Palin's Reading Habits

"Submitted for publication

Dear Editor,

The focus has shifted from Sarah Palin's disastrous performance in the Katie Couric interviews to her better than expected debate performance. Still, I'd like to redirect us to the fact that Sarah Palin could not name a single periodical or newspaper that she read to stay informed. Let's be honest. That is NOT a trick question from the media elite. As a lifelong educator, I suspect this woman does not read. Ever. The way she mangles the English language, both in interviews and even in spouting her memorized talking points, only corroborates that view. People who read know how to use language clearly and effectively.

Sara Stevenson

Middle School Librarian who reads The Austin American-Statesman, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker.
Austin, Texas"

(via Stephen Krashen's "Krashen Digest" mailing list)

Reading Isn't A Numbers Game

So says Regina Powers in the LA Times:

Reading is supposed to be a pleasurable habit. California's reading scores have remained flat since 1971. Research verifies that comprehension and reading test scores improve when students simply read more. So let's encourage reading by allowing kids to choose what to read, unimpeded by the pressure of points, levels and quizzes. 

So say we all!

Reader Photographs

An amazing assortment of photographs of people reading. Do linger over these wonderful images.

André Kertész: On Reading

(via Norm)

Boys and Books

Tricia over at The Miss Rumphius Effect had a couple of posts earlier in the week I wanted to highlight. First up, Boys and the Bard getting into that always fun and controversial subject of whether it's more important to get kids, especially boys reading and loving it, or reading certain kinds of books. She quotes a Guardian article on the subject and highlights this excellent question:

Why do we still confuse the need for literacy with the experience of reading, and even more important to some, loving a canon?

Well? What do you think?

I think you know where I stand.

Next up, her post More on Boys and Reading. She quotes a press release that is a definite eye-catcher:

"If reading were an Olympic sport, it would be the women holding all the gold medals and world records - not the men. In fact, the women are not just passing their male counterparts when it comes to reading, they are lapping them around the track."

Hmmm.

Laetrile and Open Court

Stephen Krashen follows the evidence and notices something peculiar. Laetrile used to be prescribed to fight cancer but after studies showed that it couldn't be proven effective, it is now illegal. Now that studies have proven that the Open Court Reading program also could not be proven effective, why is it still required in some districts?

Matt has some more on this.

*yellow text is edited as per comments (one from Dr. Krashen himself!)

Read!

Awesome, really. You've probably seen this by now, but man I love it. Chad nailed it. And hey, bathroom reading is something pushed by Jim Trelese in his Read-Aloud Handbook. I know my daughter already sees it as the perfect reading spot.

More From the NYT

There's some great food for thought (or debate) in the Letters page devoted to that article about reading books vs. the internets that had so many hyperventilating.

And this list of stuff to NOT worry about on summer vacation (even though that's ending for me) soothes my skeptical soul.

Krashen on NYT Reading

There's been a lot of talk in the blogs lately about this article in the NYTimes about the internet and reading. I think an overuse of the net may cause issues with attention, but not reading. I myself have recently axed Facebook, Goodreads and most other social networking sites. I've also probably halved my feeds in my reader. Im trying to stay focused on school and upcoming graduate work.

Here's Stephen Krashen's more sober take on the internet/reading issue:

In "Literacy debate: On R U Reading?" (July 27, Books), Dana Gioia, chair of the
National Endowment for the Arts, thinks that there has been a decline in reading
ability and it is because of the internet. There has been no decline. National
reading scores for 4th and 8th graders have increased since 1992, and 12th
graders have dropped five points since 1992, not much on a test in which the top
and bottom 10% differ by 90 points. So far, studies suggest that internet reading
results in more print reading and improved reading ability, as the Times
notes. The real problem is low literacy attainment among children from low-income
families, which research shows is related to lack of access to reading material.
Let's stop worrying about the internet and start worrying about improving
libraries in areas of high poverty. --Stephen Krashen

You Are Not Reading Enough

You Are Not Reading Enough, from Mark Morford at SFGate. (via Norm).

Mercifully, the yoga kicked in and I quickly shrugged, sighed, noted the incredible opportunity, the gods trying to tell me to unplug. I hit the bookstore and bought three thick, sticky literary novels like a misguided vegan buys some grass-fed steaks for the first time, and devoured them whole.

As I did so, an amazing thing happened. Time slowed down. The brain quickly returned to its normal breathing. The mental seizures and the near-constant desire to click away and leap to something different, faded and soon vanished. And the books I so loved suddenly moved from the bottom of the intellectual priority list straight back to their original, top-tiered state of grace.

I vowed to never let them drop so low again.

Kill Reading First

Stephen Krashen has an opinion piece in today's USA Today.

Read, comment, share.

Robert Ingersoll!

Wow, this is a fun, short, breezy read. It's completely brilliant and, unfortunately still quite timely. Robert Ingersoll was a massively popular speaker for his day. Mark Twain and Thomas Edison were big fans of his. He's slipped into obscurity because he didn't write much and his collected speeches are voluminous. This short--130-some pages!--collection is just the ticket for a good overview of some compelling arguments. What a great American!

