Calkins is super!
I've been reading my way through Lucy Calkins' works all summer, after attending two workshops about her reading and writing workshops. It has been interesting to see how she has adjusted and built upon her ideas over time. I am encouraged that the child centered, age appropriate teaching we worked so hard to bring to the mainstream in the 80's may be coming back into vogue after years of teacher centered teaching becoming the norm again, presumably because of the back to basics fervor. We teach children. We don't teach curriculum. Calkins is a fascinating writer. Read all her books and use them to synthesize the teaching that is right for you and for your students. If you are a new teacher, read widely from the teaching literature of the 80's. While it is true that Whole Language, when packaged by textbook companies and forced upon teachers who were not comfortable with it, did not work, giving children the opportunity to discover DOES work. Piaget said something on the order of "When we teach a child something we rob him of the opportunity to discover it for himself." While children are not likely to "discover" everything they need to know, in a prepared environment, with careful and loving guidance, children can develop a feeling of ownership and responsibility for their own learning. That kind of teaching is what we need to develop leaders and innovators. Teacher directed, one size fits all teaching develops some good workers and a devastating number of misfits.
