Tag Archives: reading

Ex Libris

iStock_000000182279_L1NACD now has an extensive recommended reading list that I want to share with you. When reviewing the book list, please keep in mind that there are various ways to experience, enjoy, and learn from a book.  Books should be viewed as a from of entertainment; a resource for knowledge; a means by which to develop vocabulary, build the ability to process, visualize, conceptualize, and understand information, and a means to learn about history, people, and life.  Through books we can learn about fantasy, learn to imagine, dream, and create. Without the benefit of books it is very difficult to learn and understand the human condition. We can learn from the lives and experiences of others and develop a deeper understanding not only of others, but ourselves.  We can gain these benefits not only by reading these books ourselves, but also through the experience of others reading them to us, from the shared experience through book clubs, from shared reading, and even from audio books. As you review this list and pick books for your child (or help them pick books), remember these options.  If you want the child to enjoy a book that they are going to read themselves, you don’t want the vocabulary to be too challenging.  You want them to be able to read and move through the book relatively quickly.  If the book is a bit more challenging, consider shared reading. With shared reading you read a paragraph or a page, and your child reads the next.  With shared reading you can help your child with any new or difficult words, and with your reading with your child you can keep the pace moving fast enough to keep it interesting.  If the book is even more difficult, simply read the book to your child, or if time does not permit, see if you can find an audiobook version. Always try to encourage your child to have a dictionary handy, or preferably one of the new app dictionaries, that can give your child the pronunciation of the word as well as the definition.  The best way to teach this is by example.

Experience books with your children and give them the wonderful gift of learning to love reading and love learning.

Download NACDs Recommended Book List (PDF)

Down With Homework

Our local news KSL posted an article this week, “Utah Teacher: assigned homework does not benefit kids.” The local educator and author Lynn Stoddard was quoted as saying “It’s such a strong myth in our society that teacher assigned homework is good for kids.”  The post went on to list Stoddard’s reasons for his statement, which included:

  • It is an excessive burden on parents.
  • It interferes with family activities.
  • It puts much stress on many students.
  • It makes less time for other beneficial interests.
  • It gives children an aversion to learning.

I’ve read Stoddard’s book, Educating for Human Greatness, and found I agreed with the majority of what he had to say, which is not too surprising in that we are both proponents of student individuality and the huge role of inquiry as a primary tenet of successful education. Stoddard and I are not at all alone in our concerns about homework. Other books that I have read that discuss the negative aspects of homework are Kohn’s The Homework Myth and Kralovec and Buell’s book The End of Homework. I have been fighting homework throughout my career and believe that the vast majority of homework not only does not benefit kids, but is in fact harmful for the entire educational process.

Two of the commonly stated concerns with our children and their education are that children do not get enough exercise and they do not read.  We have children getting up before 6:00 a.m. to catch their school bus; they sit in classrooms until about 3:00; get home at 3:30 or 4:00, if lucky; and then sit down to often hours of homework/busywork.  So when do they get exercise? And who could be surprised that after all those hours of non-individualized, non-personalized “stuff”– much of which requires reading–Johnny doesn’t read for pleasure or read to explore his personal interests?  It’s really not surprising that Johnny doesn’t read and Johnny very possibly is destined to become an adult non-reader.  The value of reading is unquestionable, and creating readers should be, and is, one of the primary objectives of education.  However the system is failing.  The often-ineffective methods being used to teach reading by our educational system is a whole other topic for another day. It’s tragic that the two most positive influences on reading in the United States in the past 40 years have been Sesame Street and Harry Potter. It certainly has not been our curriculum-based, testing-based public education system.

Many of the current educational trends are moving in all the wrong directions. The solution to better education is not more curriculum, longer school days, longer school years, more homework, and more testing.  The solution is smarter school, not more school, and more individualized, brain/child-centered education and parents– parents whose role is reading with their children, exploring with their children, or often even talking with their children, instead of fighting with their children to do their homework.

It appears that we need to fix this broken system.  Down with homework!

Related links:
http://nacd.org/journal/article10.php
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDC00943D1D09709A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wt5dG21q_g&list=PLCEC32A802C8EF447&index=8