Article
It’s Time to End The Reading Wars. Librarians Can Forge a Path Forward
School Library Journal
(2022)
Abstract
With increasing regularity, my social media news feeds are full of click-bait headlines fueling today’s reading wars. The public discourse surrounding literacy instruction has been sensationalized as an all-or-nothing debate with phonics-only advocates on one side and love-of-literature folks on the other. Words like “failing” and “flawed” are used to grab our attention, hijack our emotions, and force us to choose a side. In reality, educators and researchers are engaged in nuanced, complex discussions about what we know about reading processes in the brain, how to teach children to become readers, and how to support children as they find a home in a world of books. As a teacher-educator whose work has focused on children’s literature and literacy methods and as a parent of a child with dyslexia, this debate and the consequences of polarized thinking hit home for me.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2022
Citation Information
Cunningham, K.E. (2022). It’s time to end the reading wars. Librarians can forge a path forward. School Library Journal.