Teaching Reading with a Strong Image of the Child

Every time I open her fabulous blog, I get excited about our upcoming workshop with Vicki Vinton.  The idea that we’ll spend a significant block of time connecting Opal School’s stories of working with children ages 3-10 to Vicki’s stories of working with children and teachers at a range of ages and in contexts around the world thrills me.

I thought about the workshop when I read CW’s journal the other night.  She wrote that a “just right book”, for her, “isn’t too too dramatic.”  I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I asked if she meant that it wasn’t really sad. She explained,

Dear Matt,

What I mean by “books that aren’t too dramatic” is books that don’t include much detail about a let’s say a car accident.

Example of what I do not like: The truck zoomed down the road and bam! hit the car.  My dad got all bloody and you could see he was in veeerrryy bad pain.

Example of what I do like: The truck zooomed down the road and bam! next thing my dad was in an ambulance driving faster and faster.

That CW – at 9 years old – could write her own mini-lesson on voice and choice is a great example of what children are able to do when their literacy instruction is thoughtfully (but not restrictively) guided.