I'm reading more than ever. I'm feeling more and more overwhelmed with "movies or series" online. Podcasts are becoming too inundated with tragedy or fear mongering-ish. So, yeah, I'm reading more. Right now I'm half way thru The Great Deluge. I'm 37 years old and I just want to stay at home and read everything nowadays.
I like your style, Grace! — that you “just want to stay at home and read everything nowadays.” It’s inspiring that you are reading more. How are you doing it? Do you have any tips for me (and us)?
(in response to The Decline of Reading) Seven years ago, after my first child was born, I purchased a Kindle. This way, I thought, I can read in the dark while I hold my sleeping babe for hours on end. It worked. For a while. I read a lot that first year. But eventually, my Kindle was buried by board books and teethers, toddler tantrums and peek-a-boo. My reading has slowed significantly but last year I picked up my Kindle again and committed to reading more, scrolling less.
Then, on a recent trip to the library during which my children completed their ritual of stacking piles of books to take home, I snatched an unfamiliar book off of a shelf for myself. A Kindle is a screen like any other and for them - and for me - it's just not the same. I want my kids to see me reading - not staring at a screen - because I want to see them reading. I want them to see that reading is a normal (and wonderful) part of life.
Thank you B for this beautiful comment. Even though I’m officially neutral on how we read (physical books, e-books, audiobooks), I agree with you that unless there are physical representations of reading out in the real world, young people won’t know that we’re actually reading. As you note, a screen can mean anything. I say it’s time for us to get out there in public with our books and print newspapers and magazines!
Maybe you would better serve your students by focusing on education. That is in fact your job and not deciding immigration policy. Influence that policy with your votes, but don’t use children to advance your personal agenda.
I'm reading more than ever. I'm feeling more and more overwhelmed with "movies or series" online. Podcasts are becoming too inundated with tragedy or fear mongering-ish. So, yeah, I'm reading more. Right now I'm half way thru The Great Deluge. I'm 37 years old and I just want to stay at home and read everything nowadays.
I like your style, Grace! — that you “just want to stay at home and read everything nowadays.” It’s inspiring that you are reading more. How are you doing it? Do you have any tips for me (and us)?
(in response to The Decline of Reading) Seven years ago, after my first child was born, I purchased a Kindle. This way, I thought, I can read in the dark while I hold my sleeping babe for hours on end. It worked. For a while. I read a lot that first year. But eventually, my Kindle was buried by board books and teethers, toddler tantrums and peek-a-boo. My reading has slowed significantly but last year I picked up my Kindle again and committed to reading more, scrolling less.
Then, on a recent trip to the library during which my children completed their ritual of stacking piles of books to take home, I snatched an unfamiliar book off of a shelf for myself. A Kindle is a screen like any other and for them - and for me - it's just not the same. I want my kids to see me reading - not staring at a screen - because I want to see them reading. I want them to see that reading is a normal (and wonderful) part of life.
Thank you B for this beautiful comment. Even though I’m officially neutral on how we read (physical books, e-books, audiobooks), I agree with you that unless there are physical representations of reading out in the real world, young people won’t know that we’re actually reading. As you note, a screen can mean anything. I say it’s time for us to get out there in public with our books and print newspapers and magazines!
Yes - reading is reading, no matter the format!
Maybe you would better serve your students by focusing on education. That is in fact your job and not deciding immigration policy. Influence that policy with your votes, but don’t use children to advance your personal agenda.
But... how can you teach to children who live in fear? It seems impossible and against physiological principles to learn while in fear?