Topic: Reading
Interview of Carol Strickland, June 9, 2025
Interviewed by Mark Tallman
In Carol Strickland’s first teaching job her principal told that she had to do two things “You have to let the students know that you care about them, and you have to treat them all the same.” That advice set her up for success. She also had mentors, veteran teachers who helped her organize, who gave her the structure she needed in her classes. She noted that there is not one program that works for everyone because “children learn differently”. In the interview she gives examples of including special education children in regular classrooms, teaching immigrant children Show Morewho need English instruction, and the changes that technology brought to teaching. There was a discussion of how to teach children to read as well as how to train teachers. Strickland makes a case for recognizing teachers through the National Teacher Hall of Fame. She ends the interview asking, “How do we make school a ‘joyous’ experience again?” Show Less
Interview of Steve Abrams, June 26, 2025
Interviewed by Mark Tallman
Steve Abrams grew up loving to read and as an adult found it incomprehensible that others could not learn to read. His involvement as a member of his local board of education was initially focused on the issue of reading. He later championed Career and Technical Education training as another option for students while he served on the State Board of Education and on the Senate Education Committee. The interview has a substantive discussion of some of the issues the state board encountered during Abrams' term: No Child Left Behind, the Nation at Risk Report, Show Morestate assessments, standards for local schools, Quality Performance Accreditation, to name a few. Abrams states that it’s not easy to solve the issue of “wanting education to be successful for the students in the state of Kansas and still be affordable for the citizens of Kansas.” Show Less