[LIT] "the case for literature" - Nancie Atwell

[Bill IVEY]

"A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades."
<lit at literacyworkshop.org> writes:
>The goal seems to be better test takers rather than more literate
>citizens.  
That is a theme I'm seeing in a lot of online conversations these days.An
awful lot.

However... there may yet be hope. We have perhaps seen the first robisn
heralding the end of a very, very long winter; both Arne Duncan and
President Obama have been caught on tape calling for less focus on testing
and an improvement to assessment instruments which would involve teachers.
<pauses, administers smelling salts to much of the group, takes breath and
continues> Perhaps genuinely good news on the NCLB reform front for once?!
At least, it is in my opinion, anyway. Feel free to differ! :-)
>
>Well, here's to tomorrow's snow day!:) Another foot on the way...
Ah, yes, speaking of winter... I hate to say it, but I'm quite jealous.
Being a boarding school, Stoneleigh-Burnham doesn't do snow days, but it's
still pretty and festive when we get that much snow, and I miss it.
Anyway, enjoy it, Karen (and others of you out there).

Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School