Literacy Essentials - The Stories

A special message from Regie Routman

How to speak out for our underserved students and ensure they receive the instruction they need requires caring and courageous teachers. Be that teacher.

A heartbreaking, but not uncommon tale, of an accomplished, kind woman who winds up unknown at the end of her life. Now her unique story is finally told and honored—just as each person's life story needs to be.

This life story connects low expectations for patients in nursing homes to the low expectations for students in many schools - while urging us to do better.

A teacher and writer reflect on the habits and qualities of dedicated writers and how and why writing is a lifetime gift that binds hearts and minds.

It’s never too late to become a reader! In this podcast, the storyteller narrates her slow but proud journey to becoming an avid, curious, joyful reader.

Through poetry writing, the author figures out—and finally appreciates-- the intangible but enduring gifts her mother, who died young, left her.

While a recipe or script can be helpful in a new venture, to become an expert and responsive chef or teacher those steps and framework have to be internalized.

The author details how she gradually shifted her beliefs and practices to ensure expert teaching, fidelity to the child, and advocacy for saner teaching practices.

This story traces the journey of a learner-teacher who went from a compliant and complacent learner to an actively questioning, competent one.