* Clint over at the Dadventure blog briefly reflects on reading with his children, and begins with this great, wise quote from Jim Trelease:
Fathers should make an extra effort to read to their children. Because the vast majority of primary-school teachers are women, young boys often associate reading with women and schoolwork. And just as unfortunate, too many fathers would rather be seen playing catch in the driveway with their sons than taking them to the library.
* In this piece by Maureen Downey, writing for the AJC Get Schooled Blog, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan points out that less than 2 percent of the nation’s teachers are black males:
Says Duncan, “We need more men of color in our schools, especially at the elementary schools.” He also advocates for more mentor-based programs in schools.
* Men Encourage Boys to Read: The Men Read Program is a volunteer program designed to help reluctant boy readers by using male role models from the community. Writes Sarah Stegall:
At Crystal Lake Elementary, eight men — seven from a local Army recruitment office — read to more than 50 students, said Crystal Lake’s media specialist, Lindsay Persohn.
Persohn said a lot of boys aren’t used to seeing men read at home.
“The idea for a grown man to not only read himself, but read with them was a whole new idea for some of those kids,” she said.
RICK RUNION/THE LEDGER
* Sherrill Nixon asks the question: Is any reading good reading?
* At Dance With Strangers/Parenthood Explained, Adam Cohen, a father of three boys, writes beautifully about their shared reading adventure, especially as it concerns finishing the 7th and final book in the Harry Potter series.
Here next to me is a boy who on Halloween said to me, “Dad, when I wear this costume I really feel like I AM Harry Potter,” before running off into the woods with his wand high and robes trailing. For all th
Before I get to discussing the four themes mentioned in the last post by specifically looking at the various sessions I attended at NAEYC this year, I wanted to dedicate a blog posting solely to Secretary Duncan’s keynote speech at NAEYC. His passion for early education was very evident. It seemed clear to me that he was very serious and not just offering a speech that pandered to the audience. Indeed, he is the first Secretary of Education to ever speak at NAEYC.
Secretary Duncan started off his presentation with a quote from President Franklin Roosevelt: “The destiny of American youth is the destiny of America.” He focused a lot on the issue that has plagued us for a long time: closing the achievement gap that exists before children even start kindergarten. He referenced President Johnson’s vision to reach a day when “each child goes as far as his talents will take them.”
“Getting out of the catch-up business” represented a central theme in Secretary Duncan’s speech. He spoke of the Department’s development of a birth through age eight plan. Modern research makes it clear that the most important years of child development is from birth through age three. Yet our current approach has been to start focusing at age five in kindergarten. Now the Department is making a major change since its World War I when it added kindergarten to every child’s public school education. It seeks to align Early Childhood Education (ECE) with the K-12 programs. Up until now, ECE has been highly fragmented and non-standardized, leading to unpredictable quality and further exacerbating the achievement gap. But several programs have shown ways to succeed and offer scalable solutions that can be expanded throughout the country.
Secretary Duncan and the Department of Education (along with NAEYC and others in the education field) recognize that care and education cannot be thought of as separate entities in the education of young children. He stated it’s time we acknowledged the evidence that social development and academic development are “inextricably linked.” As a result, the Department of Education has entered into a serious partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to integrate their foci on early child development and school readiness.
Secretary Duncan presented a huge task that he, the Department of Education, Early Childhood Educators and K-12 educators face today. Finally, though, he is leading the way to face this problem. He outlined to fundamental challenges that we face in closing the achievement gap that starts before kindergarten. 1) There must be a coordinated system of early care that transitions to the K-12 program. 2) They must accelerate the shift from judging quality based solely in inputs to also basing it on outcomes. Secretary Duncan made sure to insist that inputs would not be ignored because they are important. However, he wants to add outcomes to be a part of the criteria.
Finally, Secretary Duncan expressed his excitement about the changes underway in early education and child development. He acknowledged that mistakes will be made, but then he said, “I hope we never let the perfect become the enemy of the good.”
I personally was moved by Secretary Duncan’s speech and am excited about this unprecedented attention and energy toward early childhoo
