Talking Points - Volume 12, Issue 2, 2001

Claims that religious messages in public school are not acceptable and are hurtful to kids who do not subscribe to the beliefs expressed in those messages. Describes the author’s personal experience in witnessing the marginalizing effect of a public school holiday pageant on some of the students.

I was taking a chance. Not with my drawings, but with encouraging students to think deeply about their portfolios. I was hoping that by showing students the growth in my drawings, I could help them see the growth in their writing.

Suggests that whole language is alive and well in Israel, and that like many countries trying to educate multiethnic, multilingual populations, there is a strong interest in whole language as a democratic, innovative pedagogy built on scientific foundations. Notes the Ministry of Education encourages whole language approaches, but the teachers' union and some academics have attacked whole language.

Describes things the author learned from presentations at the 2001 Whole Language Umbrella conference, including: not many classroom teachers attended the conference; classroom teachers and professors need each other; people take pride in the whole language name; the most powerful force in a classroom is an expert teacher; and building a community is always a work in progress.

Discusses educators’ responses to the attempts to take over the educational system by the government of Ontario, Canada. Discusses the background to the crisis, the “Final Straw” (Bill 160), public relations and the largest work stoppage by educators in North America (October, 1997), and lessons learned from the political protests.

Discusses the case of a parent who enrolled her daughter in an after-school literacy program after being told she was not succeeding in school. Notes the teacher was by turns suspicious of and uninterested in the techniques used in the program. Examines the girl’s development as a learner as she worked with her mother on developing weekly grocery lists.