[CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to booksforall students

Wed Dec 17 19:37:22 PST 2008

Hello, Calibbers,

This is a great discussion!

I agree with those who support audio versions, for two reasons.  First, just
as some people prefer nonfiction and some prefer fiction, some are audio
learners and retain more content when they learn in their preferred mode  (I
think I read that 22% of the population are audio learners).  This does not
mean they should not learn to read, but they will access information more
readily if it is in their preferred format, and Tom makes the case for this
beautifully.

Secondly, for students with language and/or cultural barriers, access to
content is important.  If they listen to and understand the story of Romeo
and Juliet, reading it later may be easier.  At the lower grades, we
routinely provide audio books and picture books to help students access
content.  Why not provide this support at the upper grades also?

And Dr. Krashen, I read to my son and his shipmates when they came home on
leave from the Navy :-)  I do not think there is an age when we do not enjoy
being read to and hearing stories told.  Reading aloud-- the other audio
version.

Jeanne Nelson
Lilbrary/Media Services Coordinator
Murrieta Valley USD

-----Original Message-----
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
[mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Sue Nakaji
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 12:02 PM
To: burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us; Thomas Kaun
Cc: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to booksforall
students

Here, here! My youngest child finally became a reader by listening to books.
She has learning disabilities, but it finally clicked for her at age
fifteen, I convinced her to read along with the text as she listens to the
words.  Her first book that she couldn't put down was Eragon, then she moved
onto the series of the Chronicles of Narnia, and now the Twilight series.
She also has a preference for the visual media, but she now tries to read
the books before the movies come out.
Susan Nakaji
Library Clerk
Saratoga Elementary School
Saratoga CA
snakaji at saratogausd.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us 
To: Thomas Kaun <mailto:tomkaun at gmail.com>  
Cc: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu 
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:51 AM
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to books forall
students

Hello!

I thought I would add my $.02's worth in this discussion.  I love to read,
and I confess that I prefer reading fiction for pleasure than non-fiction.
However, I love reading (listening to) non-fiction as audio.  There are some
who will say that "listening" is not reading, and I guess in the purest
sense it is not, but I am able to listen to text that I won't sit down and
read.  The same goes for difficult fiction: I listened to _Moby Dick_ and _A
Tale of Two Cities_ after having given up reading both of them in the
conventional manner;had just not been able to stick with either of them..  

My point though is this--I wish I could get more kids who are non-readers
"hooked" on listening.  I think there are lots of kids who would enjoy this,
but for whatever reason are just not willing to give it a try.  I hate to
see so many kids who are convinced that reading holds nothing for them, when
they don't realize that they just haven't met a method that would open up
this world to them.

Busy thinking about things in Lompoc,
Mary at the LHS Library

-----calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu wrote: -----

To: skrashen at yahoo.com
From: "Thomas Kaun" <tomkaun at gmail.com>
Sent by: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
Date: 12/16/2008 09:13PM
cc: calibk12 at lists..sjsu.edu
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to books for all
students

The report really sounds more like a full-employment strategy for reading
specialists and professors of reading specialists. 
I know we all have our professions to promote but I do believe Stephen is
right that the simplest solutions to our reading "problem" are the best and
have still not been tried. 
This also ties into the recent thread about developing the "love of reading"
in our students. I am one of those who is more intrigued by non-fiction
(verity--weird!) than fiction reading. So what! In some ways it's like I
carp about English teachers at the high school level who teach as though all
kids were going to be English majors--they aren't. Get over it. They are
going to read, however, and so do need strategies to cope with all sorts of
reading materials, print and digital. 
BTW, I'm finally finishing War and Peace and I have realized that in order
to read this book, like with Moby Dick (the big whaling book), you need to
have the kind of mind which processes both "efferently" (I vaguely remember
the term from a physiology course I once took) and aesthetically. 
It's an amazing novel aesthetically but every world and European history
teacher needs to have read it as well for its insight into history, military
strategy, etc. 
Now this is fun! 
Tom Kaun 

On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:57 AM, Stephen Krashen < skrashen at yahoo.com
<mailto:skrashen at yahoo.com> > wrote: 

A Significant Omission in the IRA Policy Paper: Access to Books for All
Students 
Stephen Krashen 

The International Reading Association policy paper, "Keeping Our Promise to
All Students," talks about everything except books and reading. It includes
recommendations for standards, assessment, instructional time, professional
development, and of course the by now mandatory recommendation that we
prepare students for the 21st century. The only mention of books is in
passing: 

"Further supports for teachers to successfully increase student achievement
include providing resources such as paraprofessionals, books, computers, and
other literacy instructional tools" (p. 4). 

Books, in other words, are simply one of several "instructional tools." 

In view of the consistent finding that children of poverty have little
access to reading material at home, in their communities and in school,
shouldn't the International Reading Association strongly recommend that all
children have access to reading materials, that school and public libraries
be strengthened in high poverty areas? After all, what's the point of
standards, assessment, instructional time, and professional development if
students have little or nothing to read? 

Without a strong and clear recommendation for adequate access to books, the
policy paper does not keep its promise to all students. 

The IRA policy paper is available at:
http://www.reading.org/publications/reading_today/samples/RTY-0812-policy.ht
ml
<http://www.reading.org/publications/reading_today/samples/RTY-0812-policy.h
tml> 

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-- 
Thomas T. Kaun 
Teacher Librarian 
Bessie Chin Library @ Redwood High School 
395 Doherty Drive, Larkspur, CA 94939 
tomkaun at gmail.com  <mailto:tomkaun at gmail.com> | Library Web site:
http://rhslibrary.org  <http://rhslibrary.org/> | Professional development
blog: http://tomlmt2.blogspot.com/  <http://tomlmt2.blogspot.com/> | Library
news blog: http://libraryleaves.blogspot.com
<http://libraryleaves.blogspot.com/> 

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day,
something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else
would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of
unanimity. 
 - Christopher Morley 
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