TEACHING & LEARNING Every Student Can Be a Reader: A Balanced Literacy Progra m

hat follows is a summary of a proposal to enhance the reading and writing skills of re-luctant readers. It is called a Bal-anced Literacy Program. The ac-ronym R.A.P., Reading Appren-tice Program, captures the pur-pose and process of the program. "When teachers, librarians and par-ents concentrate on plans to foster a love of reading in each child, commu-nities become caring, literate places i n which to live." Charlotte Huck "students who have been unsuccess-ful throughout elemental y, middle and secondary school frequently adopt a negative stance towards reading tha t becomes more difficult to modify " Mathewson, 1994 (Appendix A) It is reasonable, therefore, to suggest that creative and explici t intervention for learning is a nec-essary curriculum skill require d of all teachers. Pollack (1998) makes the point that mentor pro-grams do work and, when boy s meet on a regular basis with a buddy /coach as in the proposa l I will outline below, boys demon-strate improved attitudes toward reading. They also develop posi-tive self-esteem and other aca-demic competencies