Archive for the ‘Children’s Literacy’ Category
Moving Beyond Awareness of Literacy Issues
by Hildra Tague
Source: Suite 101
It is time to face a painful reality – that many are growing up illiterate. There is much discussion of the problem. The next step is to do something about it.
Many talk shows dissect the illiteracy problem and brim with awareness. Watching such programs makes it obvious there is a need to move beyond awareness into doing something about society’s literacy needs. This can be done by getting past the grief to look for solutions, getting individuals motivated to make a difference, recognize that literacy is not defined by grades, and work to make a literate society.
Get Past the Grief to Look for Solutions to Illiteracy
Blaming and bemoaning has questionable value. It is time to do more than define the problem. There is a need to emphasize finding solutions. Criticisms probably had their place in bringing about awareness, and sharing mutual grief, but their value is beginning to wear thin.
When the only concept of the illiteracy problem is awareness there is a tendency for the issue to become stagnant by oversimplification. For the most part, it is not brought about by a lack of dedication but a lack of skills, situations, or experiences conducive to a particular person’s learning needs.
Motivate Individuals to Make a Difference for Literacy
Before a system can change, people must change. Many earth-shaking improvements in society were made by individuals (not ‘the system”) who had an idea and acted, rain or shine, long enough to make a difference.
It would be wise to let awareness be and move on to making a difference lest the next generation turns out even less literate. No doubt very few people want to fail–whether they be students, teachers, or parents. How fine it would be to seek success together with respectful teamwork.
Recognize that Literacy is not Defined by Grades
There are still students who “fall out of the net” of literacy and learning. Some of them are making passing or even better grades, yet something isn’t happening for them. There is a crucial point in a child’s life where an identity choice is made: to use what has been learned and continue learning, or to resist and steer toward a life of functional illiteracy.
For some people who do have access to education literacy, in the end, is defined by intention. There are far too many students who actually have skills, yet never read voluntarily on their own. Efforts are being made to help students connect their learning with their own lives. This enables them to become lifetime learners.
This doesn’t always mean someone is doing something wrong. It may mean that more is needed, or specialized focusing is needed to help them find the best way they learn. Given the causal relationships between literacy rates and poverty, caring citizens would be well-advised to do something to help.
Work to Make a Literate Society
Doing something about it sometimes lacks the excitement and thrilling appeal that the awareness activities put forth.
Yet, becoming literate is brought about by daily efforts, caring relationships, and specific skills applied over a consistent period of time. Sounds boring? At times. Sounds like work? Always. But the results are both possible and exhilarating!
Many schools work toward literacy goals by the intervention process which occurs before referral for special services. However, there is a serious challenge with children who don’t qualify for special help. Even “at risk” children could often use more help although the schools do work very hard with them.
The illiteracy problem can’t be solved by working only with adults in “after the fact” programs. It will require participation across the board, all ages and professions, and will be solved more quickly if we go beyond awareness into proactive measures.
It isn’t just the job of the schools and parents. Find a role in becoming part of the solution. Mentor a child who could use a bit of guidance and encouragement. Do what can be done to make learning fun and important for children in the neighborhood and family. After all, their literacy is truly the future.
Attacking Poverty Through Illiteracy
by Jason Fitzpatrick
Source: Lifehacker
“What the hell, you got a room in your house just filled with books? That’s stupid,” was one of the many memorable quotes from my first semester teaching in a school filled with at-risk and impoverished kids. Right now you’re reading a productivity and technology blog. You’re no stranger to literacy and you read for enjoyment. All day every day you process thousands upon thousands of words to make meaning of and enrich your world. As an educator both at the high school and collegiate level, I’m confronted again and again with children and adults who are only semi-literate nearly drowning in a world they can’t process the way you and I can. Somehow, every year I find myself with hundreds of students that regard reading a book the same way they regard getting kicked in the groin. If a student makes it out of their formal schooling only semi-literate, their passage into adulthood is painfully crippled. All the social programs in the world won’t be able to stabilize that person’s life as much as the confidence that being a competent and literate adult would.
