Lucy Calkins is an American educator and professor at Columbia University who is best known for creating the Units of Study reading and writing curriculum.
Early life
editCalkins and her eight siblings were raised by their parents who were both doctors. Calkins used to babysit the children of Donald Graves, which got her interested in reading and writing. She attended Williams College and graduated from there in 1973. She earned her doctorate in English education from NYU.[1][2]
Career
editCalkins was a high school teacher in Connecticut. She left that job for an unpaid internship at a primary school in Oxfordshire to learn about the British education model, which was considered to be more effective at teaching reading than the United States.[3]
In 1981, Calkins founded the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project institute in Columbia University’s Teacher College.[4]
In 1986 she published The Art of Teaching Writing before expanding her teaching philosophy to reading with the publication of The Art of Teaching Reading in 2001.
Calkins created the reading and writing curriculum called Units of Study which was used in thousands of U.S. schools. It put an emphasis on teaching reading through context and cues instead of teaching phonics. In the early 2000s it became central to the New York City public school system’s curriculum.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b Lewis, Helen (November 13, 2024). "How One Woman Became The Scapegoat For America's Reading Crisis". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
- ^ Goldstein, Dana (September 8, 2023). "Amid Reading Wars, Teachers College Will Close a Star Professor's Shop". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
- ^ Zimmerman, Haley (September 19, 2023). "Lucy Calkins '73 taught America to read. The 'reading wars' have called her work into question". The Williams Record. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
- ^ Winter, Jessica (September 1, 2022). "The Rise and Fall of Vibes-Based Literacy". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 24, 2024.