As I sit in the library, a bunch of 4th grade students have a book in front of them and are pretending to read when I'm watching. When I'm not watching, they return their conversations.
I posted 2 articles on Facebook this morning that show the decline of public education. First, a group of people calling themselves part of the "tea-part" have declared war on public education from kindergarten through universities.
Second, the federal government has decided that school libraries are not important and have completely removed funding set aside for school libraries in the "Improving Literacy through School Libraries" "grant".
Maybe we need to go back to the idea of "optional" education. Kids who want an education attend school and those that don't can stay home and work with their parents. One problem with this idea is that parents don't work either and this idea would create chaos and crime; even more than has already occurred.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tired of the Jones'
Why am I looked down upon because we don't own a Wii or don't wear the most fashionable clothes or don't sign our daughters up for all of the traveling sports teams?
I do not let my daughters watch an abundance of TV. I insist that they play outside when possible. I prefer neighborhood games to organized sports. My values are obviously not the same as 99% of the population of this town. I believe in the simple things in life: good friends, food to eat, and energy to do what needs to be done.
I'm tired of seeing all of our daughters' friends keeping of with Jones' and looking down on us because we don't.
I want our daughters to succeed in academics first and sports second. Too bad the majority of their friends have the opposite goal.
I don't have any real friends in this town. This is due to the fact that I'm about 10 years older than all other parents of the 3rd grade and kindergarten students. I grew up in a different era than all other parents. Thus, my values are from the 70's and 80's. I grew up having to work for everything I earned. I grew up having to work in the garden and can the veggies and fruits that were grown.
Would I have been a happier person had I lived in the early 1900's? My daughter's teachers would be!
I do not let my daughters watch an abundance of TV. I insist that they play outside when possible. I prefer neighborhood games to organized sports. My values are obviously not the same as 99% of the population of this town. I believe in the simple things in life: good friends, food to eat, and energy to do what needs to be done.
I'm tired of seeing all of our daughters' friends keeping of with Jones' and looking down on us because we don't.
I want our daughters to succeed in academics first and sports second. Too bad the majority of their friends have the opposite goal.
I don't have any real friends in this town. This is due to the fact that I'm about 10 years older than all other parents of the 3rd grade and kindergarten students. I grew up in a different era than all other parents. Thus, my values are from the 70's and 80's. I grew up having to work for everything I earned. I grew up having to work in the garden and can the veggies and fruits that were grown.
Would I have been a happier person had I lived in the early 1900's? My daughter's teachers would be!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
This has been an incredibly frustrating morning! First grade students that have been coming to the library since August still have no concept of finding a just right book. Plus, they have no desire to find a just right book because they have no intention of reading any book they choose from the library. I would guess that 3/4 of the books checked out to the 1st grade students sit in backpacks, in cars, in lockers and on home book shelves week after week after week.
The classroom teachers say they stress finding just right books, but when it comes right down to it THEY DON'T CARE WHAT IS CHECKED OUT FOR THEIR FUN READING!
Could it be that since Title I students are taken for their reading instruction during library time that the remainder of the students don't see the importance of reading for fun?
The one bright spot was a boy that has been turned on to reading after I introduced the author, Cynthia Rylant. He said that his dog likes listening to these adventures of a boy and his dog.!
The classroom teachers say they stress finding just right books, but when it comes right down to it THEY DON'T CARE WHAT IS CHECKED OUT FOR THEIR FUN READING!
Could it be that since Title I students are taken for their reading instruction during library time that the remainder of the students don't see the importance of reading for fun?
The one bright spot was a boy that has been turned on to reading after I introduced the author, Cynthia Rylant. He said that his dog likes listening to these adventures of a boy and his dog.
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