You would be hard pressed to find an organization that has done more to advocate and foster literacy than Reading Is Fundamental. It isn’t a new charity and it won’t win awards for being trendy. It has, however, consistently won awards for being extremely efficient with its funding, receiving an A+ rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy and being ranked among the best 100 charities in the country according to Worth magazine. Consider the following spattering of facts about the state of illiteracy in the US and the economic impact of it:
- Nearly 50% of the adult US population reads at a 7th grade level or lower. Nearly 25% has reading proficiency so low they cannot read instructions on medication bottles, the manual that comes with a piece of machinery, or a newspaper. This means roughly 40 million Americans cannot do something as simple and critical as read the handout a pharmacist gives them that warns them of lethal drug interactions.
- 62% of parents with high socioeconomic status read to their children every day. 36% of parents with low socioeconomic status read to their children every day.
- The average lifetime earnings of a person holding a Master’s degree or higher is $1,500,000 higher than that of a non-highschool graduate.
Reading Is Fundamental sponsors more than 20,000 programs in the United States, which fall into several categories to meet the needs of different segments of the population. The following are three types of programs offered by Reading Is Fundamental that I strongly support and feel have the biggest impact on the communities in which they are implemented.
Books For Ownership
Books for Ownership is a program that encourages children to take ownership of their literacy by giving them ownership of books. Many of my students over the years have told me that they’ve never owned a single book. How can a child be expected to feel any sense of ownership over their own reading ability or growth if they don’t even own the most fundamental tools involved in the whole affair? Books for Ownership puts books into the hands of children and their families, and sponsors community literacy activities to encourage engagement with books.
Shared Beginnings
If you grew up in a literate household, you learned how to pass on literacy just like you learned how to tie your shoes or prepare your own food, by watching the adults in your life. The best time for a family to break a generational chain of illiteracy is with a new child. Shared Beginnings is a program that helps young parents foster literacy in their growing children. In a helpful and compassionate setting parents are helped to overcome their own reservations about reading and encourage a love of reading in their children through reading sessions, songs, reading related games, and other activities that help to stimulate a young mind and form a positive association with reading. Shared Beginnings is a wonderful solution to a problem I have often encountered as an educator: a student who thinks that reading and education is stupid because their own parents have passed on their own trauma from school and illiteracy onto their children. One of the most wonderful things about the Shared Beginnings program is watching a parent experience the excitement of reading through their child, recapturing the excitement they may have never had themselves.
Family of Readers
Family of Readers starts at birth like the Shared Beginnings program, but continues even longer into the elementary years. There is a heavier emphasis on encouraging growth and independence among the adults in the Family of Readerprogram than in Shared Beginnings. Parents are involved in forming committees to select reading material for their children and communities with the guidance of a literacy counselor. They are trained on how to educate other parents about the importance of literacy, recruit them into the programs, and how to plan activities that are book-centric.
So what can you do? Money goes a long way towards staffing programs and filling delivery trucks with books. Volunteering in a local literacy program goes even further. A child you share a love of reading now can be one less student sitting in front of me giving up on before they even begin because the words on the page make no more sense to them than cracks in a sidewalk. When you sponsor literacy both through your money and actions you sponsor another person entering into a world of potential.
For more information about Reading Is Fundamental, from its half century history of successes with literacy to how you can become involved in literacy programs in your community check them out at rif.org.
The Importance of Literacy
The importance of literacy is obvious. Everywhere you look, you see words – on signs, in training manuals, on buses, in books. Adults who can’t read risk becoming isolated from society. Illiteracy affects their ability to find jobs, and ultimately, their very survival.
That’s why it’s so important to get kids reading when they’re young, long before they become adults. Even though their physical survival may not depend on knowing how to read a book, children do gain skills for coping with life when they learn to read.
Early childhood literacy begins in preschool (if not sooner), when books and pictures are introduced to children with the intention of getting them familiar with letters, numbers, and symbols.
