As 2018 comes to an end, we’re reflecting on the year’s top five most-read education stories from EDU, Scholastic’s blog about education and learning. It’s clear that independent reading, libraries and makerspaces were on the minds of our readers this year. Here are the most-read posts of 2018:
How Principals Can Foster Independent Reading by Evan Robb
As part of a series of posts on independent reading, Evan describes his own experience avoiding reading as a child and how support from his family helped him come around. And school is also an important place for students to develop personal reading lives. Evan delves into just how important it is for principals to help teachers feel comfortable setting aside time for independent reading at school, and offers six ways to encourage, promote and inspire independent reading for the entire school community.
Libraries as Learning Centers: Changing the Culture of Your Library by Alisha Wilson
After hearing her student’s negative views of school libraries, Alisha shares how she transformed the library culture at her school by embracing creative inquiry and encouraging students to take charge of their learning. Alisha was named the Maker Hero for the 2017 School Librarian of the Year awards by School Library Journal and Scholastic.
Creating a Mobile Classroom Makerspace Library Program by Tamiko Brown
Tamiko describes how mobile maker spaces provide students with opportunities to create, innovate and strengthen their individual STEM identities. She outlines five things to think about when creating a mobile classroom maker space of your own. Tamiko was named School Librarian of the Year by School Library Journal and Scholastic in the 2017 School Librarian of the Year Awards.
All Children Deserve Access to Authentic Text by Lois Bridges
In this blog post, Lois writes about the importance of giving students access to authentic text. Providing young readers opportunities to read text that inspires and engages them to think and feel deeply about the text on the page, to make connections between the print and their own lives, and to imagine lives beyond their own, is an essential part their literacy journeys.
Empowering Students and Families to Address Summer Reading Loss in Greenville, SC and Stoughton, MA by Dr. Andrea A. Rizzo
The results of two studies conducted by Scholastic Education Research & Validation on summer reading initiatives in Greenville, SC and Stoughton, MA revealed that when children and their families have the resources they need to read all summer long, we see increased volume of reading and confidence in students, overwhelmingly positive sentiments from families, and fewer students experiencing a loss of skills while school is out. This blog post details the biggest takeaways from both studies.
Head over to EDU to read these stories and more: http://edublog.scholastic.com/
