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Hi Vickie,
I agree that many of our students today do not turn to books for fantasies and make-believe. It is amazing to sit among a group of students and listen to how many of them are obsessed with video games. These games place students in fantastical worlds by allowing them to take on the personas of pirates, robots, mythical creatures, barbies, etc. Students use these games as ways to escape from reality. We, as young children, did not have these types of electronics to turn to; therefore, we highly valued the fantasies that books could create for us. This truly makes one wonder what should do as teachers to help students see the power of books. How do we make books seem greater than video games? This is extremely hard to do in a society that revolves around cell phones, palm pilots, and playstations. If adults highly value their electronic devices; why shouldn’t children?
Kelly Mabe

I completely agree with both of you. Many students just do not understand or see why they should learn to read and analyze literature because they believe they can gain the same experiences from the many different forms of technology available to them today. However, I am young enough that some devices like this were available when I was growing up, however my parents put much more emphasis on education and reading than on these things. This is not to say that I was deprived at all. However, I strongly feel that there is a point at which parents need to take the responsibility to say, "No, I'm sorry, you can't have that PSP. Why don't you go play outside or find a board game or book to read." Many parents today are ruled by their children. They do not know when to say no and many, I believe don't realize they have the responsibility to determine what is beneficial to their child and what is a hindrance to their development. I had one student in my class this year whose mother truly was not concerned with what was going on with her son. It did not matter to her that he got in trouble at school or that he was failing most of his classes or that he was caught by a police man doing $4,000 worth of vandalism damage or even where he slept at night. Given these home environments that many children are growing up in, how can a teacher be expected to successfully teach them all they need to know? Most of these children are unmotivated to learn because they see that this value is not a priority to their parents. Of course we, as educators, still have a responsibility to do all that we can to teach a child, but I have often felt this past semester that I was being asked to do something nearly impossible for some students. When parents and teachers do not show students that they value hard work and education and that it is perfectly legitimate to spend your free time doing activities that require very little thought, we cannot expect these children to put learning, particularly literacy learning, as a high priority. ~Allison Reese

Hi Vickie,
I found good points in your blog. I am sure that we all have highly creative young minds in our classrooms. When it comes to using that brain and figuring out new things, or challenging oneself many kids can only think of TV, movies, game systems, etc. I had those things when I was young too, although not nearly as sophisticated as today's cool tech stuff!! I just wonder what made me pick up a book sometimes and go read it in the home made fort we made in the backyard. What made us climb trees and act out make-believe characters. Our creative outlets allowed for more.... well creativity! I would much rather have written a short story and drawn a fabulous picture with new markers than spend two hours on the Atari playing PacMan. I wonder how the differences play a role now with our highly creative kids...

I agree with you that many of our students today are easily bored. I think this is due to the fact that with TV and video games everything is instantaneous. There is little or no thinking involved. I think a mind must be exercised just as a body is. Not only are our students couch potatoes but do not have to practice thinking. When asked to do so it is inevitable that they whine and complain that it is too hard or takes too long. We as educators face a huge job to motivate them to try reading as a new activity.

vickie,

i believe that children today do have advantages that i didnt have as a child. the children today have so many more ways to communicate...email, text messaging, blackberries... then there are those video games and gameboys...so much electronics. whats missing today is the actual book in a child's hand. they use so much imagination while playing electronic games but it doesnt come from books. i believe students today communicate more than those in the past...the trick is finding a way to motivate them through the pages of a book.

donna byrd-wyatt

Vickie,

Your post left me thinking, so what has happened to children? Has the world changed that much? Why do so many children detest reading? Is it that they simply haven't found anything they liked? Have they not had a teacher to help them "light the spark"? I often wonder what really has changed? Life has always been difficult in one fashion or another. That has not changed. What can we do?!? There is no greater escape than that of a book and a good story.

Vickie,

I agree with you that the immaginative world is being won over by TV, movies, and video games. When I was growing up I remember the jump-rope rhymes, playing cowboys and indians in the woods behind my house, climbing trees, writing in my diary, playing in the sand, taking my dolls for strolls, and playing pretend with my barbie dolls. There are computer games that are very educational to our students, but there should be creative and immaginative play as well. I am fortunate to be a Kindergarten teacher where I get the chance to set up stations such as puppets, sand ,and dress up that allow for creative play. Such creative play shapes our oral language skills as well as helps to develop the students reading and writing skills. What is killing me is how schools are wanting to take these developmental centers and sand off the playground and make more academic centers. Kindergarten is starting to look more like boot camp in first grade. The sad part is that not all children have the woods behind their house to play in as I did. Children need such experiences to shape their creativity and develop their thinking skills.

I agree with what Hicks is doing as far as using her childhood experiences to develop Laurie's literacy skills. You raise as good question as to why Laurie's literacy skills were not caught earlier when research began when she was in Kindergarten.

I enjoyed reading your post.

Linda Younts

Vickie,
Hicks writes that Laurie was "on track" in kindergarten and that she began falling behind in first grade. As we progress through the book, you'll read more about Laurie's life and how her struggles did not surface until that first grade year.
Also, I read your comment on someone's post and saw how you wrote your way into understanding how your early literacy experiences shaped your identity. That was amazing to read!

As a commentator passing through here, I can't help but notice how many of the popular games are all about action. Wrestling, hockey, boxing, football... all contact sports played by proxie by armchair warriors. Same with the action/adventure games, it's always about swordfights and physical combat. What does this say about the combatants? Does it speak well of them, I wonder?

Heya! Appreciation for the good write-up. Keep writing! ;-)

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