Online Education Blog – LetGoLearn.com 
Illiteracy: What if it could kill you?
Posted Friday, September 28, 2007 by Anne-Evan Williams
Filed under: Reading, Administrators, Teachers, Home School, Special Education, Experts, Paolo Martin, Reading Specialist,
With all of these philosophies being thrown around today, especially in light of government-influenced educational practices in schools ala NCLB, what is the bottom line? What does it really mean for our kids to be sufficiently "literate"? (0) Comments • Permalink
Preschoolers on the Computer
Posted Tuesday, September 25, 2007 by Anne-Evan Williams
Filed under: Instruction, Educational Technology, Teachers, Home School, Special Education, Experts, Anne-Evan Williams, Dir. Of Educational Development, Let’s Go Learn,
A common question for most parents is, "When is my child old enough?" We wonder when our children are old enough for potty training, for a "big" bed, for any number of first steps. But in a time when technology seems to rule our home lives as well as our work lives, many parents are stopping to ask, "When is my child old enough to use the computer?" (0) Comments • Permalink
Reading Rate – The Answer to Good Comprehension?
Posted Thursday, September 20, 2007 by Anne-Evan Williams
Filed under: Reading, Instruction, Teachers, Home School, Special Education, Experts, Paolo Martin, Reading Specialist,
With the publication of the National Reading Panel's April 2000 report, "The National Reading Panel's Report: Teaching Children to Read," many people have identified the five essential elements of good reading instruction as phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. The last item, fluency, has been an area of particularly strong investigation... (0) Comments • Permalink
Reading is NOT a Content Area
Posted Tuesday, September 18, 2007 by Anne-Evan Williams
Filed under: Reading, Instruction, Teachers, Special Education, Experts, Anne-Evan Williams, Dir. Of Educational Development, Let’s Go Learn,
Ask a reading teacher, particularly one at the secondary level, to tell you the worst thing a content area teacher can say about reading. You're sure to get the same answer time and time again: "I don't teach reading!" Often such teachers insist that they teach math, science, or social studies, but they certainly don't teach reading. It's time that secondary teachers, in particular, have a change of heart about reading. Reading is not a content area. (0) Comments • Permalink
Balanced Math Instruction?
Posted Thursday, September 13, 2007 by Anne-Evan Williams
Filed under: Math, Instruction, Administrators, Teachers, Home School, Special Education, Experts, Anne-Evan Williams, Dir. Of Educational Development, Let’s Go Learn,
For years there has been a heated debate in the reading community: phonics instruction or whole language instruction? The surge of back-to-basics instruction has repeatedly conflicted with the views of educators who look at reading within a larger frame of reference. While teachers all seemed to agree that comprehension was the ultimate goal, they openly disagreed on the instructional path to get there. Many reading educators now agree on a "balanced" program of literacy, one that builds foundation skills while simultaneously engaging students with meaningful texts and opening discussions about meaning-making. (0) Comments • Permalink
“I’m a Stupid Reader”: Image Issues in Reading
Posted Monday, September 10, 2007 by Anne-Evan Williams
Filed under: Reading, Instruction, Teachers, Home School, Special Education, Experts, Paolo Martin, Reading Specialist,
"I hate reading." "I'm not a good reader." "I'm a stupid reader." "I wish I didn't have to read..." As a reading specialist, those are the responses I often get from struggling readers when I ask them how they feel about reading, what they think about themselves as readers, or what they wish for. Those negative responses to reading make sense for my struggling readers; because they read two, three, or even four grade levels below their current school grades, reading is a daunting task for them. But how about high-achieving kids, or kids who don't struggle with reading? Why might they feel like they're "stupid readers"? (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink