Quote of the Day

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." -Ray Bradbury

I think this is a good one for today and the future to come. We live in a world of TV, video games, computers, cell phones, Ipods, etc, etc. I think anybody reading this knows that we have found many ways to entertain ourselves with these gadgets. We use them for our news too. If we don't want too, we never have to open another book, newspaper, dictionary, encyclopedia, or magazine to find out news, information, meanings...or whatever again. So what does this say about the culture of America? The world? We are so "plugged in" today and that is our lives...it IS our culture. If we took those things away, what would happen? How would we cope? Could we? I've often said, "What did we do before cell phones?" It's hard to remember now. I use my cell so often and feel I NEEDED it. Would we say that if books were suddenly gone? Would we feel life couldn't go on WITHOUT books? I know that books are still a viable consumer product, but I would like to know if or how much book sales have dropped when TV was created? Video games? Internet?

I love to read and many of my friends love to read, so I would be very sad if books were no more, but even I use the internet alot to find out just about any question I have. Getting through college without the net....I don't know how people used to do it....honestly. I feel so priviledged in that regard.

At any rate, this is just thoughts to chew on for the day. I hope we all find the time to pick up a good book and pass it along when you're done.

Why should you read to your students?

Why should you read to your students? How will you choose the books that you read? What kinds of books will you read?

This is one multi-part question from my final exam (READ 4015- Language & Literacy in the Elementary School, K-6)


Here is my answer:

There is no greater way to create a love for books in children than by reading aloud. Reading to children sparks their imagination and gives them a sense of wonder. It will help them appreciate the gift of literature, develop and enrich their own language, and build implicit concepts about reading and writing. Reading to children helps them learn to read in subtle but important ways. It is through reading that children develop a scheme or a sense for stories. Children can use their schema for stories to comprehend material. A story schema is developed early in the lives of children who have been read to frequently. Reading to children also provides models for writing as they develop a sense of plot, characterization, mood, and theme.
When selecting books and other materials to be read, I will keep in mind my students' age and interest levels. I will select materials at times so that they will coincide with other daily or weekly classroom activities. There may be times when a child requests a certain book and if appropriate, I will be honored to read it to the class.
I will incorporate many different types of literary genres: fiction and nonfiction books, fairy tales, nursey ryhmes, newspapers, biographies, plays, etc. I will read books that talk about families of different ethnicities, race, and culture, especially making sure that I read about the types of families of the students in my class at that time. The reading-to-children time must be for enjoyment only. There may be a moral in the story and that's okay, but I will not have this time become a structured lesson.

Think Outside the Box & Turn Off Your TV

National Turnoff Week April 20-26

Worried your kids are watching too much TV? Did you know that American children watch nearly three hours of television every day? Or, that children spend more time each year in front of the television than they do in school? Yikes! Well, unplug the TV, the computer, and the video games (adults too!) and explore the magical world of books. Give your children the chance to learn and create, and to spend time with theh most important person in their lives....YOU!

Thanks for the info Books-A-Million.

I know my family will unplug (as much as my school work allows me too). I often wonder just how much more my family could get done if it wasn't for the TV. Or, how close we would be. I doubt there'd be the age-old "I'm booooorrred!!" because we'd have to learn how to entertain ourselves.

Sidney Wood once said, "An educated man is one who can entertain a new idea, entertain another person, and entertain himself."