The sound of silence

  

      Dead silence. No music or talking. That’s what I yearn for at the end of my teaching day. I use my thirty-minute commute, mostly on a long stretch of an uneventful highway to decompress and to reflect on my day. I find this end of day ritual necessary for my brain to rest after being in a busy environment where I try to remain focused on many things and people simultaneously. I leave my car somewhat refreshed and ready to take on the other parts of my life.

         Maybe my desire for quiet is generational. I have a history with silence.  It was expected during many aspects of my childhood and schooling. I played with toys that made no sound except those that I initiated. I used to shop in stores without music blasting. I can even remember being put on hold without music or announcements when phoning a business.

         While teaching, I try to bring moments of silence to the attention of my students.  Their young lives seem so filled with busy sounds and noise. They will be faced with more distractions and stimulus than I was. I wish for them to have some quiet time to think and reflect, and to appreciate the sound of silence.

Still Waiting For Superman

 Waiting For Superman, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim left me a bit disappointed. Guggenheim presents many appalling statistics highlighting the inadequacies in American public schools, particularly those in the inner cities. What makes these schools so horrible? I surmised from the film: poverty, bad teachers, and teachers’ unions.

The film is most compelling when it lets us hear from a few young students and their families as they speak of their hopes for a better education.  To achieve this, the families must rely on the randomness of lotteries. The lucky winners get to attend charter schools where teachers are good not bad. I could feel their desperation and held my breath as we witnessed the choosing.  Of course, not all the featured students were lucky; their fates remain intertwined with failing schools and bad teachers.

I don’t doubt Guggenheim’s statistics or his assertion that there are many inadequate teachers employed in our country’s public schools.  I take issue with his narrow and simplistic solutions.  I don’t believe that charter schools will solve the complex problems facing our public schools.  Yes, some work well and there are heroes like Geoffrey Canada. But many charter schools don’t work.

What else should be explored in fixing public schools?  Geoffrey Canada’s schools seem to succeed by embracing and guiding the family from the time of birth. Guggenheim presents teachers as good or bad.  Canada says seeing a great teacher is like watching a great athlete. But, what makes a teacher good? Guggenheim left much to be examined.

Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children

Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children (New York Times, Oct. 7, 2010) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/08picture.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Book publishers have scaled back on the number of picture book titles published because:

a.)   The economic downturn.

b.)   Parents want kindergarteners and first graders to read chapter books instead.

c.)   Rigorous standardize testing in schools has fueled the exodus from picture books.

d.)   All the above.

Unfortunately, the answer is d.). If I hadn’t read the New York Times article, I think I would have picked a.), because hard covered picture books are outrageously expensive. Why would parents prefer or prohibit five and six year olds from enjoying picture books?

According to a source quoted in this article, children as young as four years old are being discouraged from engaging/reading picture books and are being pushed towards chapter books instead.  Misguided parents seem to think that a book without illustrations and lengthy text equates with a more sophisticated and richer reading experience for their child, thus making their child more successful.  They obviously have not experienced reading, The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pickney, a very sophisticated book without any text.

Many first graders boast that they can read chapter books.  Some can actually comprehend the lengthy stories. For them, and for their parents, it is a milestone. Much like when they loose the training wheels and are able to ride the two wheeled bike alone.

I caution those parents who rush their children from picture books to chapter books. All first grade children love picture books!  When given the choice, and when chapter books are beyond the novelty stage, first graders will almost always choose a picture book to read alone or to share with a friend. 

Supersized Toddler Books

Caution: not suitable for toddlers to use without adult intervention.

Warning: may cause head injuries if flung in wrong direction.

Please be advised: this book may require an adult to turn pages.

A recent trip to the toddler section of Barnes & Nobles, made me think that warning labels were in order for most of the titles on display. My purpose was to find some books that would engage a toddler on a long plane flight. I had already purchased a perfectly sized rainbow backpack to hold the books.

The recipient of the books would be two and a half year old, Lin. Her adoptive parents will soon make the journey to pick her up in China.  The eighteen-hour flight will be challenging for all.  Lin will surely be unsettled and frightened.  I want her to have beautiful books, to help soothe her.

When I traveled with my young children, books provided many hours of engagement and distracted their attention from the constraints of the car seats. I would fill a plastic box with books that were familiar and easy for small hands to pick up. The box was placed between their two car seats so they could select their own book. My daughters reveled in speed reading through a book, tossing it aside and choosing another book.  They loved cycling through their personal library. Of course, not all books were returned properly, some ended up on the floor. These fond memories of my children enjoying books prompted me to envision a travel bag with books for Lin.

I searched the children’s book section for books that had colorful illustrations and lyrical texts that might break the language barrier. I did find books that met those criteria. What was blatantly missing from the shelves was books sized for toddler hands and little rainbow backpacks.

Toddler books have been super-sized!

The many titles that would have been perfect for Lin were not of a manageable size for her.  A stronger and more dexterous person would need to remove the super-sized board books from her book bag. The thick and heavy books would also limit greatly, how many books that would fit in a child sized bag.

I have saved several of my children’s favorite early books.  These books are not in any condition to be passed on to another generation. They are too worn with loose pages.  I save them because they are precious reminders of how my children and I spent enjoyable time.  The tattered covers and pages make a bold statement – these books were loved.

I will continue my search for books that Lin can take from her bag and love them to tatters.

This is my practice post.