minimum of four weeks for copyright permission requests. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the 24 Puzzling Out PISA 38 Teachers Uncaged viewpoints or policies of the AFT. What Can International Helping Educators Create AMERICAN EDUCATOR is mailed to AFT teacher members as a benet of membership, and to faculty Comparisons Tell Us about Meaningful Change in colleges of education. Subscriptions represent $2.50 American Education? B F M. H of annual dues. Non-AFT members may subscribe by mailing $10 per year by check or money order to the B W H. S address below.