Teaching That Makes Sense

Teaching That Makes Sense, founded by Steve Peha, is an impressive web site full of well-organized, original resources on reading and writing.

They're all in pdf format and they're all free.

Is this guy insane? It would be easy to understand his generosity if the stuff was mediocre. But Steve has put together hundreds of pages of strategies, structures, checklists, and posters for teachers that are high quality, practical, and immediately usable.

Getting started in Reader's or Writer's Workshop? Looking for authentic student writing samples? Seeking sound ideas for writing across the curriculum? Need a writing lesson to use tomorrow? It's all there. And if that's not enough, Steve and his crew are continually adding articles on the teaching profession that are truly worth a read.

And it's sticky stuff, because the ideas are concrete (yet not closed-ended) and simple (yet not dumbed down).

So visit the site. Read the articles. Download the pdfs. Before Steve comes to his senses.

UPDATE 03/09/09: Apparently they loosened Steve's straight jacket long enough for him to peck out a response to my post:

Hey, Keith! Love your blog. And your kind words about our work are really
appreciated. Here's a link to our newest strategy guide (not yet on the site) if
you're interested: www.ttms.org/ttms_strategy_guide.pdf. We've also got a new
book on reading that we'll be giving away, too. Is this guy crazy? Perhaps. But
I really just want teachers to have access to good materials.

Thanks for stopping by, Steve! We appreciate your efforts.