We Should Teach "Banned" Topics...

• Title: Ban? No, Teach the Topics.
• Source: Teaching Tolerance Website and Blog/Hoyt J Phillips III/9-26-16
• URL: Here's the Link to the blog post.
• Key Points: Mr. Phillips noted two key themes from the list of 10 most challenged books of 2015- Gender/Sexuality themes, and Religious themes. He understands why they are challenged, but believes that it is critical to have students "engage" with texts like these because it can "serve as mirrors of their own experiences and as windows into those of others." In honor of Banned Books Week, he encourages educators to use a book that deals with controversial themes in their curriculum.
• Relevance: I believe that in the society we are living in now, it is more critical than ever for us as teachers to find ways to challenge our students to develop empathy and a perspective of "the other". Banned Books Week is a reminder that there will always be people who want to shelter our youth from the hard issues we face in the real world. However, if they are not taught about struggles and life experiences different than their own, are we really creating consious members of their communities committed to making it better than when they encountered it?

Literacy Expert: Weak Readers Lack Fluency, Not Critical Thinking

Literacy Expert: Weak Readers Lack Fluency, Not Critical Thinking
Education Week

May 28th, 2015

By Liana Heitin

Audience: educators, principals, administrators, parents, school leaders

Key Points: Struggling readers don't lack the ability to think critically. The are constantly thinking critically about topics they enjoy whether that be sports, art, music, (and even about their own teachers). The problem, literacy expert David Liben explains, for students unable to read at their required grade level is fluency and vocabulary. He also argues that "Fluency doesn't guarantee comprehension, but lack of fluency guarantees almost all the time a lack of comprehension, especially with more complex text."

Relevance: This is important when trying to find out why students aren't meeting goals. We see numbers (test scores) but not the solution. This article helps articulate that what test scores show is never the full story. Students have the abilities and skills (critical thinking) to do what is asked of them but not always the resources (fluency/vocabulary) to do so. 

Diverse Students, Diverse Books

Diverse Students, Diverse Books

NEA Today

May 28th, 2015

By Anita Merina

Audience: librarians, educators, school board, students, parents, authors, publishers

Key Points: Students need to be offered books in classrooms that resemble their lives. This diverse selection of books should include (but not limited to): race, gender diversity, sexual identity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural and religious minorities. Offering this type of selection empowers a wide range of readers and stirs up their interest toward reading. 

Relevance: Shows how to get students from many diverse lives interested in reading. Students already come to class with their own understanding of the world around them. If the world they read in books is nothing like the world they live in there is no connection to the story. Diverse books not only reflect the lives and experiences of the students but teaches them about those of their peers as well. 

Young Girls Are Much, Much Better Readers Than Boys,

Young Girls Are Much, Much Better Readers Than Boys, And Have Been For A Long Time

By Rebecca Klein  The Huffington Post

March 23, 2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/gender-reading-gap_n_6926028.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education

This is an interesting article which reviews a report released last week by the Brown center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution. This is an annual report that analyzes 3  contemporary topics in education and the gender gap in reading was one of the topics this year.  The study revealed 3 key insights:  a trend that appears to indicate that the gap is closing; research reveals that this is a world wide phenomenon and  the pleasure one takes in reading appears to have nothing to do with the gap in reading skills. it was interesting to see that this is a cross cultural experience and that enjoyment of reading seems to play little or no part in the gap.

Reading Boosts Brain Pathways

"Reading Boosts Brain Pathways, Affects Multiple Disciplines"
by Jenna Zwang
eSchool News
Posted online on May 3, 2011
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/05/03/reading-boosts-brain-pathways-affects-multiple-disciplines/?

This article not only discusses the importance of reading to the brain development in children, but also about how important it is to talk with your kids.  It all comes down to the importance of language in a child's life and how that relates to other areas of a child's brain.  In fact, reading and talking with your child strengthens the connection between the left hemisphere and frontal lobes of the brain that not only kids to do better in reading, but also in social studies, math and science.

They tested this theory on illiterate adults in Brazil by teaching them to read and here were the astonishing results:    
“Lo and behold, their brains changed dramatically in the same way the literate adults who had read their whole lives changed. Their visual perceptual skills improved, their auditory listening skills improved, and their ability to drive this whole left hemisphere symbolic problem-solving way of syncing changed..."

And how is this important to educators?  “The reason [that it's] so important for our educators to know [this] is that educators change brains. They don’t just teach content, they don’t just improve the brain that I already have by giving me information that I hold on to. They actually change the way that the human brain processes information..."  See how important our jobs are?  That is really cool!

And this article is important for all people as it really demonstrates that reading and language are the key to unlocking our learning.  If those skills are not there, then it is really difficult to master other areas.  I remember an old program where reading was being promoted and the catchphrase was "Readers are Leaders".  Its point was people who actively read are going to be the ones who lead the world in doing better things.  Based on this article's information I would say that is pretty true!