Future of Reading

by

You mean we have to actually READ this stuff?

In a recent post about 9th grade research, I quoted a student who was horrified at the thought of actually READING his/her sources.

Well – today I found the REAL downside of not reading before you print or take notes.

The topic? Festivals & Holidays in the Middle Ages

The source? “Easter Uprising in Ireland.” The Dorling Kindersley History of the World.

I feel like I am channeling Linda Richman from SNL:

Linda

I am a little verklempt.  Talk among yourselves.  I’ll give you a topic. “The Easter Uprising was neither medieval nor a holiday”.  Discuss.

by

Baking a cake with the internet

Still more reflections on Freshmen Follies.

Today, the English teacher announced that students should print all their sources because they would soon need to take notes in class and begin writing their research papers.

One student said (in a genuinely horrified voice) “You mean we have to READ them?”

Foolishly, I did not expect to hear that.  But I got to thinking…..

For the net generation, putting information together from the net is a little like baking a cake. Stir up a little bit of this from a web page together with a little of that from a database, along with a dash of information from an online book. Pop it in the oven for awhile, and see what comes out.

Guess I’ve known that for awhile.  Not sure how to deal with it.  And I wonder how many teachers realize what’s happening?  I used to blame it on Powerpoint – but it is obviously more rampant than that.

We can no longer assume that our students will read their sources – not simply “word process” them.

by

Dystopian Literature

This interesting list was posted today to LM_NET.   I especially enjoyed Hunger Games and Catching Fire, so am looking forward to reading others from the list. 

Titles in bold are ones I have read.

The Hunger Games/ Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Bruce Colville

The Sirens of Titan/Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

Animal Farm/1984 by George Orwell

A Good Courage by Stephanie Tolan

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Shadow Children series/ Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson

Haddix

Feed by M. T. Anderson

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The Giver/ Gathering Blue/ A Touch of Blue/The Messenger by Lois Lowery

Truancy by Isamu Fukui

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Life as we Knew It by Susan Pfeffer

Uglies/ Pretties/ Extras/ Specials/Peeps/Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

Orxy and Crake/ The Handmaid’s Tale/ Year of the Flood by Margaret  Atwood

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Blindness by Jose’ Saramago

Compound by S. A. Bodeen

Rash/Hole In the Sky by Peter Hauptman

Unwind/ The Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman

Escape the Mask by David Ward

Candor by Pam Bachorz

Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes

Epic by Conor Kostick

Pure by Karen Krossing

The Secret Under My Skin by Janet McNaughton

Shade series by Garth Nix

River Rats by Caroline Stevermer

The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine (beginning with Glass Houses)

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

World War Z by Max Brooks

Jennifer Government by Max Barry

The Diary of Pelly D by L. J. AdlingtonOff the Road by Nina BawdenThe

Sky Inside by Clare Dunkle

The City of Ember/The People of Sparks/ The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau

The Ear, the Eye and the Arm/ The House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

Eager/ Eager’s Nephew by Helen Fox

Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Fearless by Tim Lott

Last Book In the Universe by W. R. Philbrick

After/ Bullyville by Francine Prose

The Seer/ Truesight by David Stahler

The Big Empty/ Paradise City by J.B. Stephens

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Z is for Zachariah by Robert O’Brien

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Surviving Antarctica / No Child’s Game by Andrea White

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

Anthem by Ayn Rand

Shift by Charlotte Agell

The Destiny of Linus Hoppe by Anne-Laure

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem

The White Mountains by John Christopher

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

Stolen Voices by Ellen Dee Davidson

Neptune’s Children by Bonnie Dobkin

The Sky Inside by Clare B. Dunkle

The Big Sky by Kristyn Dunnion

The Dirt Eaters by Dennis Foon

Flux by Beth Goobie

The Declaration by Gemma Malley

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

On The Beach by Shute (1957)

Alas, Babylon by Frank (1959)

I Am Legend by Matheson (1954)

Day Of The Triffids by Wyndham (1951)

Canticle For Leibowitz by Miller (1960)

Dies The Fire by Stirling (2004)

Tomorrow, When The War Began by Marsden (1993)

Big Empty by Stephens (2004)

Dhalgren by Delany (1974)

The Slynx by Tolstaia (2000)

Signal To Noise by Nyland (1998)

Souls In The Great Machine by McMullen (1999)

Lathe Of Heaven by LeGuinn (1971)

Swan Song by McCammon (1987)

We by Zamiatin (1921)

The Unit by Holmqvist (2008)

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Lloyd (2008)

Little Brother by Doctorow (2008)

Do Android Dream Of Sheep by Dick (1968)/

Night Work by Glavinic (2006)

Fifty Degrees Below by Robinson (2005)

The Conqueror Worms/ City of the Dead by Brian Keene (2006)

The Rapture by Liz Jensen (2009)

Earth Abides by Stewart (1949)

Daybreak 2250 A.D. by Norton (1952)

The Postman by Brin (1985)

A Gift Upon The Shore by Wren (1990)

The Rift by Williams (1999)

Wastelands: Stories Of The Apocalypse by Adams (2008)

by

Reading Strategies In a Hyperlinked World

I have the sense that our students are losing the ability and/or willingness to read deeply, because  the internet  has changed the dynamics of reading.
I can find lots of articles and books suggesting that this is happening – but so far have not found practical teaching strategies to address the problem.  Surely there are new  strategies emerging to teach reading in a hyperlinked world.
I would love some help with the following:
1.  Titles of books or articles on internet literacy strategies.
2.  Search strategies to locate such articles, since I am not having much luck locating articles on my own.
Thanks for any ideas you can share.
by

Kindle or Netbook?

I like to treat myself at the end of the school year. This year, I am struggling over what to buy to satisfy my inner geek.

Netbook or Kindle??

NETBOOK
I already have a laptop.  I love it for working at home because it has a big 17 inch screen and a big keyboard.  But I don’t take it with me as often as I anticipated.  The problem? It is heavy and the battery life is not very long.  A netbook  would fix those problems.  I just feel slightly ridiculous and self-indulgent to spend the money when we already have 2 computers in our house.  New computers.  ……And there are only 2 of us……

KINDLE
I am definitely interested.  Problem?  I don’t buy books.  At least not very often.  Seems an odd thing for a librarian to admit.  But at heart, I am a die-hard library person.  I truly believe in the most fundamental reason to use a library – FREE BOOKS!!  I was excited when our public library system started a downloadable audio book and ebook collection.  Not that I care about audio books.  I am constitutionally incapable of listening to a book.  I MUST read books.  Ebooks seem a good solution.  But the collection currently on offer from the public library is dismal.

So….go to Amazon, right?  No.  It would cost money.  I read fiction.  It is very rare that I would want to read a novel more than once.

So, why on earth should I buy a Kindle?

Guess I’ll resist the siren call.  Even though every time I go to Amazon I hear it.  “Buy me, buy me, buy me…….”, the beautiful device chants seductively.

I will try to be strong.  If I succumb, the Kindle will end up like many a toy I had as a child – abandoned under my bed in favor of my trusted old friends.   Yes…yes…there are definite advantages to the Kindle.  The price is not the barrier.  It’s the maintenance.  Right now the pretty little toy just costs too much to feed….

Long live the free lunch!  Long live the library!