Articles
Here you will find a collection of valuable resources to help you instruct your child or classroom. Each article you will find below is in Adobe Reader format, making them very easy to print, email, or distribute to friends and colleagues.
The Madness of Multiple - Choice by Andrew Pudewa
(excerpt)
"By placing a continuous emphasis on what you don't know, multiple-choice tests trivialize what you do know. To a multiple-choice test answer key, who you are, what you know, or how you think is irrelevant. But the painful irony of it all is, in truth: it's what you don't know that is actually what's irrelevant…"
Convert…to the true way! by Andrew Pudewa
(excerpt)
"Relegate pencils--whether traditional or mechanical--to the worlds of art and arithmetic where they belong, but don't let them invade the hallowed halls of English composition…"
What? or That! -- Reflections on Reports by Andrew Pudewa
(excerpt)
"In sixth grade or thereabouts, you had to write A REPORT. Searching for a subject that seemed moderately interesting, such as Japan or Betsy Ross, you went to the encyclopedia and began to browse. Typically, your finished report had to be three to four pages, plus illustrations, which seemed like a lot--really a lot. Japan beat out Betsy Ross, simply because there was more information available. In the back of your mind, you knew it wouldn't be quite "kosher" to copy verbatim from the big book, but the unanswered question was: How could you get information out of the encyclopedia and into your report without copying it? With a jolt of inspiration (or perhaps a whiff of common sense), you arrived at the natural conclusion, which was to copy the really good sentences, changing a few words here and there..."
Imitation: A Common Sense Approach by Andrew Pudewa
(excerpt)
"This
idea is not new. From the old-school "copybooks" to the increasingly
popular "Benjamin Franklin" method, imitation has been a common sense
approach to teaching for centuries. Memorizing great chunks of Latin
oratory, students in ancient Rome used imitation to master the skill of
rhetoric. Only in the last 20-30 years has the great god of
"creativity" in art upstaged the tradition of imitation in building a
foundation of skills..."
4 Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing by Andrew Pudewa
(excerpt)
"We've all suffered it at one time or another: Frustration about writing assignments. Either on the receiving end, or perhaps now on the giving end, there can be a few distinctly discouraging aspects to teaching and being taught writing. The tough questions include..."
To Assay the Essay by Andrew Pudewa
(excerpt)
"By using a subject-based developmental approach to teaching the essay, we can naturally and smoothly move students from simple report writing to persuasive writing on current issues..."
Literacy Today: What is Wrong and How Can We Fix It?
Oregon Senate Hearing Presentation, February, 2001 by Wanda Sanseri
(excerpt)
"We have been told English is illogical, irregular, and filled with endless exceptions. We flounder teaching spelling and reading. I have transformational news. English is NOT as perplexingly difficult as we’ve been led to believe. With just 98 keys (70 phonograms and 28 spelling rules), you can unlock most words in our dictionary…"