New York City offers some of the best restaurants, museums and entertainment; for three Hunter Middle School teachers it will impart some of the best teaching methods to help young readers achieve their goals.
“If you can read well you can do anything you want to do,” said Hunter Middle seventh-grade reading teacher Lori Thacker. “So many students struggle in reading because their parents don’t encourage reading at home.”
From left, Hunter Middle School teachers Lisa Powell, Lori Thacker and Dana Whisler are preparing to attend the Columbia University Reading Summer Institute in July to learn about the latest and greatest reading initiatives to take back to their students.She said students can’t read “Twilight” or “Hunger Games” when they are at the level of “Junie B. Jones.” So, the reading teachers at Hunter try to take them to the next level of reading through using Columbia University methods.
That is why Thacker is spending July 2-7 at the Columbia University Reading Summer Institute with colleague Dana Whisler, who also teaches seventh-grade reading at Hunter Middle, as well as Hunter eighth-grade reading teacher Lisa Powell.
“Columbia’s method of teaching reading is growing and getting better and better,” said Whisler. “New York public schools have had great success with it.”