Introduction

The idea for this book was born out of a conversation with a very wise associate superintendent of North Olmsted City Schools, Anne Pyros. After a round of meetings with a group of teachers, she expressed her frustration to me about certain classroom literacy practices she sees all the time that she would like to put an end to. “Suppose,” she mused to me, “we created a list of these literacy practices that were out of date or not research based and then offered replacement strategies to teachers?” A lightbulb went off in my head. We often tell teachers what not to do, but we do not often give reasons these strategies are ineffective or give replacement strategies to improve their instructional practices.