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Post by TKennedy on Feb 25, 2024 17:02:34 GMT -5
What helped me the most was that there was no TV in western Nebraska until I was around seventh grade and then only one snowy channel that would only come in with much adjusting of the roof antenna.
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Post by theevan on Feb 25, 2024 17:03:03 GMT -5
My personal story: My parents had their problems. I don't think either of them ever read to any of us as kids. We were "raised" by a succession of hired help. The first one spoke one the merest bit of English. When I was dropped off for kindergarten and they asked me my last name, I didn't know it. I felt so lost. I didn't know any numbers or letters and I struggled mightily grades 1-3. They wanted to hold me back each year but didn't. Then between 3rd and 4th grade I read my first book, Charlotte's Web. I cried at the end. I was amazed at the power of it. I didn't want it to end. After that I went on a reading tear. By mid 4th grade I had caught up, mostly. By 5th grade on I was a very good student...it was my identity. But it was quite a struggle getting there. Such a brilliant and loving man from such a rough beginning. Darn it, John...made me cry.
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Post by billhammond on Feb 25, 2024 17:21:15 GMT -5
One of my earliest reading memories is curling up with a Dick and Jane book and a sharp red pencil, and editing the shit out of that vapid crap.
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Post by millring on Feb 25, 2024 17:35:05 GMT -5
See Spot Needlessly repetitive See Spot run
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Post by billhammond on Feb 25, 2024 17:38:59 GMT -5
See spot run.
Notice how Spot is so enthusiastic in his running.
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Post by millring on Feb 25, 2024 17:42:01 GMT -5
I spotted an albino dalmatian.
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Post by epaul on Feb 25, 2024 17:44:23 GMT -5
I had trouble reading early on, but then mid-way through 1st grade my folks got me my first smartphone, and it had the most amazing reading app on it! By the end of the year, I was fluent in three languages (which landed me my first job at age 7 teaching English as a second language during summer school).
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Post by dradtke on Feb 26, 2024 17:53:12 GMT -5
One of my proudest moments as a dad was when my daughter had to read Huckleberry Finn for class, and I caught her laughing.
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Post by PaulKay on Feb 27, 2024 9:29:24 GMT -5
Say what you will about reading using electronic devices. But technology has its advantages. When I discovered that I could highlight a word, right-click to pull up its definition or search the web about it, it was like this amazing new avenue to expand vocabulary. I can't think of a better way to learn new words than while reading it in context. And in some cases, the dictionary can even pronounce the word for you.
So, plain ol' books are great, but technology isn't without its advantages for learning. Children today that do their reading electronically have tremendous tools for self-learning.
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Post by epaul on Feb 27, 2024 12:40:48 GMT -5
You will have to pry my Kindle from my cold, dead, hands. Or make me a great offer.
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Post by Russell Letson on Feb 27, 2024 13:01:29 GMT -5
I'm not sure about the ill effects of television--we had one at least as early as 1951--I remember watching Korean War news footage and "Lights Out!," which was cancelled in 1952. And I'm a bit skeptical of the idea of phones and tablets interfering with reading skills themselves, though the way much material is presented on-line might interfere with getting used to longer texts.
From what I see in C's students, the crucial reading skills are vocabulary recognition and extension, familiarity with the grammatical and rhetorical structures that go beyond the simple declarative sentence, and the ability to keep a line of argument/description in one's head. I have observed students unable to construct or construe a medium-length sentence because by the time they get to to the end, they've lost the beginning. And in between, they don't know what some of the words mean. No wonder they prefer TikTok videos. And no wonder their equally semi-literate elders prefer bumper stickers to carefully constructed essays and news stories.
BTW, over in the visual-literacy department, TCM is presenting foreign-language films today, with 8 1/2 featured at 7 central/8 eastern. It was one of the movies that taught me how to watch movies, and it has lasted very well. The final sequence never fails to reduce me to tears. (Largely thanks to Nino Rota's score.)
