Leah Mermelstein on We must end the reading wars.... now

I'm sure there are amazing things happening in Steubenville and a lot to be proud of. But I am also confident as with any person or thing that is put on a pedestal, that there are things we don't know about in terms of what is going on there. I'm also confident there are amazing teachers working their butts off in other places doing strong literacy instruction who are not seeing the results they are seeing. One part that made take pause about the Sold A Story episode was the little tidbit about the teacher keeping clothes in her teacher closet for kids who needed it. That is terrific that this teacher chose to do it. But teachers shouldn't have to be saviors or shouldn't feel that they need to do that to be a good teacher. It's their job to teach well and until there is a team behind children on all parts of what is needed to succeed we will only have pockets of greatness.