Interesting news piece at NPR about student reading habits. Includes a podcast.

What Kids are Reading


Interesting quote from article:

"Stickney says that after the late part of middle school, students generally don't continue to increase the difficulty levels of the books they read.

Last year, almost all of the top 40 books read in grades nine through 12 were well below grade level. The most popular books, the three books in The Hunger Games series, were assessed to be at the fifth-grade level."

At this years SXSW conference Bill Gates delivered a keynote address relating to technology personalizing education. Although he focused on higher education, Gates' vision of more personalized teaching will undoubtedly trickle down to K-12 education. Differentiation has always been a key mission for educators and any help we can get is great, but in the long view will this ultimately make teachers unnecessary?

Link: Bill Gates' Classroom of The Future