The Art of Teaching Reading

Calkins says, "The problem is that if our teaching is to be an art, we need an organizing vision that brings together all of these separate components into something graceful and vital and significant. It is not the number of good ideas that turns our work into art, but the selection, balance, coherence and design of those ideas (p. 4)." This articulates what I've sensed for some time and am finally beginning to understand after eight years of striving to help first graders become readers for life. Lucy Calkins built the foundation for elementary wiritng workshop and now has formed a vision for a reading workshop structure that, I believe, will endure. This book is for all elementary teachers who are about helping children create literatie lives. It is both inspiring and practical, heady and humble.

I am a new first grade teacher and just finished reading [most of] this book during my summer break. It has given me so many new ideas and perspectives, fueled my imagination for how this year's reading curriculum will flow, and ignited my excitement for the coming school year! This book provides details on a student-directed, individualized outline for teaching reading that builds off of students' personal interests and desires. The main goal is for students to acquire a love for reading and become lifelong readers.

Although this is an excellent resource book to use in the classroom I would advise paying the extra to get a new book from Amazon. I thought buying a used book from a vender through Amazon would be ok and have done it before to save a little money on school books. This vender said it was like new but when it came it had been wet and had mold all through it and it took a month to get it. So just check out the other venders very carefully. But the book itself was very helpful.

This book is very helpful to any elementary teacher that is looking for ways to improve your reading curriculum. Lucy Calkins gives plenty of ideas and new approaches to try in your classroom. I also appreciate how she writes the actual scenario she used in the classroom with real kids. It is so much easier to comprehend through real life experiences. Another book that is similar, very informative and full of GREAT ideas is Reading Essentials by Regie Routman. This is a must read as an educator.

Any time you can get your hands on Lucy Calkins materials, it is well worth your time to read and study it! Wonderful materials! Lucy Calkins can help you develop the best practices of the Danielson Framework, or for Kentucky teachers, PGES! It's a win-win-win for students, administrators, and teachers!

Reading the Art of Teaching, it becomes clear that Calkins is not only a wonderful reading teacher but a thoughtful and skilled writer about reading. However, looking over the reviews here a reader will notice a divergence of opinion with many lavishly praising this book while others express extreme disappointment. In the end neither of them are really wrong. Calkin's goal of the is simple to get students to "compose lives in which reading and writing matter", but obviously difficult to achieve. She is of the opinion, and offers research to support this opinion, that a Reading Workshop is the best way of achieving this goal. She explains the ingredients for success in virtually all aspects of a Reading Workshop through her 500 plus pages. Her emphasis is on what to do rather than what not to do and she offers examples, normally quite entertaining, to demonstrate the theory she is talking about. So in this sense the book is a large success. Calkin clearly understands the Reader's Workshop and is going to be able to help any teacher craft a framework for such a workshop. However, this speaks to the great short coming of the book. While Calkin presents the philosophy the hard work of implementing it falls largely on the shoulder of the reader. When she works with teachers in person this is no doubt for the best, as she is able to give feedback on how various teachers implement the program. However, no such dialogue can be had with a book and so the reader can easily finish the book understanding just how important the Reader's Workshop is, without the skills needed to actually implement one. This book is an important piece of writing for the Reading Workshop teacher, however it serves as a poor introduction to the method. Upper elementary and middle school teachers would be better advised to start with Nancy Atwell's In the Middle: New Understanding About Writing, Reading, and Learning (Workshop Series) , and her recent addendum to that work The Reading Zone: HOW TO HELP KIDS BECOME SKILLED, PASSIONATE, HABITUAL, CRITICAL READERS which while suffering from some of the same problems as Calkin has far more specific methods to use.

This is a fun book to read! And of course, it helps your teaching too. The book really helps you to appreciate the magic of teaching reading

I am impressed with this book. It is full of invaluable information for pre-service and in-service teachers. It is a good go to book for anything you ever wanted to know about reading instruction.

Bit of a classic.