My mother never read books to me as a child. Trained as a high school English teacher, I was also never made aware of the thrilling world of children’s lit. When I became an elementary children’s reading specialist, I decided that I needed to self-educate about books for the younger set.

 Some people say that we Americans do not say “Merry Christmas” anymore. In this country where I was taught we were a Melting Pot of immigrants, which always warmed my soul, I am providing a list of ways to say “Merry Christmas” in many languages, including a pronunciation guide. “Merry Christmas” to all, in many ways!

Wednesday Weekly offers helpful and creative instructional materials.

Alll our primary teachers jumped on the DI bandwagon enthusiastically.  I never heard complaints about changing to this program because they trusted me and the research that I did, as well as all the confidence I inspired by teaching their struggling readers effectively. They had great hope that the program would be successful with their students.

In my experience with struggling readers, successful parent conferences are important because these meetings are often the only time you will ever encounter the parents of your students.

A colleague and I decided that there were good and not-so-good elements to the Direct Instruction technique.