Common Ground?

I spent the day giving author talks at an elementary school and spoke with the teachers there at the end of the day on "Techniques to Encourage Children to Read and Write." Yeah, I know. That sounds very grand coming from me.

However, I think that writers and teachers both share a concern regarding reading. Teachers teach readers to read. Writers write books for readers to read. The NEA report that came out this summer (I'd link to it, but I'm tired. Did I mention I did an honest day's work today?)indicating that people of all ages are spending less time reading is of concern to both groups. For teachers, why are they doing all this work teaching if no one is going to use what they learn? For writers, why are they doing all this work writing if no one is going to read what they write?

Plus writers need to sell what they write to make a living. And publishers don't want to publish the work of writers whose books don't sell. Fewer readers, fewer sales. You see where I'm going with this.

Anyway, writers tend to sit and complain about this situation. It seems to me that instead we ought to get together with teachers and somehow work together on encouraging a culture of readers.

If I figure out a way to do this, I'll let you know.