"I thought the juxtaposition of these two articles is very interesting. In one you have a study completed to demonstrate the necessities of reading and how introducing children to reading at an early age can benefit their general smartness in years to come, and in the other article, is how libraries are becoming more like a community centers incorporating gaming into their services to “camouflage[d] learning.” I also found it interesting in the study how it points out that people do learn from different media such as TV, or gaming in this case, but then continues to emphasize the importance of reading because through print one is exposed to more vocabulary then spoken word.
The study completed by Anne Cunningham was very thorough and gives evidence to the importance of reading which is abundantly clear. The studies emphasizes two important things: “the importance of getting children off to an early successful start in reading” and “provide children, regardless of their achievement levels, with as many reading experiences possible”. This is all well and good, but the question she doesn’t address is “how?” You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Or in more stark terms, you can tell someone that smoking is bad for their health, but they may not quit; the same can go for children not interested in reading.
The Oak Park Public Library is taking actions to address these problems. Unfortunately, there will always be children, teens, and adults who are not interested in reading regardless of what they can learn from it, but the library is looking at ways to engage kids in different ways to encourage reading through casual competition of games, problem solving, and linking these games to their summer reading. Integrating different media into the services encourages reading."
Mae: Sound it out...
Shirley: Kimm...
Mae: Kimono.
Shirley: Kimono, kimono. Off. And. Gr - Gra - Grabb"d.
Mae: Grabbed.
Shirley: Her. M - mi - mil - mil - milky, milky. White, white. Milky white.
Evelyn: Mae. What are you giving her to read?
Mae: Oh, what the difference does it make? She's reading, okay? That's the important thing. Now go away, go, shoo, shoo. Go ahead, Shirley, you're doing good.
Shirley: Thanks, Mae. Milky white bre - breasts.
Mae: It gets really good after that. Look. The delivery boy walks in...
from A League of Their Own
So I hope you are all reading more than just blogs, and I hope you are all reading to your children!
And PS sorry my long long long absence from the blog. I've been busy.
5 comments:
Actually, blogging has given me hope that literacy WILL survive the age of text messaging.
Reading is wonderful, but even more wonderful is being able to share your thoughts about what you have read.
I was never good at keeping a journal, if for no other reason than that the physical act of writing has always been difficult for me. I admire the handwriting of those of my grandparents' era and before, and worry that the art of script is disappearing (did you know some schools are no longer teaching cursive writing???), but my handwriting has always been horrible.
Which is probably why my mother taught me to type when I was in the 7th grade (this, folks, was in the days BEFORE computers!), and having that skill to fall back on all through school and my adult life, nowadays I can barely scribble out a grocery list.
If blogging had been around in "my day" as a very avid reader, I would have loved to have shared the experiences. Seldom was I able to find someone to discuss my books with, and my few "book sharing" friends remain among my closest.
I have discovered many "literate" blogs, and isn't it marvelous that ordinary people can express themselves without depending on the print-publishing industry to do it!
Yes, let's continue to encourage our children and grandchildren to read, but let's not forget to teach them how to express themselves as well. (From the looks of much of what I see on the 'Net, grammar must have preceded "cursive" on dropped list!)
Congrats, Amber, on your decision. I'm going to send you some "dead people" stuff.
-Aunt Karen
You are absolutely correct, but I really don't remember restricting what you read. Besides, you could have always read up on 3 at night. Your Mom did that with a flash light (although she didn't have a 3rd floor). We have lots of grands and I think we need to work hard on all of them to get them to read.
Don-please please please encourage all the grands to read! it is so important! and there were a few times mom wouldn't let me get i wanted but your right i could have been sneaky about it!
When I was young- my Mom thought that reading was bad for me- she told me it "gave me ideas"- obviously not her ideas- But I learned to be sneaky- I hide books behind everything- was even sent to the principal in junior high school- my only trip- for "discipline" for hiding my book behind the algebra book. I fell in love with all the "brits" in junior high- and sobbed my way through "Gone with the Wind"-finished that in the bathroom- think my family must have thought I had a "problem" but during the day the bathroom was the only place I wasn't interupted! And then fell madly in love with Tolstoy- "War and Peace" was my book my sophomore year in high school- then I had to read his others...
So it did give me "ideas"- And I'm still so very, very, very grateful!
Hi Am, greats blog, or blogs rather. I just finished "Farmer Mickey" for lil' M.
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