Children who fall in love with the experience of reading when they’re young are likely to enjoy it when they’re older too. Early exposure to books, typically through being read to by a parent, grandparent, or other care-giver, instills in children a sense of security and warmth. The positive feelings these children get from books grows into a desire to read books for themselves when they’re older.
Multiply this experience by hundreds of children and what do you get? An end to illiteracy! Of course, it’s not really that simple. Some children will need extra help due to learning differences or other types of challenges, but reading aloud to youngsters WILL help prepare them for learning other subjects as they grow. More proof of the importance of literacy.
Literacy experts have discovered that continuing to read to children into their teens improves their vocabulary dramatically, and also helps strengthen emotional bonds between the child and his or her parent or teacher. These benefits alone will help improve the child’s life in a multitude of ways, some of which may not be apparent for decades.
If you still need proof of the importance of literacy, just talk to an adult who missed out on the privilege of learning to read when he or she was young, and find out how that’s impacted their life.
by Christine Wilson
Source: Kids & Books
Importance of Children’s Reading
Why do we tell children to read?
We’re always telling children that books and reading are good for them, but have we ever really thought about why that’s true? Exactly what do older children get out of reading novels? What do younger kids get from being read to? Does reading matter?
The purpose of this article is to say that, yes, it’s true, reading really is important, and that there are some solid reasons why that is so. Let’s begin with the practical benefits and then move on to the less tangible rewards of a life filled with reading.
Books help children develop vital language skills.
Reading is an important skill that needs to be developed in children. Not only is it necessary for survival in the world of schools and (later on) universities, but in adult life as well. The ability to learn about new subjects and find helpful information on anything from health problems and consumer protection to more academic research into science or the arts depends on the ability to read.
Futurologists used to predict the death of the printed word but, ironically, Internet has made reading more and more a part of people’s daily lives. The paperless society is a myth. The computer’s ability to process and analyze data means that endless variations on reports and other types of documents can be and are generated. Internet, itself an enormous new source of information and recreation, is based on the humble written word. To effectively utilize the web and judge the authenticity and value of what is found there, both reading and critical thinking skills are of prime importance.
The more children read, the better they become at reading. It’s as simple as that. The more enjoyable the things they read are, the more they’ll stick with them and develop the reading skills that they’ll need for full access to information in their adult lives. Reading should be viewed as a pleasurable activity – as a source of entertaining tales and useful and interesting factual information.
The more young children are read to, the greater their interest in mastering reading. Reading out loud exposes children to proper grammar and phrasing. It enhances the development of their spoken language skills, their ability to express themselves verbally. Reading, by way of books, magazines or websites, exposes kids to new vocabulary. Even when they don’t understand every new word, they absorb something from the context that may deepen their understanding of it the next time the word is encountered. When parents read aloud to children, the children also hear correct pronunciation as they see the words on the page, even if they can’t yet read the words on their own. Reading can open up new worlds and enrich children’s lives.
As mentioned above, reading opens doors – doors to factual information about any subject on earth, practical or theoretical. Given the wealth of available resources such as Internet, libraries, schools and bookstores, if children can read well and if they see reading as a source of information, then for the rest of their lives they will have access to all of the accumulated knowledge of mankind, access to all of the great minds and ideas of the past and present. It truly is magic!
Through books, children can also learn about people and places from other parts of the world, improving their understanding of and concern for all of humanity. This, in turn, contributes towards our sense that we truly live in a “global village” and may help us bring about a more peaceful future for everyone. This can happen through nonfiction but, perhaps even more importantly, reading novels that are set in other places and time periods can give children a deeper understanding of others through identification with individual characters and their plights. Through stories and novels children can vicariously try out new experiences and test new ideas, with no negative consequences in their real lives. They can meet characters who they’ll enjoy returning to for comforting and satisfying visits when they reread a cherished book or discover a sequel. Books also give kids the opportunity to flex their critical thinking skills in such areas as problem solving, the concepts of cause and effect, conflict resolution, and acceptance of responsibility for one’s actions. Mysteries allow children to follow clues to their logical conclusions and to try to outguess the author. Even for very young children, a simple story with a repetitive refrain or a simple mystery to solve gives a confidence boost. Children can predict the patterns and successfully solve the riddles.
