Topic: Parents and Secondary Reading

10-second review: Reading teachers offer a ten-week course, one night a week, in which they share with parents what they are teaching to their students. Parents can then reinforce with their children what is being taught in class.

Title: “Quality Reading Programs at Bargain Basement Prices.” N P Criscuolo. Journal of Reading (November 1974), 127-130. The Journal of Reading was the secondary school publication for the International Reading Association (IRA), since replaced by the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

Comment: Not as easily done as said. Problems with teachers volunteering time to work with the parents. But would help parents understand what it means to teach reading in the secondary—or, for that matter—elementary school.

I remember a high school English teacher, Nancy Rosenberger, who was teaching her students the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. She met with parents one night to explain to them why she was assigning the novel, shared some information about the novel, and discussed some of the activities she would be using with the students concerning the novel. The parents left that meeting highly satisfied that their children were engaged in a solid literature program. Might do the same for writing and speaking. RayS.