Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones, Chapter 2

After completing chapter 2 of Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones, I have to agree with the author that in many ways education hasn't changed since the 1940s when scientific research began to guide the course of education.  Teachers should be allowed to, no - actually encouraged to - teach children to read, using good teacher judgment.  There is a science to learning to read, not fads that become popular and are thought to work for all learners.  There have been several contradicting reports as to the value of independent reading and matching readers to books correlating with their reading levels.

Being in the classroom for many years has shown me the value of matching my students with books they are interested in and that are written on a level they are able to read and comprehend.  Igniting a passion for reading within children is such an exciting thing.  Once this passion is ignited, students discover the excitement and joy of reading.  Most often, unless there is a learning disability, the student takes off from there and learns to love reading.  While I do use research based methods, there is a lot of teacher judgment and individualized instruction involved.  I would hate to have my ability to use my own judgment taken from me.