Children are influenced by and imitate the world around them. While a steady diet of violent cartoons may have a detrimental effect on children’s development, carefully chosen stories and books can have a positive influence on children, sensitizing them to the needs of others. For example, books can encourage children to be more cooperative, to share with others, to be kind to animals, or to respect the natural environment.
Reading can enhance children’s social skills. Although reading is thought of as the quintessential solitary activity, in certain circumstances reading can be a socializing activity. For example, a parent or grandparent reading a story aloud, whether from a traditional printed book or from an e-book, can be a great opportunity for adult and child to share some quiet, relaxed quality time together away from the rush and stresses of the business of daily living. They share a few minutes of precious time, plus they share the ideas that are contained in the story. In addition, older children can be encouraged to read aloud to younger ones as a means of enhancing their relationship.
At school or at a library story hour, books can bring children together and can be part of a positive shared experience. For some preschoolers this may be their primary opportunity to socialize and to learn how to behave around other children or how to sit quietly for a group activity. Make the most of this experience by encouraging children to talk about what they’ve read or heard.
Reading can improve hand-eye coordination. It may sound funny, but e-books can be a way for children to improve their fine motor skills and their hand-eye coordination, as they click around a child friendly website or click the backward and forward buttons of online story pages. They may also be picking up valuable computer skills that they’ll need in school and later in life. Reading can provide children with plenty of good, clean fun!
I’ve saved the most important point for last. Reading can provide children with endless hours of fun and entertainment. All of the pragmatic reasons above aren’t at all necessary to justify reading’s place in children’s lives. Stories can free up imaginations and open up exciting new worlds of fantasy or reality. They allow children to dream and may give them a good start on the road to viewing reading as a lifelong source of pleasure, so read to your young children every day.
Inspire your older children to read. Give them access to plenty of reading material that they’ll enjoy and discuss it with them. Sample everything – traditional printed books and e-books on Internet, classic children’s novels and fairy tales, as well as more modern stories. If a child wants to hear the same story over and over again, don’t worry about it. Children take comfort from the familiarity and predictability of a beloved story that they know by heart. There’s no harm in that. Reread old favorites and, at the same time, introduce your children to new stories. Your child’s mind and heart have room for both.
So reading really does matter after all !
There are so many ways in which reading continues to be both a vital skill for children to master, and an important source of knowledge and pleasure that can last a lifetime. Nurture it in your children. Make the most of all the resources that are available and waiting for you: printed books, online books, magazines and so forth. Encourage follow-up activities involving creative writing skills and the arts, as well, so that your children can reflect upon or expand on what they’ve absorbed and, at the same time, develop their own creativity. As you help your kids appreciate the magic of reading, you’ll find that there’s a whole wonderful world full of children’s literature out there that YOU can enjoy too.
New Study Shows Parents How to Increase Their Kid’s Success in Reading
Source: PR Web
– While it is common knowledge that reading to children helps them learn to read, a recent study suggests that by pointing to the words being read and talking about print, children’s literacy development can be greatly enhanced.
The study published in the journal Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), was conducted to determine the effectiveness of teachers’ use of a print-referencing style during story time.
The results showed that preschool teachers can make very small adjustments in the way they read books aloud that make very large differences in children’s literacy development. In a study of 379 children, those who experienced a print-referencing style of reading had significantly higher print knowledge scores after only 30 weeks.
“This study was conducted in classrooms with preschool teachers but has direct implications for parents,” according to first author Laura Justice, PhD, CCC-SLP. “Parents can easily help their children become better readers by not only reading to them every night but by also pointing to the words as they read aloud to their child.” Justice further explains that “although reading aloud is important to children’s language development, its influence mostly affects oral language skills unless adults explicitly reference the written code. Talking to children about words that, for example, begin with the letter R after reading the word radio can greatly enhance literacy development.”
The entire paper can be found at http://lshss.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/0161-1461_2010_09-0056.
About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 140,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders.
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