My Mind Is On Vacation

Actually it's not, but everything else is. Sarasota is lovely and my daughter is having a ball with her grandparents. I'm reading a lot, which I'll blog about soon. Finished Carl Zimmer's Evolution and a book of Robert Ingersoll speeches which knocked me out. Still poking at the novel daily, but will have to increase productivity upon my return home next week.

As for the blog, well, keep checking out the shared items to the right and making your way through the Blogroll. I'm still checking comments and the feed reader so I'm not completely out of the loop. But mostly, I'm just chillin'. (Don't have a cool hammock like that guy, though...) Even when I get back my lack of posts may continue. I'll be sweating out the novel (deadline July 31) and then transitioning back into school where I hope to get back into the more regular posting and embarking on my Media Specialist degree come August.

Thanks for sticking with me. Hope you're enjoying the summer as well!

On The Run (series) by Gordon Korman

Just finished reading this out loud to my fourth graders. It was a heck of a ride, let me tell you. It came from an argument with my fourth grade group when they said, "Reading is boring." I was determined to snag them. This was what I used:

Two kids, Aiden 15, and his sister Meg, 11 become fugitives from the law as they run around trying to find evidence to exonerate their imprisoned parents. The parents are professors, criminologists, who have been duped by a guy claiming to be a CIA operative. He has them write detailed analysis on how a terrorist network could hide out in the US. When Homeland Security and the FBI come knocking--I mean bashing down the door--because an actual terrorist network is found using their analyses as an operating manual, their mysterious CIA contact vanishes, leaving them holding the bag.

It's like 24 for kids. There are assassins, chases, split-second escapes, and a giant guard pig. It's almost plausible, but never lets up long enough for your to over think it and is grounded realistically enough to keep it somewhat believable.

We had a US map up the whole time, plotting their course. We used Google Maps to zero in on cities and neighborhoods. The book takes you fall over the country, even out to sea. They run through cities like Chicago and Boston and through countryside on horseback. The students were kept busy with their dictionaries and I found my ELL fourth graders discussing police jurisdiction (local and federal), ballistics, and the relative ethics and economics involved in being a fugitive.

I tortured the kids by stopping our reading at the most cliff-hanging points. They would literally fall on the floor and beg me to read just one more chapter. Every time I would smile and say, "But I thought reading was boring?"

Sometimes the adult characters became confusing, so I used IMDB.com and Google Images to cast an imaginary movie. I printed out these pictures and labelled them with the characters names and hung them up on the whiteboard when we read so my kids could keep everyone straight. I also printed out pictures of mentioned vehicles and building types as references.

Now I find out there is another three-part series of these kids on the run! They'll have to get it at the library over the summer...

Mikita Brottman Is A Big Whiner

I'd never heard of her before, so I hope her book does about that well. It's called The Solitary Vice: Against Reading and no, I'm not linking to it. It's not available yet anyway. I read an excerpt in a magazine because hey, I'm open-minded. If someone has some good reason why, as she claims, "books are overrated" I'll listen to see if they have anything of substance to say. It's always good to examine your preconceptions and I'm obviously on the side of books are awesome. She apparently has a column over at the Huffinton post where she writes about how great Kindles are (Amazon's clunky little ebook reader) and books are crap.

Her writing comes off as some smart-alecky undergrad who just discovered that being contentious will cause controversy and that's almost like having something to say. She throws the little thought bombs around; Kindles are good, books are bad, autistic people are weird and I wouldn't hire one. Not the stuff of great debate.

The only evidence against reading she presents is her own miserable youth. She describes herself as a voracious reader of horror fiction, then complains "in terms of emotional development, books didn't help me at all." What a surprise. I'm not bashing horror fiction, I also was a big fan at that age and knew all the reference she made from H.P. Lovecraft to Melmoth the Wanderer. But I also came out of my room, played with other kids and read the occasional non-horror (even non-fiction) book. She writes: "Eventually, my mother gave up trying to coax me down for meals, and, apart from school, the only time I left my bedroom during the day was to renew my library books." Yeah, listen to your parents. She said she should have listened to her dad "and spent more time in the company of other human beings." That might have helped.

She was an awkward teen "with greasy skin and tragic hair" and socially maladroit. I can relate. But instead of trying to navigate this world with these minor flaws, she retreated to the world of books. It could have easily been television or religion or art or a million things. It wasn't the books that held her prisoner, it was herself. "I was paralyzed by fantasy, crippled by self-loathing, self-doubting inhibition--a problem that's never completely disappeared, and probably never will."

I'm not arguing that all books are equally great. I'm arguing that it wasn't the books (or even types of books) that screwed her up. She was already screwy, she's just mad the books didn't help. The thing is, she knows it. "If you're a balanced, discriminating reader, the books you read can make you more interested in moral and political questions, more active, articulate, and engaged." Thank you!

So she's screwed up. She doesn't need to whine about it. It's not just the books she whines about: "I could write, albeit in a fussy and pretentious style (which I can't seem to entirely shake off, as you may have noticed."

I noticed.

Most Popular Children's Books? Really?

Over at 100 Scope Notes, he reprints part of a list from the Washington Post. It uses data collected from Accelerated Reader to determine the most popular kids books. Go take a peek, then come back. Jay Mathews has a commentary in the paper about it as well.