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Post by millring on Mar 1, 2024 16:38:47 GMT -5
And I'm a bit skeptical of the idea of phones and tablets interfering with reading skills themselves, though the way much material is presented on-line might interfere with getting used to longer texts. When this came up a few years back I said much the same thing. Young people have a greater incentive than any time in history to learn how to decipher words -- everything in their lives centers around their phones. But though they can read the limited vocabulary of the internet post (complete with its own language), they can't write any better than they can speak. And they don't talk too good.
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Post by Russell Letson on Mar 1, 2024 18:01:21 GMT -5
Reading ability is linked to 1) how the most basic skills are taught (K-3), 2) how they are reinforced and extended, and 3) an environment in which reading skills are pushed by making demands on them. No amount of reading tweets and phone texts is going to compensate for not reading, say, newspapers and essays and stories--and having that reading matter, even if it's only to pass a 10th-grade final exam or score high on a standardized reading-comprehension test. Any skill is acquired and solidified by repetitive practice, and it helps a lot if that practice connects with something that matters. That's why I can't complain too much over kids getting hooked on Harry Potter or Twilight, crappy as that fiction might be when compared to Mark Twain or Ray Bradbury or Kenneth Roberts. The crappiest YA fiction is going to do more for reading skills than "graphic novels," even if it doesn't necessarily do a lot for the development of better taste.
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Post by millring on Mar 5, 2024 17:51:59 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Mar 5, 2024 18:29:12 GMT -5
I wonder who wrote that? And why? (never mind, I know why)
But this country doesn't give year end exams to children (or semester end or whatever end time period you pick) . They are given various achievement tests that measure basic reading and math skills, but school-wide exams on specific topics like Chemistry, English Literature, History, and Physics? In elementary school? (Or junior high and senior high, for that matter?) Nope. No way.
I smell a rat! (that letter is as phony as a three-dollar bill)
Now, back when I was in third grade, yes, I had to take Chemistry, Physics and English Lit (John Donne was my favorite). But, Newfolden Elementary was demanding (not like those scowflaws in Middle River, all they did was watch cartoons and pick their noses. Their parents coddled them! Soft!).
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Post by Russell Letson on Mar 5, 2024 19:56:45 GMT -5
Actually, New York State still has the Regents exams, which are part of the system that leads to a Regents Diploma. A quick read-through of the Wikipedia article suggests that they're not quite the same as the ones that governed my high school education, but they remain content-specific comprehensive exams.
As for the letter, it strikes me as 1) badly written (and punctuated) and 2) maybe half-true on a good day, with a following wind.
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Post by TKennedy on Mar 5, 2024 20:02:22 GMT -5
A brief Internet search snows there is some controversy as to authenticity and some claim it originated in Singapore and has been floating around the internet since 1914.
I wouldn’t bet any money on it’s validity but watching the graduating class of almost 1000 at my grandson’s high school in Chicago I noted that about half were honors students and 90% had some kind of special recognition medal.
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Post by billhammond on Mar 5, 2024 20:08:23 GMT -5
... it originated in Singapore and has been floating around the internet since 1914. Wow, Singapore was an early internet adopter.
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Post by james on Mar 5, 2024 20:11:44 GMT -5
Many reports when the letter went a bit viral a couple of years ago said that the 'Dear parents' letter was written by a headteacher in Singapore.
Edit - others beat me to it.
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Post by millring on Mar 5, 2024 20:17:13 GMT -5
A facebook friend shared it. My immediate reaction was that it was made up. What is a bit disconcerting is folk's reaction to it. On the positive side, the ones who have teaching experience and have voiced an opinion generally expressed the opinion that the goals of art and athletics -- and any other pursuit for that matter -- are enhanced by a well-rounded education.
To my mind, the meme sounds like a poor student's whine about never using geometry after high school. Most of those whiners grow up to realize that they do use geometry eventually. Oh, maybe not geometry itself, but the kind of reasoning and learning they were forced to participate in to understand geometry and anything else they once did not know but came to understand. That anyone agreed with the thought behind the meme is what's disconcerting. And many did.
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