Topic: Blog Change

Beginning tomorrow, I am going to reorganize my English Updates to reflect my K-12 background. I will indicate in the heading the grade level for which the update is intended. For example, “Elementary School Topic: What Teachers of Reading Need to Know.” Regardless of the level, I encourage my readers to note the idea because ideas at one level might be equally valuable at other levels.

I subscribe to professional journals for different grade levels, K-12.

Elementary: Language Arts; The Reading Teacher.

Middle School: Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

High School: English Journal; Classroom Notes Plus.

College: College English; College Composition and Communication; Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges.

K-12: Research in the Teaching of English; Reading Research Quarterly.

Professional Writing: The Writer.

Each day I will report on an article from a specific level, starting with elementary and continuing each day, with the middle school, high school, college, K-12 and professional writing, to give my readers the concept of the progression from kindergarten to college.

I have been reading these publications at all levels since 1964, the year I began my master’s degree in English. Reading these journals prepared me for my role as English Supervisor, K-12. They expanded my understanding of all levels of English instruction. I gained ideas from one level and was able to apply them to other levels. I saw the continuum from kindergarten to college and beyond. I was fascinated by issues at every level. This reading gave me an understanding of the type of instruction my high school students had come from and where they were headed.

I hope my readers will enjoy this somewhat different perspective on K-12 English. RayS.