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Happy Holidays! We want to thank you for making our year. In this difficult and isolating year Wednesday and Friday mornings have been bright spots in my week. Seeing your faces and that of the brilliant minds classroom has been so sweet. You are a source of hope to me and each other. Watching as…

Horace Mann is known as the Father of the Common School. Elected to be the Massachusetts Secretary of Education in 1837, he led the Common School Movement. His idea was that every child could receive a basic education funded by local taxes. “Mann believed that public schooling was central to good citizenship, democratic participation and…

What can a librarian do for middle and high school students? 1. Give book talks to students that “open students up  like a bud becoming a flower”.               Julia Torres: check 2. Craft lesson plans with  teachers to incorporate excellent teaching practices and strong reads.     Julia Torres: check…

Partners in Literacy’s reading volunteers share reading with students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Does it surprise you that it is the middle school groups that change the most lives? At this age, kids begin to recognize and make their own choices about their educational lives. Each group decides together on what book to read.…

If we teach a child to read but fail to develop a desire to read, we will have created a skilled nonreader, a literate illiterate. And no high-test score will ever undo that damage.” Kylene Beers Middle school students must find in books something as real as their social groups and as entertaining as video games. Middle…