Schmoker Quotes & Sayings

Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other's fund of collective intelligence. — Mike Schmoker

The number of books students read ... is among the best indicators of student reading development. — Mike Schmoker

The eye of youth is very observant. Youth has its moments of keen intuition, even normal youth
but the intuition of those who stand mi-way between the sexes is so ruthless, so poignant, so deadly, as to be in the nature of an added scourge ... — Radclyffe Hall

Things get done only if the data we gather can inform and inspire those in a position to make difference. — Mike Schmoker

Nostalgia is a seductive liar. — Mike Schmoker

Love could never come to full fruition till it was destroyed. — John Galsworthy

Startling as this may sound, the truth is that many children read for a remarkably small percentage of the school day. — Michael J. Schmoker

In a healthy system, there is no blame. — Michael J. Schmoker

Worksheets - the archenemy of abundant, purposeful reading (and discussion and writing). — Mike Schmoker

We must begin where we are and move forward immediately by starting small and capitalizing on what's at hand. — Mike Schmoker

To live in the present, we must deeply believe that what is most important is in the here and now. — Henri Nouwen

I am spinning the silk threads of my story, weaving the fabric of my world. — Laurie Halse Anderson

When we unnecessarily elongate the process of "learning to read," we postpone "reading to learn" - learning itself - by years. — Mike Schmoker

These programs and reading series are the fruit of an intellectually exhausted literacy industry that lost its way long ago, even as we mutely accepted its misguided agenda - to complicate reading and literacy so that we will purchase its programs and materials. — Mike Schmoker

Reforms often fail because politics favors symbols over substance. — Michael J. Schmoker

Learning, without any opportunities to share what we've learned, is a little like cooking for ourselves; we do it, but we probably won't do it as well. — Mike Schmoker

What gets measured (and clearly defined) does get done. — Mike Schmoker

The research we do at the local level - collaboratively - is what makes formal, outside research work. Outside research cannot be installed like a car part - it has to be fitted, adjusted, and refined for the school contexts we workd in. — Mike Schmoker

The best way to defend America in this world we live in is to stay on the offense. — George W. Bush

In a research-poor context,isolated experience replaces professional knowledge as the dominant influence on how teachers teach. — Mike Schmoker

I have found that educators yearn to be told something like this: There will be no more initiatives - at least for a time. Instead, we will focus only on what will have an immediate and dramatic impact on learning in your classrooms: ensuring the implementation of a common, content-rich curriculum; good lessons; and plenty of meaningful literacy activities (such as close reading, writing, and discussion) across the curriculum. — Mike Schmoker

School improvement is not a mystery. Incremental, even dramatic improvement is not only possible but probable under the right conditions. — Michael J. Schmoker