All good books, right? No argument here. Stephen Krashen is skeptical, though:

"The survey was based on books children chosen for the Accelerated Reader program, a program in which children are tested on the content of books and earn points, which are exchanged for prizes. It is likely that their motivation is to earn points and get prizes. The results of this survey do not necessarily reflect what children read for their own intrinsic pleasure, but might only reflect what they read in order to earn points on quizzes and get prizes.

After reviewing the research, I have concluded that Accelerated Reader has not been shown to be better than simply providing good books and time to read.There is also evidence suggesting that providing rewards for reading results in less reading in the long term: Rewards send the message that reading must be unpleasant, and people have to be bribed to do it."

I agree, in part. I read aloud to my students quite a bit. They almost always check to see if what I've read is a an AR book. I think that list is based on what the teachers are choosing to read aloud.

Just look at the fifth grade list. Hatchet and Holes? I love those books, but I seriously doubt those are the top self-selected reading by most fifth graders. Either Diary of a Wimpy Kid doesn't have an AR test, or kids are taking tests on what they hear as well as what they read for themselves.

If 25 fifth graders took between 5 and 20 AR tests all year and they all took the one on Holes because it was a read-aloud, of course Holes will show up as the favorite.

5 Ways To Become A Teacherninja

1. Read professional books, articles, newsletters.
It helps you stay current and motivated.

2. Read children's books.
No matter your grade level or the subject you teach, this will improve your teaching.

3. Read other educational blogs.
(You do have a feed reader, right?)

4. Read stuff just for fun.
Whatever you are into. How can we get them reading more if we don't? They need to see us reading and we need to talk about our own reading.

5. Write your own blog or article or newsletter or book or wiki.
Share what you know. (If you have any great teaching tips you want to share, I'd be happy to set you up to guest post on Teacherninjas.)

(links are to the good people at Common Craft. Videos may not work at school due to filtering.)

Looking for Alaska

Finally got around to this novel by Nerdfighter and young adult novelist John Green. The weird thing about me is that I remember reading children's novels as a child. Judy Blume, Katherine Patterson, etc. Then I remember reading science fiction and Stephen King and whatever was assigned in school. I don't recall much Young Adult fiction. I did read Catcher in the Rye. So did John Green, obviously. There are many references to it in this book.

It's hard to know how this book would seem to a teenager. I was one and remember doing some of these things. But as an adult the mindset is completely different. More nostalgic. When your there, you're basically crazy and you know it. You want to be the same. You want to be different. You want to be part of the crowd. You want to be an individual.

It would make a novel unreadable, but this one is very much readable. It also hits a little too close to my high school/college home, but that's a good thing. For a first novel, it's a deft performance and I will certainly check out his other books. Maybe even some other YA novels. I'll probably enjoy them, but you'd have to ask a teenager if it speaks truthfully to their experience. This one certainly speaks to mine.

80 Years of The Strand

I love that store. I can get there only infrequently, but it's an amazing place. I just discovered this pretty cool book list on their site. I've read 47 of the 80 and have 19 more to go of the ones I want to read. I know 47 and 19 don't equal 80, but I don't want to read everything for crying out loud. I'm sure Dan Brown and Ayn Rand are just peachy, but they're not fo me.

Oh, and my daughter's first name is Harper (see pick #1).

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

It's a massive tome by Brian Selznick, the well-known illustrator. For more on this book go to the book's very own web site with all the information you could want. The dazzling interactive site fits the unique style of this, um, novel? It's a hybrid, obviously. It's over 500 pages long, but about 300 of those are drawings and photographs. It's hardly a picture book, though because the pictures mean little without the text. It could be called a graphic novel but it's definitely not a comic. My question is (and I'll return to the book's site and listen to and read the interviews with Mr. Selznick) to see if it's been answered), how did he get it published? I can't imagine it was an easy sell, even for someone as established as he is. It's a fat hardback and Mr. Selznick is no J.K. Rowling. It's listed for about $23, so there must have been some serious discussions at the publishing house.

They made the right call. It's picked up the Caldecott, other awards and a fistfull of great reviews. They're right. It's an exciting historical tale of a lonely and talented boy in Paris, 1931. It's got old movies, automatons, secrets, intrigue, death and the man in the moon.

Links for your Lunchbreak

Is it better to only blog when you have something worthwhile and original to say or is it better to throw in the occasional link post when you got nothing? I'm drained, people. That five-year-old birthday party was fun but I'm glad it's over. Until my brain cells are all firing again, though, here's some stuff worth reading.

Tap Water Is Not a Naturally Occuring Substance (it's better!)

Fallacy Files on Charlatan. Looks great.

Literary Dealbreakers. Which books/genre that another reads would turn you off of them?

After answering, scroll down to Comment #31.

Game Theory. What is it? And can it help us figure out this Obama/Clinton business?

Oh, and the best quote to show up in my inbox was from a Stphen Krashen newsletter: "You have a flat tire. A government agent pulls up behind you, and instead of helping out, takes out a stopwatch to see how quickly you can change it. That's NCLB."