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Holding On To Good Ideas In A Time Of Bad Ones: Six Literacy Principles Worth Fighting For (2009)

by Thomas Newkirk(Favorite Author)

4.2 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0325021236 (ISBN13: 9780325021232)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Heinemann Educational Books

review 1: Welcome, Tom Newkirk, to my prized teacher-text shelf. I hope you will enjoy yourself there.Your book, which I was first drawn to because of its oh-so-true title and the praise of Nancie Atwell on its cover, turned out to be exactly what I needed at this very moment. Teaching is a joyful professional; but it is also incredibly hard. As English teachers in particular, we must balance reading and writing goals, student choice and teacher expertise, student product and teacher grading. But Newkirk proves to be an ideal teacher colleague for me; over the course of the 48 hours on-and-off it took me to read this blend of theory-philosophy-memoir-and-practicalities, he simultaneously inspired and challenged me in ways I wasn't expecting. That's a true teacher.Newkirk isn't ... moreas captivating of a writer as other teacher-gurus, the likes of Tom Romano or Donald Murray, nor is he as innovative as Nancie Atwell. But bosh! his book is already essential to me and doesn't have a wasted line in it. It is jam-packed with insightful arguments about the need for expressive writing, a defense of popular culture, the true reason for independent reading, and the importance of teacher sanity and health. It all makes such great sense the way he spins it. Plus, there is no education book that I think strikes a more perfectly right balance between writing and reading than this one. There are, too, moments of wonderful writing all the same--the chapter "Finding a Language for Difficulty," for example.Grounded in history and not afraid to reveal a sense of vulnerability, Newkirk's book leaves me invigorated, glad to be a teacher, lucky to have the opportunities I have--even though I teach in a school full of "bad ideas." Thank you, Tom.
review 2: As I sit down to plan for the fall, Newkirk reminds me to teach what is important in ways that I know work, based on years of professional practice, informed by research and the practice of other professionals. This is a timely invocation of so many advocates of the writing process: Peter Elbow, Donald Murray, Linda Rief, Nancie Atwell, et. al. I particularly enjoyed his chapters on "Uncluttering the Curriculum" and "Literacy and Pleasure." Teachers in general, and writing teachers in particular, face ever expanding demands to pedal the school cycle harder, farther, and faster. Under such constraints, 'pleasure' is seen as dubious.This is a great book for any teacher looking to clarify his or her course. less

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