Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning, and Living [Paperback]

Mem Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 1993

The internationally acclaimed children’s book writer and educator offers her insights into the learning process, language education, and the pleasure, growth, and power that reading and writing can bring.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

With lighthearted anecdotes, poems, letters, and other writings, the renowned Australian children's book author entices teachers to do more writing themselves and rejects the "skills-and-drills" mentality in language arts teaching. Fox, an advocate of the "whole language" movement, fiercely condemns the use of basal readers in reading instruction classes. Their dullness, she maintains, causes students to avoid reading altogether. Fox recommends instead that real books be read and real language used. She advocates stories that bring teacher and student together in a relationship to experience genuine feeling, laughter, and fun. A superb writer, she constructs an excellent case, and surely any child would like to be a member of her reading/writing class. Her ideas are jotted down in a rather disorganized fashion, but her writing is fresh. For most public and academic libraries.
- Arla Lindgren, St. John's Univ., New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

With lighthearted anecdotes, poems, letters, and other writings, the renowned Australian children's book author entices teachers to do more writing themselves and rejects the "skills-and-drills" mentality in language arts teaching. Fox, an advocate of the "whole language" movement, fiercely condemns the use of basal readers in reading instruction classes. Their dullness, she maintains, causes students to avoid reading altogether. Fox recommends instead that real books be read and real language used. She advocates stories that bring teacher and student together in a relationship to experience genuine feeling, laughter, and fun. A superb writer, she constructs an excellent case, and surely any child would like to be a member of her reading/writing class. Her ideas are jotted down in a rather disorganized fashion, but her writing is fresh. For most public and academic libraries.
- Arla Lindgren, St. John's Univ., New York
(Library Journal )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 173 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (May 7, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015607947X
• ISBN-13: 978-0156079471
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MEM FOX is the author of many acclaimed books, including Possum Magic, Koala Lou, Time for Bed, and, for adults, Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever. She lives in Adelaide, Australia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you teach reading or writing you have to read this book!!, November 29, 1997

By 

Amy Wright - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning, and Living (Paperback)

"Those who write well have more power and therefore have more control over their lives" (p.21). If this is indeed true then Mem Fox is a very powerful woman! In the midst of the phonics vs. whole language war being raged in the media, this book is a call for reading and writing teachers to examine their practices and strive for truly purposeful, artful teaching. Fox's insights into her life as a writer, teacher and mother make this a truly inspiring and intensely challenging read. I have always believed that to be an effective reading teacher, I must be a reader, able to share my passion for books with my students, but Mem Fox points out that unless I am a writer as well, I will be unable to know the difficulties, fears, hopes and needs of my students as writers. I plan to thoughtfully explore the forms of writing I use, examine the writing process I go through and share my writing with my students on a more regular basis. I am convinced that we will all grow from the experience!!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must for teachers, parents, administrators, August 24, 2003

By 

Diane L. Sullivan "dsullivan2" (Sauk City, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning, and Living (Paperback)

I just finished reading this exquisite book, and have sent emails to all my friends who are educators and/or parents. Fox writes with such passion and voice that I couldn't put the book down once I started it. Her ideas are needed, her style is eloquent, fluent and mesmerizing. This is a book I will read again and again, especially at the start of each new school year. What she says is as important for high school learners as for kindergarten. She has stated so succinctly why it's essential to keep the heart in education. She shows how children can come to the love of reading, writing and thinking. Her diatribe against fill-in-the-blank worksheets is convincing. I will give a copy to every teacher that my children will have throughout their schooling.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why teach reading, July 15, 2001

By 

Linda Yates (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radical Reflections: Passionate Opinions on Teaching, Learning, and Living (Paperback)

I like to read this book just before I start a new school year. It reminds me of the reasons children want to learn to read. I teach remedial reading. The programs my district uses focuses on phonetic instruction. My students do need specific instruction to decode words, but they also need to be motivated and to know the pleasures of reading. This book helps keep my priorities right .