After the End Chapter 10 - Barry Lane

"Drill-and-kill" worksheet is a perfect description of my son's 2 & 3rd grade learning. The quote "They were taught to be passive learners...Give them a stack of worksheets, and they'll sit there all day doing them" hits home. Photocopying a basal reader and revising would be a great activity to help kids see a connection between reading and writing, and to "develop a critical sensibility." I can't relate to the desire for retribution toward basal readers as I don't remember learning that way. My friends learned with phoenics, but I already knew how to read despite the fact that we didn't have books at home. My husband learned with basal readers and now only reads for content. I want to ask each member of my family about their early experiences. It would speak about their journey of reading/writing. I remember being exposed to a Random House program in fourth grade to books like Paddington where I saw London through the eyes of a bear from Peru, and the All-of-a-Kind series where I became a Jewish sister in a family of five dusting for buttons and pennies. These kinds of books were transforming for me. My whole world opened up to different cultures and imagination which was a very different place from our house entrenched in responsibility and bigotry.