Greetings!
We hope you all had a wonderful April vacation!
First, and most importantly, we want to remind you that Kareem Weaver will be joining us THIS Sunday, April 30th at 7:00 pm for a discussion on Zoom. Everyone is welcome, please register HERE.
Kareem is an educator and literacy activist from California who is tremendously knowledgeable, insightful, and passionate about ensuring all kids learn to read well in our schools. He is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of FULCRUM, which partners with stakeholders to improve reading results for students. He is the Oakland NAACP’s 2nd Vice President and Chair of its Education Committee; his advocacy is featured in the film The Right to Read.
We’re really thrilled to discuss making change around literacy instruction with Kareem, and we hope you’ll join us for what will surely be a great conversation.
If you have any questions for Kareem, please feel free to email us at brooklineliteracy@gmail.com. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions during Sunday’s discussion.
Thanks to everyone for making the showing of The Right to Read at the Coolidge Corner Theater such a success. We are lucky to have this amazing theater as such an integral part of our community, and we’re grateful that they made this event happen.
The panel discussion was terrific, and our only regret is that we didn’t have even more time for questions. Many thanks to Steven Ehrenberg for moderating and to Emily Hanford, Christine Cronin, and Mike Moriarity for sharing their experiences and perspectives on this important issue. These are crucial conversations to have.
There were many important points raised during the post-film discussion. What is the experience of parents whose children are struggling to learn to read in schools where balanced literacy is the norm? What are the criticisms of balanced literacy? Is this about the curriculum or teacher knowledge? Is this only about phonics? What about reading comprehension? What is happening throughout Massachusetts? What is the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education doing to support improvements? What about local control? Is legislation the answer? What challenges do teachers face in changing their practices? How can they be supported in their professional learning?
We encourage you to listen to the audio recording here. (Steven’s intro is cut off, but the rest is clear).
In addition, please remember to save the date of Sunday, May 21 for our virtual presentation and discussion at 7pm with Dr. Tiffany Hogan, Director of the Speech, Language and Literacy Lab, and professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at MGH Institute of Health Professions. Registration link to follow soon.
And again, don’t forget to register now for our discussion with Kareem Weaver THIS Sunday, April 30th at 7:00 pm. REGISTER HERE.
Thank you for reading!