Reading
How I Tricked My Book Club Into Writing
My neighborhood book club has been going strong for nearly three years. This time I was the host, and (gasp) I made them write….
To Kindle or Nook? That Was The Question.
So you remember how I blogged about how I couldn’t decide which e-device to go with. Well, I decided….
Lessons on E-readers
Valentine’s Day is coming up, and all the stores seem to be insinuating that the best lovers buy their significant others e-readers, so yesterday, I drove around town trying out various e-devices. I needed to feel them in my own hands, see what they could and could not do. I am definitely leaning in one direction, and I must admit, it is not the direction in which I thought I would be going. I figured I’d ask you, my beloved readers, for your opinions….
Functional Illiteracy: The Repost
People who know me know I’m struggling this semester. I try to explain how my students seem weaker this year; how I can’t get them to use capital letters (or, in some cases, how I can’t get them to stop randomly capitalizing words that don’t need to be capitalized); how they won’t stop writing “im” instead of “I’m”; how I can’t get them to stop using the letter “u” when they mean the word “you.”…
A Bridge From Cyber Chaos to the World of Words
I just finished reading another book called The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future by Mark Bauerlein. And frankly, it caught my attention. And as ironic as this is going to sound coming from an online blogger, I am trying to minimize my screen time. So yes, I will continue to blog, but I write in Word, check my spelling and grammar, find a picture and post. I’m trying not to hang out on Facebook as much, so I’ve got things going there automatically. I’m trying to live a little more unplugged because I truly believe (and now have well researched and documented support, thanks to Bauerlein) that all this screen time is leading us down the path to a place of incivility that breeds incompetence in school and the workplace.
All around me, I see people losing their ability to connect to each other. And, as a teacher and a writer, I want to be that bridge, so I have to work on being that bridge.
Franzen’s interview came at the right time for me — as I continue to write on a manuscript that has been like birthing an elephant. And by that I only mean it is taking a really long time. One day, I would like to hold that book in my hands, and I would like to dream that somewhere, someday, someone might write all over it. Underline. Make stars. Question marks. Pen, “This sounds like me” in the margins.
I want to be a real bridge, though. Starting Wednesday, September 8, 2010, I plan to help my students figure out how to pull their own stories from out of themselves and put them on paper; show them that the conventions of Modern Standard English matter, that an outstanding vocabulary can help them get ahead in the world.
I don’t think it is possible to be a cyber-bridge. You have to really be present to help people make their journey, especially when they are scared. And, believe me, when you ask 18-24 year olds to put away their technology — even for just 50 minutes — they are scared.
So I will gently take their hands and pull them away from their addictions and try — for 15 weeks — to get them to let me be their bridge.
I just hope they don’t walk all over me. Or that they, at least, tread lightly….
To Read or To Unplug?
Do you let your kids completely unplug over the summer, or do you keep them reading?
If so, what books are your kids enjoying? Please include the age and gender of your child.
And for even more fun, tell me what books you enjoyed reading as a kid and what you remember liking about them….