The first time it happened was with Frank Smith’s, Insult to Intelligence: the Bureaucratic Invasion of our Classrooms, published in 1986. Smith promotes alternatives to “drill –and-kill” instruction where, “children are learning that reading and writing are ‘school activities,’ punitive, pointless and boring, not to be engaged in unless teachers require them.” He promotes “literacy clubs,” where …”there is never a formal, tedious, and meaningless period of instruction; no one ever gives a struggling beginner a low score; differences in interest and ability are expected.” He was describing MY classroom! I should have written that book...

I recently spent a week in Pennsylvania doing reading comprehension model lessons in grades five through nine. Using the topic “the purchase of a new cell phone, “ I modeled how to use two-column notes to create a summary. I then engaged the kids to apply the process to the content they were presently studying....