Reading
Taking Reading to Task

For nearly a century, students have been caught in the crossfire of the reading wars. NEA's Task Force on Reading 2000 aims to make all students successful readers with new Guidelines for Effective Reading Instruction.

NEA Reading Task Force member Robin Nettinga, a middle school teacher, believes that it's time to move beyond the whole language versus phonics debate and start discussing which reading methods work best for each student.

When NEA convened its Task Force on Reading 2000, the mission was clear.

"Our charge was to create a set of comprehensive guidelines, based on research and practice, that our members could use to help improve reading instruction," says Robin Nettinga, a task force member and president of the Idaho Education Association.

"We needed to move past the debate about whole language versus phonics," says Nettinga, "and talk about reading instruction, not as a balanced program, but as a complete program."

Written by teachers for teachers, the new report, which was released last March by the Task Force, addresses the entire realm of literacy.

"Our report," explains Nettinga, "stresses that there's no one-size-fits-all answer to the successful teaching of reading and that all children need to be approached from where they are and taken where they need to be."

The NEA Task Force on Reading included 11 expert teachers. Among them: Andy Baumgartner, the 1999 National Teacher of the Year, and Carolyn Olson, a Christa McAuliffe Award winner.

The fruit of their labor, The Report of the NEA Task Force on Reading 2000, sets forth 10 guidelines that address program development, materials selection, instructional support and assessment, collaboration and communication, and policy.

To help frame its recommendations, the task force drew upon the expertise of national literacy education groups such as the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.

"Teachers need a lot of tools to reach every child," says Nettinga. "There are more than just two approaches to reading instruction. The approach we took and the decisions we made will help define the importance of reading for our members and define how we talk about reading as a program."

The report features a variety of resource references, such as NEA's Reading Matters Web site (www.nea.org/readingmatters), and offers seven action recommendations that can help NEA members plan classroom instruction and help NEA state affiliates influence state reading policy.

Many of the task force recommendations, says Nettinga, are already being implemented.

"In Idaho, we've developed a listserv of nearly 500 teachers to help disseminate information on reading," she says. "It's an incredible resource."

For more: E-mail Robin Nettinga at Rnettinga@nea.org. Download the NEA Reading Task Force report at www.nea.org/readingmatters/expert/tfrfinal.pdf.

How To ...
Keep Boys Interested in Books

"With extra encouragement and role modeling, boys can learn to become avid readers," says Kathleen Odean, children's librarian and author of Great Books for Boys (Ballantine Books, 1998). Chair of the American Library Association's Newbery Awards Committee for 2001, Odean shares these strategies to keep boys interested in books.

• Boys tend to be more interested than girls in nonfiction. Incorporate quality nonfiction into read-aloud time, class projects, and book fairs.

• Allow boys to see men as active readers to overcome the perception that reading is uncool. Invite men as visiting readers and promote the idea of men giving books as gifts.

• Use the first book in a high-quality series for read aloud to jumpstart reluctant readers into the next book.

• The sports page is a remarkably advanced form of reading and math. Explore and encourage the use of magazines and newspapers for pleasure reading.

• Popular genres for boys include mystery, adventure, survival, sports fiction and nonfiction, fantasy, and biography.

• Expose boys to high-interest topics such as the Titanic and the Olympics by showing photographs and artifacts, then point them to books to find out more.

• A recommendation from a peer has power. Keep a "rolodex" of short reviews kids have written, and give them opportunities to talk about books they've enjoyed.

For more: E-mail Kathleen Odean at kodean@compuserve.com.