Today, I spent another day gathering with other educators to “review” reading programs on our state-mandated list. Today, I was once again left wondering, who was responsible for making this list.

I spent the weekend in Boston at NCTE. It was my first time at a national convention. I spent the weekend talking to other educators about the state of literacy in their neck of the woods. Over and over again, I heard stories of frustration and teachers finding creative solutions to sneak in bits of the work they know matters most for their students in the wake of mandates and programs being adopted.

In one NCTE session called Resisting Scripted Curriculum as Erasure: Holding Onto The Heart, Hope, and Humanity of Reading, Lester Laminack shared about all the times he has seen “the pendulum” swing in his long career. He shared his take on the pendulum, which he views as a Ferris wheel. On his version of the Ferris Wheel, each seat, or movement in literacy, holds the position of a clock, which always ticks. For Lester, the thing in the center of the wheel that touches every part of the wheel is children. Now, each person in each car believes that what they are doing is what is right for children. But instead of looking at the cars, Lester believes we should be looking at the center, the children, and deciding ‘is what I’m doing not working for this child?” From there, the art of teaching comes in. We can ask ourselves, “what car do I dip into?” As educators, we are always thinking and refining.

Lester shared that he believed that each movement in literacy education was about refining our practice…until now. This movement feels driven by power.

I’m with Lester.

The programs I poured over today left me wondering, “Who thought this was good for children?” I practically took a magnifying glass to an entire module, 35 days of instruction, consisting of 90 minutes per day, where children did ZERO reading! The entire scope and sequence consisted of the teacher reading aloud to students and them answering text-based questions. You’d have to purchase an additional program to get your independent reading… differentiated instruction…and word work. What I saw today was not any car on the Ferris wheel that I have seen before and from what I could see, children didn’t seem to be part of the equation in the least.

I feel fortunate, no, privileged, to work in a district willing to put forth the effort, thought, and care to do our best for children. I know that not all districts are in the position to be able to do the same and many teacher’s voices are being silenced as decisions are being made without their input.

I don’t know where we will land, but I do know that I want to be part of helping to keep the focus on students.