The Whole Language Catalog

Every parent, teacher and school administrator would benefit from this large collection of essential teaching information. Every school should have this catalog in the teacher lounge--available for perusal. It is quite simply, the book I would choose to keep if I could only have one book. It consists of short and long articles, photos, book reviews, letters, quotes, and information contributed by over 500 whole language educators, researchers, parents, and students.It has been useful to me as a formal teacher, a parent, and now as the mother of 3 homeschoolers (unschoolers). What makes it so special? A massive amount of excellent, thought-provoking information and support on every aspect of looking at learning and developing under the sun. The format is similar to a really good magazine with no advertisements, and the breath is miraculous. Yet it is easy to follow a subject as there are often notes about what article to look at next for more information about that particular subject, and also excellent indexes.It is fun to flip through randomly, and also easy to use as a guide in learning about something specifically. It is generally broken into 7 sections: learning, language, literature, teaching, curriculum, community, and understanding whole language. In these sections math, social studies, risk-taking, testing & evaluating, discipline, and much, much more is covered as well as the expected information on writing and reading. This is the book to turn to understand the reading and writing processes, create reading and writing workshops, and learn how to create a literate and content-rich classroom or home. It simulanously provides insight and thought-provoking information about spelling, math, revaluing special education, behaviorism, diversity, discipline, teachers as liberators and initiators, multiple paths to meaning, and much, much more.