Pam Allyn's Blog (3)

It's odd to me that we spend a day giving thanks for what is precious, and then the very next morning our culture is all set up for Black Friday (which sounds grim even though I guess it's not meant to be)....where we are all meant to rush out as early as we can and as maniacally as we can to BUY things. So we were grateful for one day, for all those intangibles, but then the very next day this American culture is telling us: better get ready to WANT all the things you don't have, that you wish… Continue

I'd love to begin a movement that would culminate in the spring called the Book the Time Campaign: getting as many people as we can to read aloud to a child or many children. Then we could have one day, in March or April, that is the culmination of those efforts, with lots of celebration for the importance of reading aloud in a child's life. Would anyone be interested in joining in and figuring out how to make this happen? I love the idea of it being worldwide!!! I could ask my wonderful… Continue

This past summer, I traveled to Kenya and Liberia on behalf of my organization, LitWorld, to share teaching ideas and practices with teachers there. It was a deeply moving journey and I was honored to spend time with the teachers there (some class ratios: 120 kids to ONE teacher!). They are heroic for doing their work in such extreme conditions. We brought with us a software called Realebooks which gets kids publishing their own stories online. Now, schools here are sending kidmade books to… Continue